Market Outlook

North Sydney now has two Premium grade office developments under construction. The first, 100 Mount Street (41,000 sqm), is due in early 2019, while 1 Denison Street (60,000 sqm) is due in late 2020. Both will benefit from the opening of the Victoria Cross metro station in 2024, above which Transport for NSW is currently seeking concept approval for a 168m, 60,000 sqm office building.

Real Estate Spotlight will go through:

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON RETAIL INVESTMENT

Considering the difficulties facing the broader retail industry, we examine the industry in the context of private equity real estate transactions and show that, contrary to wider market trends, PERE retail activity continues to occur. Access the article to find out more on page 2

SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE...

The GPR/APREA AsiaPac Performance Snapshot tracks the dynamics of listed real estate securities (including REITs) across 12 AsiaPac countries/regions and eight sectors, over multiple time horizons.

• REITs posted the highest total return in May 2018. 
• Equities and listed real estate were the strongest performers over the past five years.
• On a ten-year basis, REITs outpaced rival asset classes, followed by listed real estate. 

Sharly higher rent growth herald a sea change from the soft market conditions of 2015-2017. We view the Singapore office market as the strongest income-growth opportunity within Asia for investors, with the potential to achieve up to 20% rental growth over 2018-19. Firm economic momentum, bolstered by synchronized growth across office-using sectors, should elevate prime office rents by 10% to 12% over 2018, and by 5%-7% over 2019.

As the market turns up and vacancy tightens, we recommend occupiers to bring forward impending lease reviews.