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The General Motors building in Manhattan is a majestic 50-story, white marble building that takes up one full city block. This is prime New York City real estate. A flagship Apple store sits on the ground floor, across the street is the Plaza Hotel and on another corner is an entrance to Central Park.

The GM building is considered one of the most valuable office towers in the U.S. In May, a large piece of it was purchased by a Chinese real estate developer.

That same developer, Xin Zhang, the chief executive officer of Soho China, already owns a significant stake in the Park Avenue Plaza, and other Chinese firms and investors are buying up notable properties across New York.

The buying, however, isn't limited to just New York or Chinese investors. Investors from across Asia are buying up premier commercial real estate, says Christopher Ludeman, who heads up Global Capital Markets at CBRE Group, which handled the GM building sale.

"We have a family in Indonesia that just purchased the US Bank building in Los Angeles for $385 million," Ludeman says. "Within blocks of that you've got the Korean Air group that's just purchased a site in downtown Los Angeles, on which they're going to build a large headquarters facility." He says there are other sites nearby ready for development.

"Each of those instances are from different sources of Asian capital," he says.

Real Estate Trophies

From Florida to Illinois to Hawaii, the market is hot. Canada still buys more commercial real estate in the U.S. than any other nation, but China and other Asian nations are roaring up behind. Dan Fasulo, the managing director of Real Capital Analytics, which studies these sorts of figures, says foreign investment from Asian countries has totaled about $7 billion so far for commercial property in 2013.

"That's about a third of all activity," Fasulo says. "Last year's total was $4.3 billion. So we've almost doubled already last year's activity."

Fasulo says the Asian nations know what they want; he calls them postcard assets. "You know, the pretty picture that they can show around back home and everyone will know what they're looking at," he says.

Fasulo says that includes trophy office towers in gateway cities, luxury hotels and high-street retail like on Rodeo Drive and Fifth Avenue. "Historically that's what they've chased; the more premier properties in prime locations," he says.

This real estate buying binge is reminiscent of the late 1980s, when Japan scooped up everything from Rockefeller Center to Pebble Beach Golf Links, at inflated prices. Many investors were hit with big losses when the real estate market crumbled a few years later.

Hungry To Invest

Today's investors may well take heed of the Japanese experience. But CBRE's Ludeman says Asian nations — investors flush with cash — want to diversify. He says the Chinese in particular are careful investors who do a tremendous amount of research, and the U.S. looks pretty good.

"They like our rule of law, they like the transparency associated with real estate information and they see the U.S., on a relative basis, as being as strong or stronger than the strongest economies in the world," he says.

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Author Interviews

The Botched NY Real Estate Deal That Lost 'Other People' Billions

The General Motors building in Manhattan is a majestic 50-story, white marble building that takes up one full city block. This is prime New York City real estate. A flagship Apple store sits on the ground floor, across the street is the Plaza Hotel and on another corner is an entrance to Central Park.

The GM building is considered one of the most valuable office towers in the U.S. In May, a large piece of it was purchased by a Chinese real estate developer.

That same developer, Xin Zhang, the chief executive officer of Soho China, already owns a significant stake in the Park Avenue Plaza, and other Chinese firms and investors are buying up notable properties across New York.

The buying, however, isn't limited to just New York or Chinese investors. Investors from across Asia are buying up premier commercial real estate, says Christopher Ludeman, who heads up Global Capital Markets at CBRE Group, which handled the GM building sale.

"We have a family in Indonesia that just purchased the US Bank building in Los Angeles for $385 million," Ludeman says. "Within blocks of that you've got the Korean Air group that's just purchased a site in downtown Los Angeles, on which they're going to build a large headquarters facility." He says there are other sites nearby ready for development.

"Each of those instances are from different sources of Asian capital," he says.

Real Estate Trophies

From Florida to Illinois to Hawaii, the market is hot. Canada still buys more commercial real estate in the U.S. than any other nation, but China and other Asian nations are roaring up behind. Dan Fasulo, the managing director of Real Capital Analytics, which studies these sorts of figures, says foreign investment from Asian countries has totaled about $7 billion so far for commercial property in 2013.

"That's about a third of all activity," Fasulo says. "Last year's total was $4.3 billion. So we've almost doubled already last year's activity."

Fasulo says the Asian nations know what they want; he calls them postcard assets. "You know, the pretty picture that they can show around back home and everyone will know what they're looking at," he says.

Fasulo says that includes trophy office towers in gateway cities, luxury hotels and high-street retail like on Rodeo Drive and Fifth Avenue. "Historically that's what they've chased; the more premier properties in prime locations," he says.

This real estate buying binge is reminiscent of the late 1980s, when Japan scooped up everything from Rockefeller Center to Pebble Beach Golf Links, at inflated prices. Many investors were hit with big losses when the real estate market crumbled a few years later.

Hungry To Invest

Today's investors may well take heed of the Japanese experience. But CBRE's Ludeman says Asian nations — investors flush with cash — want to diversify. He says the Chinese in particular are careful investors who do a tremendous amount of research, and the U.S. looks pretty good.

"They like our rule of law, they like the transparency associated with real estate information and they see the U.S., on a relative basis, as being as strong or stronger than the strongest economies in the world," he says.

Related NPR Stories

Author Interviews

The Botched NY Real Estate Deal That Lost 'Other People' Billions

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Book Reviews

Time To 'Reset' The Course Of U.S. Foreign Policy?

It's not Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, but people are dressing up anyway.

A group of Brazilian protesters have been coming out in costume at demonstrations against Rio's governor, Sergio Cabral. There's the masked crusader Batman, of course, but also a motley assortment of other characters, including Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

The well-loved figure in Brazilian folklore, Saci-perer, has also put in an appearance. Normally depicted as a one-legged youth with a magic cap, he's known as a trickster who can grant wishes.

The costuming began when protesters started donning Guy Fawkes masks during demonstrations in Brazil as a symbol of resistance against the state. Masks were banned by the state government in Rio earlier this month, who said their use encouraged vandalism and made policing more difficult.

But even Batman was arrested at a protest earlier this week for refusing to take off his mask and disclose his real identity — something he claims is against his human rights.

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