The second quarter of 2017 registered US$1.58 billion worth of investment transactions and a total of 29 hotel transactions across eight countries in Asia-Pacific. As reported by the Savills Asia Pacific Hotel Sales and Investment Briefing, collectively the transaction amount in the first half of 2017 recorded a YoY decrease of 5.5% compared to 1H/2016 

"One of the largest transactions this quarter was the sale of Four Seasons Bora Bora, acquired by a consortium led by Gaw Capital, from French developer Thierry Barbion and Lancaster Group. The sale was publicised in February this year and was finalised in the second quarter."

"Another noteworthy transaction was the InterContinental Sydney Double Bay, which was sold for approximately AU$140 million or US$105.3 million. Chinese company Shanghai United RE purchased the property from Singapore-based Royal Group. It is noted that despite the major offshore purchase of the French Polynesia asset, a majority of the transacted hotels were still located in the mature markets of Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, wooing domestic buyers with stable performing assets."

"Although the first half investment volume recorded a YoY decrease due to the softened expectations for the regional market, investors are still actively looking for stable investments to mitigate the growth outlook, especially in established markets. However, deals in these areas tend to have high prices and often limited yields. Other Asia-Pacific markets remain opportunistic, but with potentially higher returns than the global average; here investors are taking a more strategic approach, choosing assets with higher value-added potential."

Australia recorded the second highest transaction volumes totalling AU$462.2 or US$348.7 million. This represents an increase of 72.1% compared to the country’s total transaction volume in Q2/2016. Whilst the number of deals made was fewer in Q2/2017, the average transacted price per deal was higher than the previous quarter.

"In recent times, the Australia market has captured the interest of investors, especially Asian investors, with positive hotel demand and supply conditions and consistently high performance. The new hotel development pace in key markets has remained subdued while demand has been boosted by Asian inbound arrivals and strong domestic demand. As such, both domestic and international investors perceive Australia to be a low-risk investment market, which in turn has boosted demand for hotels, pushing up values. In Q2/2017, there were three international cross-border transactions in Australia, compared to the mainly domestic buyer driven regional markets."

Download the full Savills Asia Pacific Hotels Sales and Investment Briefing.

See also:

Australia and New Zealand hotel market records $2 billion in transactions over the 2016/17 financial year

Hotel investment dominated by Australia and Hong Kong during first half of 2017

$18 billion worth of infrastructure investments for Brisbane