JAPANESE SLOW INVESTMENT IN US REAL ESTATE

While continuing to slow, new Japanese investment in United States real estate will still reach between $10 billion and $13 billion this year, a report released this week. But next year may see such investments drop by $7 billion to $10 billion, according to the report prepared by the national consulting firm Kenneth Leventhal & Co. The firm had predicted in March that new Japanese investments would reach $13 billion to $16 billion this year.

Sophisticated Japanese investors are pulling back because of pressure at home from regulators and a soft US real estate market, says Jack Rodman, managing partner at Leventhal.

Total Japanese real estate investment in this country is $66.7 billion, less than 2 percent of the total value of the US real estate market. During 1989, new investments reached $14.8 billion, off from a record $16.5 billion in 1988.