Knight Frank’s “Wealth Report 2009″ in conjunction with Citi Private Bank rates Brazil in the World’s Top 10 for current real estate investment. According to survey’s conducted via Citi Private Bank’s wealth managers acting for 2000 of the world’s wealthiest individuals globally, over 54% of global HNWI’s plan to INCREASE their exposure to residential property in the next 2 years. This shows a large amount of confidence by the savviest of the worlds investors in residential real estate, in sharp contrast to equities of which 55% HNWI’s already decreased their equity exposure in 2008. These results show that when times get tough, even the wealthiest still take the view that you should only invest in things you understand… property, we can see it, we can touch it, and we still want it!
As to where they would invest, Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank also reveal the top ten Worldwide sectors forecast as the wisest real estate investments of 2009. Unsurprisingly following the credit crunch distressed real estate (struggling developers and owners) in the US and UK are both highly recommended, with the best discounts over 50% below their 2008 peak. In the luxury lifestyle markets Knight Frank forecasts best opportunities in marina projects such as Porto Montenegro in Kotor Bay, Tuscany Italy, and Northern Brazil due to Brazils improving infrastructure, booming tourism, shortage of luxury resort projects and also the strong economy most recently boosted by the Tupi offshore oil-field and surging bio-fuel markets.
