Asian Developers Active In Aussie Apartment Market

MELBOURNE, Dec 29 (Bernama) – Asian developers, mainly from Singapore, have been active in the Australian apartment sector, securing about 30 per cent share of the properties. Malaysian, Chinese, Korean and Indian developers are huge investors too. "The Age" newspaper says foreign investors are behind 13,000 apartments in 37 projects in Australia. Based on the average number of apartments completed in 2011, that represents a market share of as much as 32 per cent, according to the findings of a research undertaken by property group, CBRE. About 40 per cent of projects are under construction; the rest are at the planning or marketing stage. "Asian developers, predominantly from Singapore, are leading the pack, accounting for 92 per cent of all apartments being proposed or developed by foreign companies. "Development activity in Australia involving foreign companies has reached levels not seen in more than two decades," CBRE executive director Kevin Stanley told the newspaper. Frasers Property, a Singaporean investor in Sydney's Central Park project, is one of the largest foreign investors, accounting for 2,900 apartments. The second-biggest investor is Hong Kong's Far East Consortium, which is building 2,600 apartments in Melbourne's billion-dollar Upper West Side project in Lonsdale Street. The push into apartments follows huge foreign investment in commercial property. Asian money accounted for 51 per cent of all foreign investment in commercial property, and 19 per cent of all transactions, so far this year, CBRE says. More foreign money is being spent in Melbourne's apartment market rather than in Sydney's because larger sites are available on the northern edge of the Victorian city. Australian developers are under pressure from foreign developers who can source funds from overseas financiers and then sell unlimited numbers of apartments, under revised foreign investment rules. -- BERNAMA Malaysia