European Commercial Real Estate Investment

I read in today's Chicago Tribune that Europe (led by Germany) over-took the U.S. in commercial real estate spending last year.

In 2006, commercial real estate spending in Europe increased 44%, to $305 billion.

In the U.S., commercial real estate spending increased 31%, to $283 billion.

German spending increased more than 140% (to $62 billion), and France increased 67% (to $30 billion).

By contrast, The U.K. suffered a 2% decline, to $101 billion.