logo redirect pin user minus plus fax mobile-phone office-phone data envelope globe outlook retail close line-arrow-down solid-triangle-down facebook globe2 google hamburger line-arrow-left solid-triangle-left linkedin wechat play-btn line-arrow-right arrow-right solid-triangle-right search twitter line-arrow-up solid-triangle-up calendar globe-americas globe-apac globe-emea external-link music picture paper pictures play gallery download rss-feed vcard account-loading collection external-link2 internal-link share-link icon-close2
Australia
  • Global
  • United States
  • Albania
  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Bahrain
  • Baltics
  • Belgium
  • Bosnia & Herzegovina
  • Brazil
  • Bulgaria
  • Cambodia
  • Canada
  • Chile
  • Colombia
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Egypt
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Hong Kong
  • Hungary
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Jordan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kenya
  • Korea
  • Kuwait
  • Latin America
  • Luxembourg
  • Mainland China
  • Malaysia
  • Mexico
  • Montenegro
  • Morocco
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • North Macedonia
  • Norway
  • Oman
  • Pakistan
  • Panama
  • Philippines
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Serbia
  • Singapore
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • South Eastern Europe
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom
  • Venezuela
  • Vietnam
Log In
  • Global Intranet
  • myCBRE
  • Services
    • Business Lines
      • Advisory & Transaction Services
      • Capital Markets
      • Global Workplace Solutions
      • Investment Management (CBRE Investment Management)
      • Property Management
      • Valuation & Advisory Services
    • Industries & Specialties
      • Agribusiness
      • Build-to-Rent
      • Building, Depreciation & Cost Consultancy
      • Government Real Estate Advisory & Transactions
      • Hotels
      • Industrial & Logistics
      • Office
      • Residential
      • Retail
      • Retirement & Healthcare
      • Sustainability
      • Flexible Workspace
    • Services for Investors
      • Debt and Structured Finance
      • Host
      • Institutional Investments
      • International Investments
      • Investment Accounting & Reporting Solutions
      • Structured Transactions & Advisory
      • Leasing & Advisory
      • Metropolitan Investments
      • Property Management
      • Property Sales
      • Recovery & Restructuring
      • Valuation & Advisory
    • Services for Occupiers
      • Facilities Management
      • Leasing & Advisory
      • Occupier Consulting
      • Portfolio Services
      • Project Management
      • Sale and Leaseback
      • Structured Transactions & Advisory
      • Transaction Management
      • Valuation & Advisory
      • Workplace
  • Properties
    • Agribusiness
      Hotels
      Industrial & Logistics
      Institutional Investments
      Metropolitan Investments
      Office
      Residential
      Retail
  • Research & Insight
    • Australia Research
      Asia Pacific Research
      Global Research
      Expert Opinions
      Talking Property Podcast
  • People & Offices
    • Pacific Executive Committee
  • About CBRE
    • [email protected] - LGBTQI+ Inclusion
      Careers
      Case Studies
      Client Tools
      Corporate Information
      Environmental, Social and Governance
      Investor Relations
      Media Centre
      Reconciliation
      The Place Makers

Previous

Press Release
Growth prompts $2.45m Clontarf factory purchase

Next

Press Release
ISPT snares trophy Bourke Street asset for $116,280,000
  • Home
  • About CBRE
  • Media Centre
  • Unprecedented offshore buyer activity pushes Australian commercial property sales to $28.4bn in 2015

Unprecedented offshore buyer activity pushes Australian commercial property sales to $28.4bn in 2015

6 January 2016
  • Email
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Share

Record $9bn in retail property changes hands

​Sydney, 6 January 2016 –New CBRE sales data highlights that a total of $28.4 billion in commercial property changed hands in Australia in 2015 fuelled by unprecedented offshore buyer activity.

CBRE’s data takes into account sales of office, industrial and retail property valued at over $5 million. It highlights that 2016 transactions fell just 4% shy of the record $29.6 billion tally set in 2014, with the high level of activity largely attributable to offshore buyers.

CBRE’s Head of Research, Australia, Stephen McNabb, said offshore investors purchased $11.7 billion of commercial real estate, accounting for 41% of overall transaction activity – the highest annual percentage on record. On the flipside, domestic purchases declined by 28%. 

“Rising volumes of offshore investment reflect the relative attractiveness of Australia’s commercial property yields in a period when interest rates have been close to 2% points above major developed markets globally,” Mr McNabb said.

“The level of activity is also consistent with the trend towards globalisation and diversification.  As a result of this, Australian investors are also beginning to export more capital offshore and we may see more of this in 2016, particularly as interest rates rise in overseas markets.”

Offshore investors were particularly active in the Australian office market – acquiring more office towers than domestic buyers for the first time since CBRE began tracking these measurements in 2005.

Overseas buyers accounted for 54% of the annual office turnover and while there was also an increase in offshore investor dispositions net overseas investment in the office sector increased by $3 billion through the year.

CBRE Executive Managing Director, Capital Markets, Mark Granter predicted that momentum would continue into 2017.

“At the beginning of 2014 the expectation was that foreign investment activity might ease however it’s only grown stronger, with the available returns in Australia still more attractive than in the other gateway cities offshore,” Mr Granter said.

“The underlying property fundamentals in Sydney and Melbourne are helping to drive activity as occupier demand improves and vacancies decline, with these markets also benefitting from the fact that not too much new supply is being delivered.”

Turning to the retail sector, CBRE’s data highlights that a record $9 billion in property changed hands last year –up 24% on 2014.

“With trading activity in regional centres declining, the uplift was driven by activity in sub-regional and neighbourhood centres. Sales in these sectors totaled $2.8 billion and $2.5 billion respectively and in both cases this was up by close to $1 billion on prior year levels,” Mr McNabb said.

“Higher transaction volumes for neighbourhood and sub-regional sectors coincided with a circa 40 basis point yield compression through 2015 in these sectors, which suggests investor confidence has been buoyed by the improved retail sales backdrop, stronger tenant demand and the increased opportunity for re-development and expansion.”

The retail sector also saw further offshore investment with an increase in net investment of $1.8 billion through 2015.

In the industrial sector, annual sales dipped by 15% to $4.5 billion, however CBRE Senior Manager, Industrial & Logistics, Matt Haddon said it was a matter of timing rather than any slowing in activity.

“2015 was probably even more active than 2014, however a number of very large deals failed to exchange just before Christmas and will now fall into the first quarter of 2016. We estimate that there could be $2billion+ of unrecorded deals agreed in 2015 that sit within this category,” Mr Haddon said.

For Australian/international news or global stories, follow us on Twitter.

About CBRE Group, Inc.

CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (in terms of 2014 revenue). The Company has more than 70,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 400 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.​

Media Contacts

Kathryn House Headshot
Kathryn House
Communications Director
Pacific
+61 2 9333 3585
+61 402 465 440
  • Corporate Information
  • Corporate Responsibility
  • Media Centre
  • About CBRE
  • Careers
  • Case Studies
  • People & Offices
  • Executive Committee
  • Investor Relations
  • Contact Us
  • Australia Privacy Policy
  • Global Web Privacy and Cookie Notice
  • Whistleblower Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Terms of Use
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube