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Direct commercial property investments in Asia Pacific surged by 40 percent to US$42 billion (S$56.14 billion) in Q4 2014 on a quarterly basis, bringing the full year volume to US$128 billion (S$171.08 billion), according to the latest report from JLL.
This is the highest figure for the quarter following a rebound in investment activity in China and South Korea, which were market laggards in 2014.
Direct commercial property investments in Japan and Australia also rose by 4 percent and 17 percent respectively, but that in China slumped by 20 percent compared to the previous year.
Globally, investment volumes reached a new record of US$218 billion (S$291.38 billion), pushing the preliminary full year figure to US$700 billion (S$935.62 billion). This translates to an 18 percent from 2013 and is roughly equivalent to the investment level seen in 2006.
“The Americas and Europe have been the driving forces of global growth, with economic recovery in the US and UK a key component. Asia Pacific had been lagging for most of 2014, but a strong final quarter brought it in line with 2013 levels,” said Arthur de Haast, Lead Director at JLL’s International Capital Group.
“Despite there being more uncertainty in the world than there was 12 months ago, we expect direct real estate to continue to appeal in a low interest rate environment, so we are forecasting transactional volumes of between US$730 (S$975.72 billion) and US$750 billion (approx. S$1 trillion) in 2015, which would be the sixth consecutive year of volume growth,” he added.
Nikki De Guzman, Editor at CommercialGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email nikki@propertyguru.com.sg.
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