In 2018, European commercial real estate transaction volume originating from Asian investors was roughly US$24 billion, according to BNP Paribas Real Estate, about 8 percent of the total invested in the Continent. The rationales for investment remain (1) the sheer size of the European market, (2) the potential for diversification, and (3) the range of opportunities potentially offering attractive and stable returns.

The January 2020 issue not only includes a roundtable (page 21) of the editors of Institutional Real Estate, Inc’s Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific magazines, sharing trends discussed at the regional Editorial Advisory Board meetings, but also a look, in this Notes & Trends, at some of the anonymous quick-tally responses — based on those food-for-thought topics — investors, consultants and investment managers provided at our Hong Kong event.

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.

As with the rest of the world, economic growth in the Asia Pacific region continues to slow, with economies reliant on domestic demand while awaiting fiscal stimulus measures to take hold, according to the latest Real Estate Outlook from UBS Asset Management Real Estate and Private Markets.