Investors from the West had invested as much as US$37.87 billion in Asia-Pacific real estate as recently as the second quarter of 2022, compared with regional investment of US$21.93 billion, the ULI data showed.
Funds from Singapore were the top investors in the region’s property markets. Photo: EPA-EFE
That trend is corroborated by JLL data, which showed Western funds’ proportion of investment in Asia-Pacific real estate had shrunk from 16.9 per cent in 2019 to 9.9 per cent in the first three quarters of this year.
“The dynamic here is more a function of lack of buying by global funds,” said Alan Beebe, CEO of ULI Asia-Pacific. “Regional investors have more confidence in regional economies, while global investors tend to revert to home jurisdictions in times of stress.”
Elevated interest rates have made investors more risk-averse, he said.
Most central banks, including the US…