INDIVIDUAL Chinese investors are expected to invest a total of 1.1 trillion yuan (US$178 billion) in overseas real estate investment, with the United States, Canada and Australia remaining primary choices, CB Richard Ellis, the world's largest commercial real estate services firm, predicted in a report released yesterday.

The firm made the projection based on assumptions that 5 percent of investable assets of the Chinese high-net-worth individuals, who have investment assets of more than 10 million yuan, would be pumped into overseas real estate markets in the future.

"As a traditional investment channel for wealthy Chinese, overseas property investment has been attracting increasing attention in recent years as a diversifier of wealth preservation and creation, in addition to immigration and children's education," said Frank Chen, executive director and head of research at CBRE China.

The report also said Chinese real estate developers will tap highly transparent established markets such as the US and Canada as well as some Asian markets with a similar cultural background.

It said institutional investors will more likely focus on core investable properties that are capable of generating a stable return on investment in the short term, such as premier offices in international gateway cities.