Investors Have Predominantly Been Real Estate Companies and Trading Companies; North America and Europe Receive Largest Share of Investments for Existing Assets, Asia for Development Sites
Tokyo, October 8th, 2015 - CBRE today released, "Japan Major Report – Rising Outbound Flows: Japanese Capital in the Global Real Estate Market," a special report that examines the overview of, and outlook for, overseas real estate investment by Japanese companies.
Japanese outbound real estate investment
Outbound real estate investment by Japanese investors has been expanding since 2011. Although 2014 saw the total investment amount (in existing properties only, excluding purchases for development) drop 6.9% y-o-y to USD1.8billion, the market is likely to expand going forward.
Major investors driving the market to date include real estate companies and general trading companies. Offices are the most favoured asset class, but in recent years, more investors are diversifying into hotels, residential and other sectors. The preferred regions for investment are North America and Europe. However, with regards investment for development purposes, such as land transactions which are not included in the figures quoted above, the largest number of investments has been in Asia.
The growth in outbound real estate investment by Japanese companies is on the back of: 1) the expectation that demand for real estate in Japan will decrease in the long term because of the declining population; 2) greater geographical diversification of assets to lower investment risks; and 3) increasing competition in the Japanese real estate investment market on the back of recovery in fundamentals and favourable funding environment.
Prospects for outbound real estate investment
Japanese outbound real estate investment


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