A research produced by
In 2011, a series of economic and climatic events slowed the Asia Pacific (APAC) real estate markets’ recovery from the 2008/2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Transaction volumes across the region declined steadily during 2011 as investors came to grips with the extent of the problems in the Eurozone and the lack of growth in the US. Climatic events such as the Great Japanese Earthquake and flooding in Australia were also fairly instrumental in shaping the region’s investment and economic landscape. Nonetheless, it was observed that commercial real estate values across the regional markets remained relatively firm, especially when compared to other asset classes. To provide the context in terms of market scale, Japan and China are by far the largest contributors to the investable universe in the APAC. In terms of accessibility, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia remain the most accessible by virtue of market transparency and the ease of fund flows. This is followed by Japan, Korea and lastly China. Restrictions on offshore fund flows continue to be a stumbling block for foreign investors in China, though strong domestic investment interest has more than compensated in terms of transaction volume.
