Interview: Jun Ho Lee

How do you see the current situation on the Asian real estate investment markets?
The Asian real estate market is stabilizing as investor sentiment improves, supported by early signs of interest rate easing and a recovery in deal volumes in 2025. While capital raising remains challenging overall, the Asia-Pacific region has gained a larger share of new commitments, as investors diversify away from global strategies and reallocate toward the region’s core markets.

However, persistent macro uncertainty and diverging performance across countries continue to limit activity in certain areas, most notably in China, including Hong Kong.

Which markets are developing positively?
Japan, Australia and South Korea remain the preferred targets for both cross-border and local capital, driven by liquidity, transparency, and strong rental residential and logistics demand. Singapore is also attracting capital, although investor caution persists due to ongoing yield compression and pricing mismatch.

Meanwhile, emerging markets such as Vietnam and Thailand see limited interest, with some pickup likely only where infrastructure and supply chain themes support long-term logistics growth. In turn, Malaysia has emerged as a data center hot spot in Southeast Asia attracting institutional capital and hyperscalers.

How does this affect investments?
Investment volumes rebounded in 2025, led by Japan and South Korea, while overall capital raising in Asia-Pacific surged by nearly 80% compared to last year. Asset repricing and more pragmatic risk adjusted return expectations have stabilized transaction activity and narrowed the bid-ask gap in core markets.

Nevertheless, caution and selective deployment remain warranted due to lingering uncertainty. Many large global institutional investors, such as from Canada and the Middle East have pivoted towards credit investments in Australia and Korea attracted by improved yields, robust fundamentals and resilient loan performance. Notably, there has been a marked increase in real estate credit investment activity in both Korea and Australia driven by rising demand for alternative debt solutions as traditional lending tightens.

Many large global institutional investors, including pension funds from Canada and sovereign wealth capital from the Middle East, have actively pivoted toward credit strategies in these markets, attracted by improved yields, robust fundamentals and resilient loan performance.

Which markets or types of use are the focus?
Living sectors, particularly multifamily, student, and senior housing, remain thematic favorites, supported by demographic trends and their resilience to economic cycles. Logistics is still a structural core allocation, although Australia and Japan face short-term oversupply, with urban infill logistics assets continuing to outperform.

Meanwhile, the hospitality sector in Japan and Korea has become increasingly attractive, fueled by a sharp rebound in tourism and greater demand for flexible accommodation options such as serviced apartments and hotels. Additionally, alternative asset classes like data centers and life sciences are seeing strong interest as investors pursue “new economy” themes and more stable income streams.

Which regions are popular with investors?
Japan and Australia are seeing the strongest inflows, especially from Asian, European, US, and Middle Eastern institutional investors, reflecting a global “flight to safety” into stable, transparent markets. Korea has drawn interest for its office and logistics assets, but the global institutional investor interest has shifted to the hospitality and living sectors. China’s weight in cross-border investor portfolios remains subdued due to ongoing policy and market volatility.

You were involved in setting up the AsiaConference 2025 in Frankfurt. What motivated you to do so?
There is a clear need for a focused platform that bridges the investment community gap between Europe and Asia. Many investors seek insights and local partner connectivity to overcome market hesitancy and accelerate capital deployment. By bringing together key managers and asset owners, the conference promotes knowledge sharing, trust building and real-time exchange of best practices and new thematic trends.

Have you received any feedback from investors after the event?
Investor feedback was very positive. Participants highlighted the high-quality networking, actionable market insights and timely focus on structural changes such as alternative sectors, resilient living assets and the evolving capital-raising environment. The ability to directly engage with experienced GPs, LPs, and advisors from both continents proved especially valuable in today’s competitive and nuanced market.

You are taking over as Conference Chairman Lead for AsiaConference 2026. What are your plans?
The focus will be on further expanding the pan-European and pan-Asian investor base. The agenda will emphasize the most relevant real estate investment themes and share experiences that keep investors up at night. The key to a successful event is also a strong collaboration with the advisory board to ensure the content remains highly relevant and actionable for a fast changing landscape.

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