Asia Pacific's real estate investments rose 6% to US$157.5b in 2017

Top markets were China, Japan and Australia.

Real Capital Analytics (RCA) reported that Asia Pacific’s real estate investments increased by 6% to US$157.5b in 2017.

Despite a 6% decline to US$36.2b in acquisitions, China remained in its top spot as Asia Pacific’s largest market for income-producing property, followed by Japan (+3% to US$34.9b), Australia (-10% to US$23.8b), Hong Kong (39% to US$20.9b), and Singapore (+50% to US$15b).

Further, apartment acquisitions rose by 57% YoY to US$20.3b, whilst office sales increased by 20% YoY to US$19.1b.

Additionally, hotel acquisitions dipped by 4% YoY to US$10.9b, and office acquisitions fell by 2% YoY to US$74.7b. Retail acquisitions retained its sales at US$32.5b.

“The unwillingness of existing owners to sell and rapidly increasing prices spurred investors to move to other asset classes,” RCA said.

Meanwhile, sales of development sites also increased by 41% YoY to $644b in 2017, which were highly driven by transactions in Hong Kong and China.