Home and away

By KARL WILSON (China Daily) Updated: 2014-11-09 08:55

"Whereas they traditionally focused on their home country or region, the total value of their investments elsewhere in the world has grown continuously in recent years, from around $1 billion at the beginning of the century to more than $30 billion in 2013," the paper says.

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From January to September this year, the total volume of Asian business has been worth about $30 billion, says Simon Lo, executive director for Asia research and advisory at Colliers International, a global real estate company. Of that amount, some $7 billion came from China, he says.

"The actual number should be much higher than this if we include the sales and purchase by developers and acquisition of non-real estate companies that may include significant real estate assets."

Lo cites a number of reasons why Asian investment capital is going outbound: "Different economic cycles between Asia and the Western world, geographical diversification, better yields and investment returns, and the relaxation of government regulations on overseas investments."

Investors from Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland and Singapore have been the region's biggest buyers of real estate outside Asia, and they are set to remain key sources in the next few years, according to analysts.

They say more Chinese investors are set to jump on the bandwagon, simply because they now feel more comfortable about venturing their capital into overseas real estate markets.

According to Colliers, Asian investors are no longer limited to residential property investments.

"Whereas Asian investors concentrated on residential opportunities when they started buying overseas in the past, the gradual economic recovery and growing investment demand have begun to increase the popularity of commercial real estate," says Colliers in an article on its website.

"In fact, offices have now become the favorite sector among Asia outbound investors. Statistics show their percentage increased from 45 percent in 2001 to 60 percent in 2013."

Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have become major draws for investors, not only in residential but commercial real estate as well, according to analysts. They say the political unrest in Thailand has done little to dampen investor interest in property in the "Land of a Thousand Smiles".

Thailand is now the sixth most popular destination in Asia for Chinese property buyers, according to data published by Juwai.com. "Thailand is currently getting a lot of attention from investors in many countries, and China is certainly no exception," the website says.

The impact of the introduction of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 is thought to be one driving factor for Chinese buyers in Thailand, allowing them wider access to Association of Southeast Asian Nations markets through the purchase of Thai property.

ASEAN envisions the AEC as a single market and production base in the region.

"A small number of real estate agencies in Thailand now have Chinese-speaking staff to cater to the increasing number of inquiries they are receiving from mainland and Hong Kong buyers," according to Juwai.com.