Austin is the U.S. city with the most interest from foreign real estate investors this year, a new survey found, signifying a shift in investment toward smaller metropolitan areas as the coronavirus pandemic and rise in remote working pushes people out of large cities. Nearly one in four survey respondents ranked Austin as the top market to increase real estate exposure in this year, while a third ranked it within the top three cities, according to an annual survey by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate. Austin’s top ranking is a huge jump for Texas’ rapidly-growing capital city—in last year’s survey, it was ranked just tenth by international investors. It’s the first time a tertiary city, or a smaller metropolitan area, has ever ranked in the top three in three decades of AFIRE surveys, the investment association said, and marks a significant shift in investor interest. More than 60% of survey respondents said they expect to bump up their investment in tertiary cities over the next three to five years, and 80% plan to do the same in secondary cities, or medium-sized metropolitan areas. Investors indicated they are less interested in investing in large cities, like New York and Chicago, which were each ranked as one of the top three markets to lower real estate exposure by more than half of survey respondents, along with more than a third who ranked San Francisco in the top three. Click to read more at www.forbes.com.