European investors are paying more attention to Reno, providing some of the capital that keeps the region's high-flying investment real estate market aloft.
The ability of the Reno market to attract foreign capital is relatively new, observers of the market say, because the region was too small and too obscure to garner much international attention in the past.
Even so, no one is entirely certain how much capital from Europe and elsewhere in the world, for that matter is being invested in northern Nevada real estate.
But Michael Schnabel,managing director of the Reno office of CB Richard Ellis, says there's little doubt that European money is flowing into the region.
The big picture, he says, is this: The Euro remains strong against the dollar, and that means that investments in American real estate look inexpensive to European investors.
Closer to home, the growth of the Renoarea economy as well as the good press the region has been getting everywhere from Inc.
Magazine to Men's Journal keeps northern Nevada in front of individual investors and their advisors worldwide.
"We have capital flowing in for everything from apartments to shopping centers to hotels," says Schnabel."Between California money and European investors, it's almost the perfect storm in northern Nevada."
The inflow of California money is nothing new, he notes, but the interest of European investors provides extra lift to the market.
The only limiting factor, Schnabel said, is a dearth of investment properties for sale.
"It's definitely a sellers' market.
It's difficult to find a good deal," he says.
No one knows with any certainty how many Euros are chasing northern Nevada properties.
International investors often bring money into the market through syndicators who gather pools of money worldwide for investment programs or other third-party investment vehicles, says Todd Blonsley of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co.
in Reno.
That means, Blonsley says, that brokers working on real estate deals usually don't know the source of a buyer's capital unless it comes up during conversation.
Even though much is made of the way that e-mail and the Internet link the world economy, Blonsley says the world's distances still discourage European investments in northern Nevada.
Investors in the region either northern Nevada or northern California typically can move more quickly than Europeans when a good property comes on the market, Blonsley says.
And in a red-hot market in which investment deals often come together in a matter of days even hours the ability to move quickly is a significant advantage.
Charles Tyler Clay,who works with international buyers at Coldwell Banker Commercial in Reno, says Reno's location in the West shouldn't be underestimated as a factor in its position in the world market.
"The Europeans tend to focus on the eastern United States," Clay says."It's close to them.
They can get on a plane and see their investments."
Reno, he says, tends to draw more interest from Asian and Central American investors for precisely the same reason it's close to home.
