Dubai: Arab investors could spend $20 billion acquiring global real estate this year, an increase of more than 60 per cent on 2006, a leading property market expert said.

The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries put $13 billion in global commercial property transactions last year, up 14 per cent on the previous year, property services firm Jones Lang LaSalle official said.

"That number could go up to $20 billion by the end of this year. Knowing some of the deals that have been talked about, I think that is entirely possible," Tony Horrell, chief executive officer of the firm's International Capital Group, told Gulf News.

The US received $7 billion in the GCC property money, followed by Britain with $4 billion, and Germany and South Africa with $1 billion each. ...Although Middle East investors ranked third, their impact on the global real market is seen bigger than the value of their direct transactions. Jones Lang LaSalle's estimated some eight per cent of equity invested by global funds originates from the region.....He said the GCC accounts for 25 per cent of real estate development in the world.