New Asian real estate website adds Australian commercial properties to listings

By Larry Schlesinger
Wednesday, 16 May 2012

A new Asian commercial property website has been launched and includes Australian commercial properties among its listings.

The new property portal, CommercialAsia.com, has been launched by ASX-listed iProperty Group and is targeted at investors from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and China.

Currently the site has more than 50,000 commercial and industrial properties listed for sale and lease, including 1,000 Australian commercial properties listed from agents including Knight Frank and Burgess Rawson.

According to research by CBRE, offshore-based institutions and private investors accounted for 37% of Australia’s commercial sale transactions in 2011.

“Australia’s steady economy and commercial property sector, particularly in those areas connected with the resources boom, offers Asian investors attractive yields and a ‘safe haven’ to preserve and grow their wealth,” says Corey Weekes, CommercialAsia.com’s national sales manager for Australia and New Zealand.

“Region-wide cooling measures for property investment by Asian governments are also driving many Asian investors to explore offshore options like Australia,” he adds.

John Bowie Wilson, city sales director with Knight Frank, says the number of offshore investors interested in the Australian commercial property sector is increasing on a daily basis.

“The Asian investor market is more active than I’ve ever seen it before,” he says.

“As prices rise in Singapore and Hong Kong awaits a currency correction against the US dollar; investors are seeking ‘safe havens’ like Australia to provide them with secure compound growth investment options.”

CommercialAsia.com draws on the iProperty Group’s existing network of property portals across Asia, which attracts 3.5 million unique visitors per month and has over 25,000 property agent customers.

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