(MENAFN) The value of Middle East investments in real estate outside the region soared 64 percent to USD11.5 billion in the January-June period, based on a CBRE report, which is a US-American commercial real estate company. Sovereign wealth funds accounted for USD8.3 billion of the spending in the first six months of this year, almost quadruple their outlay of USD2.2 billion in 2014, also based on the real estate firm’s data.

This year’s spending includes Qatar’s USD2.5 billion investment in Maybourne Hotels and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s (ADIA) USD2.4 billion purchase of a 50 percent stake in three Hong Kong hotels."The size of the region’s foreign investment makes the Middle East the third-largest source of cross regional capital globally, as Arab investors look for brighter investment prospects internationally," said CBRE Middle East managing director.