Investors go global as worries over 'bubble' persist.

Findings of the second-annual Bryan Cave Real Estate Executives' Forecast Survey show that nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of real estate professionals surveyed have plans to invest in land outside the United States within the next 12 months.

The study, conducted among professionals involved in real estate from across the country, demonstrates a strong trend towards foreign investment by American real estate executives over the next 12 months despite ongoing threats of terrorism and military conflict in certain regions of the world.

Moreover, more than three-fourths (87 percent) of real estate professionals believe that real estate values, while reaching record levels in some areas in the United States, will not decrease over the coming 12 months. Only one-third of respondents (37 percent) felt that values could continue to climb. Despite these findings, more than half (54 percent) of those surveyed believe that the current U.S. real estate market is overvalued.

"The survey suggests that given the signs of a possible real estate bubble in the United States, investors are looking to protect themselves by expanding their investments abroad," said Barry C. Ross, co-leader of Bryan Cave's Real Estate Development, Construction and Project Finance Client Service Group.

"The finding of this international investment trend was further reinforced by the survey participants consistently identifying terrorism as one of their major concerns for 2005, with only interest rates, jobs and general economic growth listed more frequently."

When asked which United States region they would invest, 33 percent of the participants chose the Northeast and almost one-fifth (19 percent) indicated the Southwest. For the second year, professionals interviewed were particularly interested in metropolitan multifamily high-rise residential investments. More than one-fifth (21 percent) indicated that metropolitan multifamily high-rise residential real estate would be their first choice for an investment opportunity.

The Bryan Cave Real Estate Executives' Forecast Survey was conducted among more than 200 commercial real estate professionals including brokers, lenders, and mortgage bankers at a variety of companies across the country. The survey is based on voluntary opt-in online interviews generated from an email communication from Bryan Cave conducted between February 1 and March 1, 2005. The total results have a margin of error of plus or minus 6% and possibly higher for sub groups. International Communications Research advised and supervised on the project, and Opinionsite oversaw the online programming and interviewing aspects of the survey.