Around $316 bn (EUR 232 bn) of capital will be available to invest in global real estate in 2012, a 4% decrease on the previous estimate at the end of 2010, according to the latest ' Great Wall of Money' report released today by DTZ.

This marks the end of the pattern of growth seen since the end of 2009 as funds are now deploying the capital raised.

The only region to record an increase in newly available capital is the Americas where the total has increased 3% to $114 bn. In contrast, a drop in new available capital was recorded in both Asia Pacific (down 12% to $91 bn) and EMEA (3% lower at $111 bn).

Nigel Almond, associate director of Forecasting & Strategy at DTZ and author of the report, said 'The reduction in new capital raising is not surprising given the renewed global economic uncertainty. In EMEA the amount of newly available capital has remained broadly stable in the past two years yet the transaction activity has not matched the level available, suggesting that funds targeting Europe are finding it harder to find suitable opportunities,' he said.

Looking forward, the analysis shows that the capital raised has the potential to lead to higher levels of cross-border activity in all regions compared with recent transactional activity. In Europe cross-border investment has the potential to reach 75% compared to roughly 33% in the past 18 months.

The majority of investors still prefer to focus on multiple property types, accounting for 80% of available capital. This suggests investors have a preference for flexibility to deploy capital across different property types. Of funds targeting a single sector, retail remains the favourite target comprising 35% of single property type funds with industrial the second most favoured sector.

For the first time, single country funds are the dominant focus, accounting for 52% of funds raised. This is up from 30% in 2009.