According to property services firm Savills’ Asia-Pacific investment management business head, European real estate investors are starting to look much more closely at Asia, “from North Asia to Australia [and] including India,” and feel more comfortable investing more money in property in these areas[1]. “Over the next three to five years, it’s going to increase significantly,” explained Steffen Wolf, whose primary role with Savills is to help clients invest primarily in offices, malls and other retail assets. Savills also is going to set up a fund to invest in physical real estate. Wolf says that in order to “de-risk” investments, clients are buying in larger volumes, wanting to own “not just one property, but two or three.” He particularly recommended Shanghai and Beijing for investors willing to take higher risks.
While this all makes sense, it also sounds like a promising report on Asia from a guy who gets paid to invest in Asia. Do you think that Wolf is right about putting money in Asian properties, or do you think he is biased and investors should steer clear?
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[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/20/us-property-summit-savills-idUSTRE75J1K520110620
