Sentiment remains strong across the Asia Pacific with investment volumes continuing to rise in the second quarter, notably in Australia and Korea. A broader economic recovery and improving leasing market fundamentals continue to drive investor risk appetite as we witness deals being done in lower grade assets and in bigger lot sizes. In this climate, we believe that secondary assets in strong sub-markets will perform particularly well.
Across major sectors, we continue to prefer office and logistics to retail. Despite a stronger economic recovery, real wage growth remains sluggish, which will continue to weigh on retail sales and retailers’ operating margins. We therefore see relatively muted rental growth prospects for retail across the region, including in Hong Kong. By contrast, improving labour market conditions and relatively low levels of supply versus the historical average are supporting a stronger outlook for rental growth in the office sector in Sydney, Melbourne, Seoul and, most notably, in Tokyo.
Source : M&G Real Estate