Property investors appear to have been increasing their exposures to other property segments amid the COVID-19 outbreak, particularly in the industrial and logistics sectors, according to the latest report from CBRE.
Property investors have invested $5bn in industrial and logistics assets year-to-date, with sales up by 10% from last year. With this growth, the share of industrial and logistical segments in the overall investment activity has risen to 31%.
On the other hand, the office and retail segments posted respective sales decline of 44% and 51% over the same period.
Chris O'Brien said the industrial and logistics segments started the year slow, only to record a surge in activity mid-June. He said this could reflect that most negotiations were extended as opposed to being dropped entirely.
Furthermore, O'Brien said the growth shows that industrial & logistics were less affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
"This is one of the key reasons why there was such an immediate bounce back of volume levels from mid-June onwards, and why we have seen over 70% of year-to-date transaction occur in the past four months alone. We expect this wave of momentum to continue through until the end of the year," he said.
The CBRE study also showed that there was a spike in offshore buyer activity for office, retail, and industrial segments.
"Offshore investors are seeking to increase their exposure in the Australian market, which has traditionally been more stable in times of economic uncertainty and disruption," said Ben Martin-Henry, head of capital markets research at CBRE.
