Japanese busy in U.S. too

Press, 6 July 1988, Page 39

Japanese busy in U.S. too

By ANDREW KRUGER NZPA-AAP San Francisco

Japanese investors have started what Americans are calling a new land rush — a buying binge uparalleled in U.S. history.

The real estate spree has taken on such enormous proportions that Japanese buyers already face demands for a legislative backlash. Some American states are considering legislation as a last resort to keep the “family farm” safe from foreign takeovers.

In what has become almost a mirror, of Australia’s efforts to prevent wholesale foreign speculation in residential real estate on a grand scale, more and more American

communities are deploring the way Japanese investors indiscriminately pump money into American property. At the same time, New York real estate agents are setting up shop in luxury hotels in Tokyo, touting the benefits of buying Manhattan real estate.

Between 1984 and 1986, the Japanese more than tripled their real estate investments in the U.S., bringing the total to more than $NZ3.45 billion.

This buying binge has grown so rapidly that in 1986, the last year for which complete figures are available, the Japanese became the biggest foreign investors in the U.S.