Australia leads in commercial property transactions in Asia

Australia along with Singapore and China led with the highest direct commercial property transaction volume in the Asia-Pacific region amounting to US$18.2 billion, an increase of 14 percent compared to the previous quarter said an international real estate services consultant.

"We will continue to see a further increase in volumes to the end of this year, but the number of buyers versus sellers is likely to come back to more realistic levels next year," said Stuart Crow, Jones Lang LaSalle Asia-Pacific capital markets head in a statement.

During the third quarter, Jones Lang LaSalle reported that Singapore was at the top spot for commercial property investments becoming the third largest market in the region after Japan and Australia. "We are seeing rising interest from inter-regional investors, who are looking at the differential in growth rates between Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world," said Megan Walters, head of JLL capital markets research.

In China, investors were still upbeat in major cities Shanghai and Beijing expecting rents to rise despite government efforts to rein in the real estate market and discourage speculation. Capital values were also robust in Hong Kong reporting an 8.7 percent increase for July to September. Transaction volumes are expected to taper out as the supply of investment-grade assets decrease.

Walters said that Asian countries follow land ownership restrictions, more so foreign investors, and existing investors were unwilling to part with assets at prices buyers wanted to pay.