With 1.2 billion people and rising living standards, India appears to be retaking its place in the world, admired for its democracy, stable banking system, low levels of private debt, legal system, tech sector, textiles, a massive and growing labour force, and even its movies, as in Bollywood.
Asia Pacific is a net exporter of capital in the real estate world, with the flow of funds coming partially from the pools of savings created in the rapid economic growth since the Asian financial crisis that continued through the global financial crisis, and from the waves of capital from western countries in the form of quantitative easing in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe that have been washing through Asia.
Graeme Newell is professor of real estate investment at the University of Western Sydney in Australia. He recently prepared a major follow-on report for the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association, The Significance of Real Estate in Asian Pension Funds, and presented the findings this past November at the VIP – Asia Investor Roundtable,
The hotel industry is a lagging indicator, one of the industries that recovers last — and keeps going for the longest. It is only now that the hospitality industry is starting to find its feet again, a bit groggy but putting the right foot forward.
Now that 2013 is behind us, I wanted to revisit some of the important topics that we discussed at our Editorial Advisory Board meetings and conferences in different countries and on different continents that most likely will have significance in 2014 and beyond for investors based in the Asia Pacific region.
Despite the threat of an end to quantitative easing and the higher interest rates that could follow, real estate in the Asia Pacific region held its ground through 2013.
Major Shanghai-based developer Shui On Land Ltd has been quite active with investors of late through sales, partnerships and the corporate restructuring of its business in an effort to pay down its debt and improve its cash position.
Known for its mega-funds with more than US$10 billion in raised equity, The Blackstone Group is becoming a more active player in the Asia Pacific region, further signalling the draw of the region to investors seeking yield.
As was the case for most of 2013, global real estate markets exhibited heightened volatility as the markets careened around due to the mixed economic and interest rate environment. With linkages across countries and continents, as well as facing country-specific policy measures, the Asia Pacific region partook in that global volatility throughout 2013 and into December.