LONDON CALLING. London edged DC as the favorite place for foreign real estate investors worldwide to place capital.

"Even though the U.S. is regarded far and away as the most stable and secure country for real estate investments and as has enjoyed the greatest capital appreciation, they will spread their dollars more globally in 2006," AFIRE said. About $20B will be invested in the U.S. in 2006.

One reason cited for shying away from the U.S. "is the difficulty in finding good opportunities." said AFIRE, providing further proof that there is a real estate bubble in DC and the rest of the U.S. Read those words again: "difficulty in finding good opportunities."

Nonetheless, AFIRE noted DC benefits from low vacancy rates, good rental growth and experienced high capital appreciation.

Though DC continues to hold the top spot among U.S. cities NY is closing in and "is quickly closing the gap."

Look above not only have those cheeky Brits stolen the real estate ranking but they have nicked our dome too. Wankers!

Pix by neilmadhvani