Although build-to-rent residential property is an established real estate asset class in the United Kingdom, continental Europe and the United States — where it is known as multifamily property — it barely exists in Australia. If anything, the Australian property market has been of the opposite persuasion — more like “build-to-sell” — but all that could be about to change.
Australian asset owners and managers now require comprehensive, reliable information about their exposure to climate risks, the effect of these risks, and the actions taken to manage and mitigate them.
The outlook for real estate fundamentals globally in 2019 remains generally positive, although the pace of improvement appears to be moderating amidst a slowing global-economic-growth backdrop.
Despite being in the later stage of the cycle, investors still seem bullish on real estate, as proven by the record US$193.7 billion capital raised for real estate in 2018, according to the ANREV/INREV/NCREIF Capital Raising Survey 2019.
The stakes are getting higher in the trade tensions between the United States and China, setting the scene for further concerns from investors about an economic slowdown as the world’s two largest economies answer failed trade negotiations with tit-for-tat tariff increases.
Obsolescence risk is especially acute at this time, as the world is changing rapidly and what people need from real estate is also changing rapidly. Real estate investors need to be adept at steering around obsolescence.
Investment activity has slipped overall in recent months, but tenant demand has held up across key commercial real estate markets globally, according to the second edition of UBS Asset Management’s 2019 Real Estate Summary.
The weaker relative performance of the Asia Pacific region was driven by sharply-lower Chinese property stocks, as that market traded off on the heightened trade rhetoric and subsequent lower economic projections for China.