Prime office towers look good to investors looking for yield

[SEATTLE] In a world devoid of yield, even the lowest-returning real estate is attracting new investors.

A unit of CBRE Group is investing US$200 million for a group of Asian insurers in core real estate - typically high-quality, well-leased buildings such as prime office towers, shopping centres and apartments.

Blackstone Group, the largest manager of high-return property funds, is expanding into the core business amid client demand. JPMorgan Chase & Co has a waiting list for investors to enter its US$21 billion US core fund, the country's biggest.