China overtakes Australia as top destination in Asia-Pacific for foreign commercial property investors, CBRE survey finds
- Shanghai is the preferred market for foreign buyers, according to survey of 348 global real estate investors
China has overtaken Australia as the top destination in Asia-Pacific for cross-border investments in commercial property for the first time, with Shanghai the preferred city for overseas buyers, according to a survey by CBRE.
About a quarter, or 25.8 per cent, of the 348 global real estate investors polled between November and January said they were interested in China, up 3.7 percentage points from a year ago.
The office segment remained the most popular sector, with more than a third of respondents expressing an interest.
China is 4.7 percentage points ahead of Australia, last year’s leader, which ranked second in the study. And it surged further ahead of third-placed Japan, opening up a 7.5 percentage point lead having narrowly overtaken it last year.
“China’s sustained mid- to high-speed economic growth, the increasing importance of China asset allocation in investment portfolios, and a more mature investment market are key factors fuelling the robust influx of foreign capital into China’s commercial real estate,” said Alan Li, president of CBRE China. “We believe China’s en-bloc market activity will continue to be buoyant this year.”