Asia Pacific property market softens in third quarter; China bucks the trend with 28pc growth

Commercial real estate investment in Asia Pacific has seen a general slowdown across the region but appetite for mainland Chinese real estate remains robust, according to analysts.

Completed sales of properties in the region, excluding development sites, totalled US$30.4

billion in the third quarter of this year, 1.1 per cent weaker than the same period a year earlier, according to data from research and consulting firm Real Capital Analytics (RCA ).

The region saw fewer active buyers and completed deals in the July to September period, the result of investor caution and a mismatch in pricing expectations between buyers and vendors.

For the first nine months of the year investment declined 18 per cent year on year to US$84.3 billion.

“High asset prices as well as economic, financial and political concerns, that caused a slowdown in activity in the first half of the year, continued to impact investment decisions in the Asia Pacific region,” said Petra Blazkova, RCA’s senior director of analytics for Asia Pacific.

China, however, bucked the trend as it outperformed all other markets in the region during the third quarter, overtaking Australia as the second most active market by transaction volume, he said.