Property sales volumes in the Asia Pacific region rose 18 percent year-on-year to US$96.8 billion (S$125.4 billion) as of 30 September 2011, according to the latest quarterly report by the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA) and Real Capital Analytics (RCA).
Quarter-on-quarter, real estate transaction volumes in Q3 2011 increased 16 percent since the end of Q2 2011, it added.
“Sales volumes have increased substantially in Asia Pacific in the third quarter, while they have stagnated in North America and Europe, continuing a trend which started in the second quarter of 2010,” said Peter Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer of APREA.
The 16 percent quarter-on-quarter rise in Asia Pacific transaction volumes is mainly attributable to a 30 percent increase in land transactions. This compensated for decreases in other segments, such as hotel (-38 percent), apartment (-18 percent) and commercial (-11 percent).
Transaction volumes witnessed the largest increases in Japan and Hong Kong, where volumes increased 43 percent and 27 percent respectively. The largest falls were in Singapore and South Korea, which saw decreases of 59 percent and 50 percent respectively.
In terms of regional sales, private sellers remained the most active at 31 percent, albeit down from 46 percent in Q2 2011.
Major transactions in Q3 include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries HQ in Tokyo and Festival Walk in Hong Kong.
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