Armed with oil profits, two Middle Eastern buyers recently snapped up New York’s Chrysler Building and General Motors Building for an estimated $3.7 billion. But their acquisitions of the two trophy offices belies their waning interest in U.S. commercial real estate this year as the U.S. economy stumbles and property prices dip.
Earlier this month, Abu Dhabi Investment Council, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, bought a 75 percent stake in the Chrysler Building for an estimated $900 million. In June, Dubai-based Meraas Capital LLC was part of a joint venture that bought the General Motors Building for about $2.8 billion.
