TIAA-CREF, one of the world’s biggest money managers, is to open its first overseas office by setting up a base in London to step up investments in European property. The move signals foreign buyers’ growing interest in the region’s real estate market.

The US pension fund’s decision to open the first foreign outpost in its 90-year history underlines the desire by cash-rich investors to take advantage of the financial crisis to pick up assets at attractive prices.