Asian real estate volume slides as COVID-19 hits the brakes on investment activity

Asia Pacific commercial real estate investment volume fell to $22.6 billion in Q1 2020, representing a decline of 23 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) and marking the lowest quarterly total in almost three years, according to CBRE.

Turnover in the office ($14 billion, up 2.5 percent y-o-y) and industrial ($3.6 billion, down 4 percent y-o-y) sectors was firm, but a sharp decline in retail deals ($2.5 billion, down 45.8 percent y-o-y) combined with a fall in hotel investment ($2.2 billion, down 14.3 percent y-o-y) pulled down overall transaction volume.

With the COVID-19 outbreak erupting in late January and continuing to impact economic activity in key markets across the region, the decline in transaction volume was widely expected as investors moved into wait-and-see mode, delayed investment decisions and site inspections, and other phases of the deal process were disrupted.

Transaction volume in China fell 32 percent y-o-y to $7.3 billion as investment activity we