Singapore Top Foreign Investor In Aussie Commercial Properties
AUSTRALIA – Data from Real Capital Analytics (RCA) show that Singapore entities were the largest foreign investor in commercial properties in the country, spending US$4.3 billion so far this year, reported the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Tuesday (16 November, SGT).
The 2nd largest offshore investor in Australia commercial real estate (CRE) are those from the United States (US$1.9 billion), followed by Canada-based property buyers (US$1.4 billion). Notably, the figures only include transactions with a minimum price of US$10 million.
On the other hand, real estate investors from China only spent US$615 million, a far cry from the US$2.5 billion recorded in 2018. The significant drop in Chinese investment came after Australia’s ties with China soured after Australia banned Huawei from constructing its 5G network here, while Beijing banned or limited Australian imports after Canberra officials named the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a potential source of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among recent notable transactions in Australia’s office market is a Beijing-based coworking space operator UCommune’s tie-up with Australian real estate developer Hexa Group last week so that the former can open its first flexible office space in Australia in Melbourne.
“Ucommune has been actively exploring international markets since 2016, and given the huge potential for the co-working industry across the world, it seemed appropriate to enter the Australian market,” said a representative from Hexa,
The spokespersons also revealed that the joint venture (JV) plans to open 3 or 4 more local outlets in the next 3 years.
Hexa signed the deal with Nasdaq-listed UCommune after authorities in Australia decided to relax COVID-19 restrictions, such as by permitting citizens to travel to other countries, in addition to opening the borders to skilled workers and international students.
