CHN
AUS
CHN
COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE
42 September | October 2017
B E A T
INTERNATIONAL
London's Big Deal
A European office REIT and a Chinese property developer joined
forces to buy a trophy office building in London for approximately
$391 million. NorthStar Realty Europe Corp. and China Resources Land
Limited acquired 20 Gresham Street from AXA Investment Managers.
This investment is the first commercial real estate investment in Europe for
CRL. Located in London's largest business district, the 242,807-sf prop-
erty is close to St. Paul's Cathedral and the Bank of England. The building
is fully leased with blue-chip financial service firms, which include ICBC
Standard Bank Plc, TSB Bank plc, Sacker & Partners LLP, and TLT LLP.
Global Markets to Watch Rents in Grade A office buildings in Beijing's CBD are
expected to decline 15 percent by 2021 as supply continues to rise in 2017, according to the China Daily. The vacancy
rate for premium office buildings in Beijing rose to 6.1 percent in Q1 2017, up 0.5 percent from Q4 2016, leading to a
0.2 percent decrease in the average monthly rent, according to Savills in London. High-end leasable office space has
grown to 10.08 million square meters in Beijing.
U.S. Cross-Border Flow Slows Down
Source: CBRE Asia Pacific Investor Inventions Survey 2017
Comparative
Shopping for
Asia-Pacific
Investors
35%
30%
%
of
respondents
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
North
America
2015 2016 2017
Developed
Asia
Emerging
Asia
Western
Europe
Pacific South and
Central
America
Central and
Eastern
Europe
SYC
GBR
Germany $5.6b
UK $3.1b
Switzerland $3.0b
France $1.5b
Spain $0.8b
$15.1b
Europe
China $16.5b
Singapore $5.4b
South Korea $4.5b
Japan $3.4b
Hong Kong $2.6b
Asia
Rest of World
Israel $2.8b
Qatar $1.9b
Saudi Arabia $1.8b
Kuwait $1.0b
Mid-East
Canada
HKG
Past four quarters
Source: Real Capital Analytics
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