Shadow banking in Asia: Foreign versus domestic lending to real estate projects

We compare the types of loans and their rates of returns for domestic versus offshore small and mid-sized private real estate credit funds. The data indicate offshore private credit funds issue smaller and subordinated loans to residential projects. Offshore lenders prefer projects in developed Asian markets, and obtain higher rates of return even after controlling for other things such as loan size, seniority, and borrower location. Our findings suggest the presence of pronounced segmentation across real estate lending markets in Asia as offshore lenders are not a substitute for domestic capital.