Copley Square, Boston

Institutional investors rate Boston as the world’s second-most desirable place to increase their real estate holdings, according to a new survey.

A Fellowship for International Real Estate (AFIRE) said New York ranked first among its members in markets where they’d most like to acquire real estate. Boston and Seattle tied for the second spot, followed by Berlin and San Francisco.

“They’re going to look at whether investments are going to deliver long-term reasonable returns, and is it safe,” said Gunnar Branson, CEO of AFIRE. “[Boston] has the most educated population among the global cities, you have life science and other tech as well, and have financial companies all in one package.”

The survey encompassed approximately 200 institutional investors including pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, which have acquired many of Boston and Cambridge’s highest-priced office properties in recent years.

Boston ranked fourth in the survey’s list of most stable real estate markets, after New York, Tokyo and Paris.

“Most of the money is coming from some sort of pensions and the savings of workers, and so [fund managers] are going to look at whether this is going to deliver long-term reasonable returns,” Branson said.

The survey indicates that investors remain confident in the U.S. economy and prospects for real estate investment, but identified interest rate risks, geopolitical instability and climate change as risk factors.

Industrial and multifamily real estate are the most sought-after property types, with 80 and 71 percent of respondents saying they want to increase their exposure respectively.