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Western property buyers look to Asia

Monday, August 26, 2013 - 02:21

Aug. 27 - We've heard a lot of stories about wealthy property investors putting vast sums of money into expensive London property, but how keen are Western buyers to look put their money into Asia? Michael Millar reports.

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Grosvenor, the property firm of one of the UK's richest families, owns much of Mayfair and Belgravia. Recently rich Asian buyers have flocked to this area. But Grosvenor, which now has a £12bn global portfolio, is doing just the opposite. As this promotional video for Hong Kong developments shows, the firm wants to beef up its presence in Asia. It is in talks to create a $700m investment club. Nick Loup, CEO of Grosvenor Asia Pacific, explains the thinking behind the move. SOUNDBITE: NICK LOUP, CEO OF GROSVENOR ASIA PACIFIC, SAYING (English): "We have good experience in the markets that we are in, particularly in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai. And I think the value-add space and the development space in this segment of the market there is strong underlying demand, 'a' for brands and 'b' for good quality products." No doubt that when the Grosvenors began building on what was marshland in 1720 it turned out to be a very shrewd investment indeed. Property round here can go for £3000 a square foot. But while demand from Asian buyers for these homes is booming, it's a different story in terms of property investors looking East. SOUNDBITE: MICHAEL MILLAR, REUTERS REPORTER SAYING (English): "A recent report for professional services firm PricewaterhouseCooper found that there was a degree of apprehension over investing in the Asia Pacific region as macro-economic headwinds grow in the region. But ratings of individual cities was rather more bullish, including several cities that were until recently considered second tier." Investors said the Asian city with the best prospects was Jakarta. This was followed by Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok. Less favoured were Ho Chi Minh City, Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Osaka. Liam Bailey is head of residential research at property agents Knight Frank, he sees the logic of Grosvenor and others looking East. SOUNDBITE (English), LIAM BAILEY, HEAD OF RESIDENTIAL RESEARCH AT PROPERTY AGENTS KNIGHT FRANK, SAYING: "Even if you have a slowdown in the Chinese economy at the moment, the long term trend is for significant growth in the numbers of wealthy people, and also the level of wealth they have to invest and spend on property." So even if investors are wary about investing in Asian property in 2013, it seems the long term prospects are looking bright.