Colliers survey shows China top target for Asian investors

China remains the destination of choice for Asian investors, who are still optimistic about the coming year, a survey showed.

A poll conducted by Colliers International on global investor sentiment showed that 74 per cent of Asian respondents plan to expand their real estate portfolio over the next six months, up from 69 per cent last year.

China sits on top with 41 per cent of Asian investors indicating that they plan to invest in the country over the next 12 months.

Singapore and Hong Kong are again in the top three with 36 per cent and 33 per cent of Asian respondents respectively, as they preferred these locations owing to their solid property market fundamentals, the survey showed.

Colliers polled more than 620 investors from the United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Similar to last year, offices in central business districts, particularly new developments, were the most popular investments among Asian investors, with 61 per cent of respondents indicating that they intend to target this sector within the next 12 months.

Colliers said international property investors generally anticipate an increase in investment volumes across global markets over the next 12 months, despite a mixed picture of global economic performance. While North America and Britain are enjoying strong growth, deflation worries are hitting the euro zone, emerging markets face fallout from tighter US monetary policies and the Chinese economy is slowing.

Asia and the Pacific region (Australia and New Zealand) stood out in the survey, with 73 per cent of the sample expecting to see increases in investment in 2015, with 17 per cent and 13 per cent respectively anticipating these increases to be more than 10 per cent. The US and Britain were also expected to benefit from that increased investment, the Colliers survey showed.

In a separate survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, its investment sentiment index posted a modest decline in China in the third quarter amid the country's uncertain economy. But investor demand is continuing to increase, albeit very modestly, it said.