Global investment in commercial property is expected to increase by 11 percent in 2014 and 2015 to US$593 billion (RM1.9 trillion) and US$657 billion (RM2.1 trillion) respectively, according to Knight Frank Wealth Report 2014. The rising popularity of commercial property among UHNWI investors is confirmed in the Wealth Report’s Attitudes Survey, which showed that more than 40 percent of respondents saw their clients increase their allocation to commercial property in 2013, while 47 percent expect the allocation to increase further in 2014. In Asia-Pacific, transaction volume rose nine percent to US$119 billion (RM388 billion) in 2013, up from the one percent increase posted in 2012. Nicholas Holt, Head of Research for Asia-Pacific at Knight Frank, noted that the Asian economic slowdown has been more evident in the occupier markets. “Net absorption of prime office space has been declining lately, indicating a continued deceleration of the region’s economy.” “However, markets in Asia-Pacific can change direction rapidly, and recent economic news from China has been encouraging. Japan is benefiting from the impact of ‘Abenomics’, which is likely to push up rents there, and office demand in Singapore has started to improve,” he said. Meanwhile, Sarkunan Subramaniam, Managing Director of Knight Frank Malaysia, said: “There is a lot of money in China that is looking for opportunities abroad.” “Changes to the law are planned to allow state owned Chinese companies to buy overseas, and this will have major implications. In fact, we are seeing this more and more across the Asia-Pacific region with investment coming out of places like Taiwan and South Korea,” he said. “This is an inevitable consequence of the region becoming wealthier, turning Asia into an exporter of investment capital around the world.”
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:01:43 +0000
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