ASIA – A study by the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA) has predicted that the Asia Pacific region's share of the global real estate market will grow from the current 27% to nearly 50% by 2031.

APREA said international and local real estate investors were increasingly keen to capitalise on the region's strong economic growth.

It estimated that the Asia Pacific's share of the global market would increase to 39% by 2021 and 49% by 2031, while its own market would increase in size from $7trn (€5.2trn) to $45trn over the same period.

Henry Chin, head of strategy and research for the Asia Pacific at Pramerica Real Estate Investors, said that, given the interest from investors around the world in the region, it was important to understand how their size could have a material impact on investment strategies.

"The fastest pace of growth globally is expected to be in the emerging countries of Asia, and Latin America, but the more significant increases in overall value will be in Asia Pacific," he said.

"As an example, the growth of REIT markets in the region demonstrates the maturity and the magnitude of growth over the past decade, and that's just the beginning."

Chin also cited attractive risk-adjusted returns in the region.

However, the author of the report, professor Graeme Newell from the University of Western Sydney, stressed that, as Asia Pacific real estate markets assume an increasingly important role globally, liquidity will be a key issue for international investors.

According to him, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia offer comparable levels of liquidity to those seen in the more mature UK and US markets.

"This presents major real estate investment opportunities over the next 20 years for both local and international real estate investors," he said.

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