Tokyo - Tokyo overtakes Shanghai as the top spot for next year's real estate investment prospects among big Asian cities, a survey showed on Wednesday.
The Japanese capital has the best prospects and lowest risk among 20 locations，the survey conducted by US research institute Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers showed.
Tokyo moved up to the first place after being rated third in the past two years. Singapore is in second place and Hong Kong is third while Shanghai dropped to the fifth from last year's top slot.
Ho Chi Minh City was ranked the best market for office properties, followed by Tokyo, Mumbai, Shanghai and Bangalore.
Vietnam's former capital city was also rated on top for retail and apartment residential property, the study showed.
The strongest "buy" and "hold" recommendations for Tokyo were in the office property sector, where 46 percent of respondents placed "buy" and 43 percent gave "hold" ratings, said the survey for hundreds of investors, developers and lenders.
PricewaterhouseCoopers' partner Raymond Kahn said in a statement foreign investors remain interested in Tokyo even under the current weak property market conditions.
Property values are tumbling in New York, London and Tokyo after the global credit crisis roiled lending and sidelined buyers. In Asia, markets with the strongest economies and highest levels of liquidity will be most attractive as investors show a flight to quality, according to Stephen Blank, a principal researcher at the ULI."
Tokyo is a weaker market than last year, but clearly stronger than other global financial centers," according to executives interviewed by the ULI.
Shanghai fell to fifth in the survey because its risk rating was ranked 11th, the report showed.
The survey, based on 180 respondents ranging from global investors, property developers and brokers, was conducted between the middle of August to October.
