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Take a look through the sixth edition of The Occupier Edge, authored by Cushman & Wakefield’s very own future thinking experts. In this everchanging environment, you must stay on your toes – that’s exactly what we are doing. At Cushman & Wakefield, we put our clients and our people at the center of what’s next.

In addition to blockchain and co-working, this edition of The Occupier Edge also touches upon how PropTech is disrupting the real estate industry, the multi-faceted approach of placemaking, and why GenZ is the future. We also feature how robotics are being used to improve user experience and efficiency of facilities.

These are challenging times to be operating a real estate portfolio. Interest rates are starting to rise. Fundraising is intensely competitive. Property valuations have been increasing. Return expectations are falling. However, the findings of the 2018 Preqin Global Real Estate Report help to contextualize these issues within the broader climate, a climate where the asset class has flourished since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and delivered for the vast majority of investors that have sought greater diversification of returns within alternative assets.

2017 had been a whirlwind year as milestones kept coming in the commercial real estate (CRE) industry.

The Asia Pacific economy performed better than we expected, mostly thanks to improved global demand driving stellar export and manufacturing performance. We have had a variety of mini-shocks, some geo-political largely arising from tensions in the Korean peninsula while others being domestic such as the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India that caused sentiments to fall temporarily in the region’s third largest economy. Nonetheless, our property markets have shrugged off these noises. Occupier demand accelerated in many markets, with office absorption levels across the region posting their highest levels in 2017. Investment volumes also set a new watermark last year, with activity on a sector basis peaking across all asset classes with the exception of retail, where volume is on par with 2013. Further, blockbuster transactions refused to dry up especially in Hong Kong, which saw the largest ever land and office transactions recorded globally. In Japan, the most notable transaction occurred in Yokohama, just outside of Tokyo, indicating that investors are creatively looking outwards to search for opportunities.

In 2018, the region will continue to benefit from the global recovery in terms of increased demand and agenda of reforms. Against this strong backdrop, central banks will begin normalizing monetary policy, with the Bank of Korea already lifting interest rates for the first time since 2011. However, the low inflation environment means a gradual approach. We expect that same strength to hold in the property markets, with office occupancy and rent growth anticipated to remain at healthy levels even as new supply peaks in 2018. Investment activity should be no different, with transaction volumes expected to edge higher in 2018. We explain below our reasons for optimism.

The GPR/APREA AsiaPac Performance Snapshot tracks the dynamics of listed real estate securities (including REITs) across 12 AsiaPac countries/regions and eight sectors, over multiple time horizons.

• Listed real estate posted the highest total return in January 2018
• Equities, listed real estate and REITs were the strongest performers over the past five years.
• On a ten-year basis, REITs outpaced rival asset classes, followed by equities.

As private equity firms aggressively seek new opportunities to grow their portfolios and their business, they are keenly aware of the pressures expansion and investor requests are placing upon their organizations. Given the significance that financial operations play at private equity firms, chief financial officers (CFOs) often occupy a pivotal role as the ones responsible for making certain that their firms maintain their competitive edge by operating at a high state of operational resilience and efficiency. CFOs have the key responsibility for technology transformation, oversight of talent and pursuing outsourcing arrangements that would allow their organizations to be highly efficient and scalable.