By 2030, the purchasing power of the E7 group of countries will overtake that of the G7, and Asia Pacific’s middle class will be larger than Europe’s and North America’s combined this year, according to PwC.

That continuing search for yield may lead some property investors to latch on to cities that promise the potential for significant growth from fast emerging real estate markets, with Asia, India and Africa already firmly on investors’ watch lists. But the uncertainty over the long-term performance of these markets has threatened to undermine their credentials as credible alternative investment options when compared to more developed and stable markets.

In that regard it is, perhaps, unsurprising that the time horizon for investing for most respondents to ULI’s recent Emerging Trends Asia Pacific survey is three to 10 years, with only 13.4 percent looking beyond that timeframe.

Volatility impacts on long-term path

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