Investigating China’s Outward FDI in the European Real Estate Industry with a Gravity-Model-Based Benchmark

Abstract

Historically, the top outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) investors are mostly from developed economies. Since the beginning of the 21st Century, due to increased economic globalization and financial liberalization, developing nations’ economies have been improving over time, coupled with increased capital accumulation. In recent years, developing and emerging countries’ OFDI activities have gradually increased in the world’s financial market. The World Investment Report (WIP) 2019 reported nine developing and transition economies among the foreign direct investment (FDI) outflows top 20 home economies in 2018 (UNCTAD, 2019). Moreover, with the emergence of “new” trade theory, the directions of international capital flows are also becoming more complex. Thus, the features of developing countries’ OFDI activities toward developed economies should be further studied.