Asia Pacific commercial real estate transaction volumes in the third quarter of 2019 reached a record, bringing the year-to-date activity to a new high of US$128 billion, according to JLL’s most recent Global Capital Flows report.

Transaction volumes for the July-to-September period climbed 18 percent year-on-year to US$42 billion, representing the best third-quarter performance on record. This indicates a 10 percent increase in volume versus 2018. Asia Pacific’s performance in the first three quarters of 2019 is significantly better than the global average transaction volume growth of 1 percent.

“Investors in Asia Pacific are seeing past current headwinds such as slowing growth and trade tensions,” said Stuart Crow, CEO, Asia Pacific Capital Markets, at JLL. “Liquidity has strengthened in markets such as Seoul, Tokyo and Singapore, where occupier fundamentals remain solid. We are expecting Asian investors to further diversify their real estate holdi