China’s commercial real estate surging
In the past month, China’s fragile economy and financial markets have taken a severe knock. The trade war has unexpectedly intensified, throwing the acuteness of the commercial and economic tensions between Washington and Beijing into sharp relief. Mainland stocks have suffered four weeks of losses, while the yuan is edging closer to its record low versus the dollar. Yet in China’s commercial real estate market, investment transaction volumes are surging. According to a report published this month by property adviser Jones Lang LaSalle investment volumes in the first quarter of this year rose to a record high of US$17 billion. This was the main driver behind the strong performance of the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, where commercial property transactions increased 14 per cent year on year, to an all-time high of US$45 billion. The surge in real estate investment in China comes at a time when the world’s other big markets are experiencing a decline in transaction volumes. Data from Jones Lang LaSalle shows that commercial real estate investment globally fell 8 per cent in the first quarter of this year to US$156 billion, dragged down by a 22 per cent drop in transaction volumes in Europe and an 8 per cent fall in the Americas.
Tags : INTERNATIONAL