A representative for Ortega’s family office, Pontegadea, declined to comment. He has a net worth of $US63.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, derived largely from his majority stake in Zara owner Inditex.

Joe Tsai, Alibaba Group Holding’s co-founder, also emerged last year with an indirect stake in more than a half-dozen five-star hotels across Spain through his family office, Blue Pool Capital.

“You often find there’s a sort of skin-in-the-game element if you’ve got private investors buying,” Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s global head of research, said about the differences between the world’s rich and institutional firms.

“For an office building in London, the majority of that will be an investment play, but it may also be driven by the fact that actually the family office needs an office of its own.”

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Private investors mostly focused on rental housing in the commercial real estate sector during 2022. They allocated the most capital in the US, where New York remains a hub as well for residential real estate deals of $US25 million or more, according to Knight Frank’s report.

New York also led the global ranks of cities for sums spent on commercial property from local private investors in 2022, while London received the highest amount from foreign investors.

Bloomberg

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