Offshore Investment

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Commercial property continued to be a popular with foreign investors in the 2016/2017 financial year, in particular office assets in the Sydney and Melbourne CBDs, according to Colliers International.
Investment across the office, retail, industrial and hotel sectors was $28.99 billion in the preceding financial year, according to the 2016/17 Capital Markets Investment Review series.  
Foreign buyers accounted for $8.19 billion, or with 28 percent, of those sales, according Colliers.
“Yield compression in each asset class will continue throughout the financial year ending (FYE) 2017, with limited stock creating competitive tension between investors and driving record prices,” says the report.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/08/15/InvestSnapshot.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
 <img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/08/15/InvestSnapshot.png" alt="">
The states most in demand with investors are New South Wales and Victoria due to their thrust on infrastructure development, population growth, rising rental rates and tightening yields.
This has created opportunities for some of Australia’s premier developers to build the next generation of commercial assets, according to Colliers International’s managing director of Capital Markets and Investment Services, John Marasco.
“These development hot spots in Sydney and Melbourne will cement these cities’ reputations as globally competitive cities for both capital and tenants, and meet not only the current but also the future needs of occupants,” he said.
New South Wales grabbed the lion’s share of investment across office, retail, industrial and hotel sectors, totalling $12.51 billion.
It was followed by Victoria, which recorded $8.33 billion in investment across all four sectors.
“Not surprisingly, the eastern powerhouse states of New South Wales and Victoria have again dominated sales volumes, with generally more assets to offload and greater appetite from buyers for CBD locations,” Marasco said. 
Queensland had $4.75 billion in total investments, followed by Western Australia with more than $1.02 billion, the Australian Capital Territory with more than $628.5million, and South Australia with $601.5 million.
Anneke Thompson, Colliers International’s national director of Research, said one of the most notable trends this year was the increase in investment from offshore private investors, particularly in the office sector. 
“Throughout the past financial year, offshore privates purchased $2.09 billion worth of office stock, up 59 per cent from $855 million the previous year,” she said. 
Not surprisingly, half of the offshore private capital invested in Australian office markets came from China at $1.05 billion. Private capital from Hong Kong and Singapore also surged, growing to $906 million in 2017 from $73 million in the financial year ending in 2016.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/08/15/OfficeOffshoreVol.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
 <img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/08/15/OfficeOffshoreVol.png" alt="">
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/08/15/OfficeInvestmentByState.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/08/15/OfficeInvestmentByState.png" alt="">
Thompson said the influx in private capital could be explained by both the continued search for yield and the growing perception in the global investment community that Australian office property offered a “safe haven” investment environment.
“The improving leasing markets, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, are also helping drive investor confidence in the outlook for capital appreciation of core office assets,” she said.
Throughout the past year, Australian office markets have continued to build on their growing global reputation as a relatively high-yielding asset with solid long-term fundamentals, attracting more offshore capital.
According to Colliers International’s 2016/17 Capital Markets Office Investment Review, the total transactional value for the FYE2017 was $13.2billion, with about 75 per cent of sales taking place in New South Wales and Victoria and offshore investors making 44.9 per cent of purchases.
Although transaction value is slightly down on last year (by $2.7billion), the FYE2016 included the $2.45billion sale of the Investa portfolio to China Investment Corporation, Colliers said. 
Marasco said it was important to note the impact population growth in Australia’s capital cities was having on transaction volumes, with the country growing by 1.89million people between the 2011 and 2016 Census.
“Both federal and state governments are now more focused on building infrastructure to help our cities cope with their growing size,” he said. 
“These are key positive attributes for office markets, with both trends being felt most keenly in Sydney and Melbourne.”
 
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Offshore money continues to flow into commercial property: Colliers

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Sydney’s North West is trending into a sought after investment hotspot amid the soft development market and the investor rush to cash in on record low interest rates, according to real estate firm CBRE.
The recent sale of 2A Hector Court, Kellyville to supermarket chain Woolworths for $12.5 million through CBRE Capital Markets is a case in point. 
Tom Sheridan of CBRE’s Western Sydney Capital Markets team said areas such as Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill, Kellyville, Dural and Blacktown were particularly in demand from investors, mostly along busy thoroughfares and in neighbourhood centres. 
“The softening development market over the past five months is prompting buyers to park their money in investment assets, in order to benefit from historically low interest rates and tightening yields,” he said. 
The softening Australian dollar is also driving offshore groups to invest in Australia, with Asian buyers honing their focus on the North West, added Alex Mirzaian, senior manager, CBRE Capital Markets.
“In addition to the significant amount of local buyers in the market, including existing owner occupiers looking to expand, Asian buyers are targeting the region’s commercial and retail assets to acquire sites with a holding income,” said Mirzaian.
“Freestanding retail investments leased to blue chip tenants including major supermarket chains are sought after, with investors wishing to acquire these assets to anchor their property portfolios.” 
An oversupply of housing and undersupply of “community benefit stock” such as service stations, neighbourhood shops, grocers and food premises in Sydney’s North West was also prompting leading national brands to set up shop there, said Alex Ugarte of CBRE Capital Markets.
The elections and the debate on negative gearing has triggered a major shift in the residential market - which is contributing to the interest in the commercial and retail sector, he added. 
The sale to Woolworths was via an expressions of interest campaign, which saw strong interest from a range of investors due to the site’s B2 local centre zoning, according to CBRE executives. 
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Offshore investors target Sydney’s North West: CBRE 

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Offshore investors dominated commercial property sales activity in Australia in Q3, snapping up over half of the $8.6 billion in property traded during the period according to new CBRE data.
CBRE’s sales analysis takes into account sales of retail, industrial and office property valued at over $5 million.
It shows that offshore buyers accounted for 56% of total sales, by value, during the quarter under research - marking the highest proportion recorded in the ten years of CBRE records.
CBRE’s Australia head of research, Stephen McNabb said the high level of overseas purchasing activity had pushed total sales in the quarter 8.5% higher than the corresponding quarter last year. 
The current level of transaction activity may eventually reach or even eclipse the record $29.6 billion in annual sales recorded during 2014.
“The major source of new capital has been China, with Australia attracting close to 25% of the US$6.5 billion in Chinese investment capital released into global real estate markets in the first half of this year.” said Mr McNabb.
CBRE executive managing director in capital markets, Mark Granter said the surge of Chinese capital had been initially driven by private investors and developers but was now being also propelled by major institutional investors.
Singapore’s Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust was very active during the period of investment, having snapped up a portfolio of 26 logistics properties from GIC in a deal valued at $1.01 billion. 
Another major Australian acquisition in Q3 included the $2.5 billion purchase of the Investa portfolio by China Investment Corporation. 
Mr McNabb noted that net investment position of offshore investors continued to grow and now totalled $24 billion since 2006.
However, he also brought attention to the fact that a number of the larger offshore transactions in Q3 – such as that of the GIC portfolio – involved sales by existing offshore owners.
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Offshore Investment

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