With luck, the year 2021 will not be remembered much. And that is the good news for Asia Pacific institutional property investors. Gashing its mark in history, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 made misery for citizens and investors alike, wrecking lives and economies with unexpected tenacity.
In this environment, in which elevated uncertainty alone is combined with record-high prices of financial assets, real estate appears to represent an important asset class for institutional investors. The key question on the minds of the groups we advise is not if they should invest in real estate, but how they should construct their portfolios and manage risk.
Predicting the future of work is no easy task. While we can often identify the forces that might shape our future, it is difficult to estimate the speed with which they might take effect. COVID-19 has been a stark reminder of this.
The hunt for yield and portfolio diversification has sparked institutional interest in global secondary markets in recent years, and potential shifts in behaviour related to the COVID-19 pandemic could further strengthen those strategies.
The Asia Pacific real estate market has shown a considerable display of resilience to navigate through the impacts of COVID-19, supported by governments’ efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic and support the economy through stimulus programmes.
The retail industry in Asia Pacific is poised for tremendous change over the next decade as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates technological transformation, resulting in physical and digital platforms converging to meet consumer demand in terms of convenience.