Chinese life insurers eye Aussie property
Offshore investors are dominating the Australian commercial property market, snapping up more than half of the $8.6 billion worth of assets traded in Q3 2015, property group CBRE reports.
CBRE head of research Australia, Stephen McNabb, said Chinese investors were leading the charge.
"The major source of new capital has been China, with Australia attracting close to 25 per cent of the US$6.5 billion in Chinese investment capital released into global real estate market in the first half of this year," he said.
While the initial surge of Chinese capital has stemmed from private investors, CBRE executive managing director of capital markets, Mark Granter, said institutional investors were also looking to buy into Australian commercial assets.
"As expected, we are starting to see the larger Chinese life insurers target opportunities here as they look a geographic diversification to balance their investment portfolios," he said.
"These investors are targeting gateway cities, with Sydney and Melbourne being high on the radar alongside destinations such as New York, London and Singapore."
The report found that close to $20 billion has been transacted through sales of commercial properties since the start of 2015, with office assets accounting for $11 billion of sales.
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