The office sector across Asia-Pacific staged a strong recovery in 2025, with transaction activity picking up across many markets in the region.
According to CBRE, office investment rebounded sharply in the third quarter of 2025, with volumes rising 85% quarter on quarter, driven primarily by major transactions in Japan and South Korea. Together, the two markets accounted for around two-thirds of all office investment activity during the quarter.
A combination of factors, including stabilising interest rates and improving occupancies, has underpinned the shift in investor sentiment, particularly in core CBD office markets across the region.
In Japan, one of the largest transactions saw Mitsubishi UFJ acquire Osaka Dojimahama Tower for more than ¥100bn (€546m). Total commercial real estate investment in Japan reached $14bn (€12bn) during the quarter.
By asset sale value, however, the Japanese deal was eclipsed by a transaction in South Korea. Mirae Asset Management sold Pangyo Techno Valley Tower in Seongnam to a domestic Korean property fund for KRW2trn (€1.15bn), making it the country’s largest transaction of the quarter.
Singapore’s tightly held real estate market saw a number of notable transactions dominated by SGX-listed office real estate investment trusts consolidating their ownership of prime assets.
Leading the activity was Keppel REIT’s purchase of a one-third interest in Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3 from a subsidiary of Hongkong Land for S$1.45bn (€958m). Keppel REIT, which already owned a one-third stake, is now the majority owner with a two-thirds interest in the blue-chip tower.
In another major transaction, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust acquired the remaining 55% stake in CapitaSpring, a newly completed office complex for S$1bn.
Lendlease Global Commercial REIT also acquired a 70% interest in an S$885m suburban mixed-use development from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
As part of a broader shift towards an asset-light strategy focused on fund management, Hongkong Land – Hong Kong’s single largest CBD office landlord – has continued to divest assets.
Earlier in the year, the group sold nine office floors and retail space at One Exchange Square in Central. More recently, it sold several floors in an office tower in Causeway Bay to Ant Group, an associate of Chinese technology giant Alibaba, for HK$7.2bn (€790m).
JD.com, another leading Chinese technology company, was named in December as the buyer of a 50% stake in the China Construction Bank Tower in Hong Kong’s Central district for HK$3.5bn.
In Australia, CBRE said Melbourne accounted for around half of all office transactions nationally, with volumes in the latest quarter up 53% from the previous quarter.
However, the largest deals were concentrated in Sydney. A 50% stake in Grosvenor Place changed hands for A$860m (€485m). In October, co-investor Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation exercised its pre-emptive rights, striking a deal with GPT to take full ownership of the building.
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