In Australia’s 2023 May budget, the government announced 1.5 million in net migration for the country over five years to help revive a stalling economy. CBRE’s in-house budget analysis had experts evaluating this as a huge number of people to accommodate.

It’s this sentiment which leads perfectly into this week’s Talking Property episode which explores Australia’s build-to-rent (BTR) sector in detail - blocks of apartments that are specifically built to be leased rather than sold to individual owners. As an emerging asset class, BTR has been attracting significant interest from both local and offshore investors as well as garnering plenty of industry attention as one part of a bigger solution to alleviating the country’s housing and rental crisis.

With 30,000 apartments operating or in the pipeline across the country, there's big potential with forecasts the BTR sector could grow to as many as 150,000 apartments within 10 years.

To understand the diversity of benefits, challenges and future market outlook for BTR in Australia, CBRE’s Pacific Communications Director, Kathryn House, talks exclusively to Mirvac’s Fund Manager and BTR Sector Lead, Angela Buckley, alongside CBRE Pacific’s Head of Living Sectors Capital Markets business, Andrew Purdon.

If you have any questions from this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to answer in future episodes, please email us at: [email protected]. 

If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

Investment activity across the commercial property spectrum continues to be a fluid affair in 2023. While some specific sectors are performing better than others, investors need to understand which ones are remaining resilient against those that are experiencing market headwinds.

CBRE’s new In and Out report reveals Australia’s latest inbound and outbound investment trends. While it highlights a challenging first half of the year with a 50% dip in the total value of deals across the office, industrial, retail, and hotel sectors when compared to 2022, it’s not all bad news. Some sectors remain buoyant while several Asian countries and the US see the Australian market as a prime offshore investment opportunity. And of course, there’s also speculation around the rapidly maturing BTR sector which is primed to become a key pillar to offshore capital’s portfolio construction across the country. 

This important episode will examine the current debt landscape and the drivers that will shape the market and influence investor decision making this year.  CBRE's Communications Director, Kathryn House, will present the topic’s key insights from three of CBRE's leading market experts, Stuart McCann, Head of International Capital for Pacific and Southeast Asia, Andrew McCasker our Pacific Managing Director of Debt and Structured Finance, and Tom Broderick, CBRE's Australian Head of Capital Markets Research.   

Read CBRE's investment In and Out report for H1 2023.

If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

Deciphering the broader property landscape across Australia and its true performance potential on the global stage requires a deep understanding of specific goals, processes and stakeholders. And no one else knows that property pulse better than the Property Council of Australia’s Chief Executive, Mike Zorbas. 

In his candid conversation with Phil Rowland, CBRE Pacific’s Chief Executive Officer, Zorbas provides his industry-backed insights into the property sector’s most pressing issues as well as current and future trends across the residential and commercial sectors and the journey to net zero. The duo also assess Australia’s robust investment strengths amid the current economic challenges and address potential solutions to the country’s growing housing shortage crisis. 

Other crucial talking points include an update on CBD revitalisation across the country, creating momentum for more women in leadership, and how the property industry can play its part in supporting reconciliation alongside the upcoming Voice to Parliament decision. 

If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

Indigenous businesses in Australia were once a rarity, but their growing presence is now more evident than ever. Today’s Indigenous businesses take on the dual responsibility of delivering profits while also driving lasting positive impacts for wider Aboriginal communities across the country. 

Three modern pioneers of Australia’s Indigenous business landscape are Michael O’Loughlin, the Managing Director of ARA Indigenous Services; Rohan Tobler-Williams, the General Manager at ARA; and Shane Jacobs, the Managing Director of Orana Services. The trio, who have varying degrees of experience across construction, property, facilities and infrastructure services, are pushing boundaries and paving the way for future Indigenous peoples to enter an industry in which they can learn to lead.

As part of CBRE’s Talking Property series in NAIDOC Week, we’re exploring the rise of Indigenous business partnerships, the growth in the Indigenous business sector, and the real impact that these businesses are having in creating better economic outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  

If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

Australia is grappling with an economic climate of fresh challenges. Regular interest rate rises have put capital values under pressure while pricing discovery continues to be challenged. As a result, the market is beginning to show early signs that occupiers might exercise extra caution when it comes to space requirements.  

What does this mean for investors and relevant stakeholders in the broader property landscape? In the latest episode of Talking Property: The House View, CBRE’s Phil Rowland, Pacific Advisory Services CEO, and Sameer Chopra, Pacific Head of Research, present their expert evaluation on property pricing, lender sentiment, property types that are bucking the trend, occupier feedback in key markets, and one of the most controversial topics in Australia today – the residential market and its significant disparity of supply vs demand.

Subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you don’t miss the next quarterly forecast in early October 2023. 

If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

Asset managers globally are expected to increase their ESG-related assets under management (AuM) to US$33.9 trillion by 2026, up from US$18.4 trillion in 2021. This was a key finding highlighted in a 2022 PwC report which also identified that nine out of ten surveyed asset managers believe that integrating ESG into their investment strategy will improve overall returns. 

Given this growing sentiment towards ESG across the property sector, CBRE is taking a closer look at the full spectrum of ESG in Australia today, including the often-overlooked ‘S’ (social) component of ESG. Joining Su-Fern Tan, CBRE’s Head of ESG, Pacific, for this insightful conversation is Ian Lieblich, Head of ESG for EG Funds, Linh Pham, Fund Manager at EG Funds, and Sarah Mathews, CEO of Little BIG Foundation, a firm specialising in tackling loneliness through developing places, programs and events for social connection.  

The important conversation will address how social impact is being measured for clients, how KPIs need to shift to incorporate evolving ESG initiatives and ultimately, the strategies being used right now to invest in community building while still making a profit.    

Links: 

• Little BIG Foundation
• EG Funds

If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

Australia will need to support an EV fleet of 1 million vehicles by 2027 to reach its bold 2050 net zero targets. That’s the significant forecast from the Electric Vehicle Council which currently counts Australia’s electric vehicle adoption to just 83,000 cars.

On the back of this projected influx of electric vehicles across the nation, CBRE is investigating the globally established strategies as well as future planning ideas to help support this impending EV wave. The EV conversation features commentary spanning across the border, from insights provided by Scott Howard, the Executive Managing Director at CBRE - EV Solutions Lead in the United States, Tim Washington, chair of the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia, and by Neil Glozier, Director of Energy and Sustainability for CBRE's Pacific GWS business.

What are the challenges facing property landlords in commercial and retail spaces? How can the necessary infrastructure be safely and economically rolled out? And what are the major issues the EV industry is encountering?

Listen to the podcast now to find out.

CBRE 2023 Electric Vehicles Report: EV Charging in Australia: How ready are we? | CBRE Australia  

If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

Asian-based investment sentiment is shifting across the Asia Pacific region and Australia is increasingly positioning itself as a prime destination for foreign money as market momentum continues to steadily recover and international travel resumes. The only factor that could slow down this influx of Asian investment? Pricing.

In the latest Talking Property podcast, CBRE’s Head of Client Care, Pacific, Kate Heaney, sits down with Dr. Henry Chin, Global Head of Investor Thought Leadership & Head of Research, Asia Pacific, to talk about the multitude of Australian investment opportunities as well as investor sentiment on a macro scale.

With over 20 years of property research experience, Chin explores and evaluates the most crucial talking points in the Australian property market today. He provides his forecast on the potential of the local life sciences, office, logistics and build-to-rent sectors as well as touching on the growing demand for greenfield developments.

With Australian migration predicted to explode over the next few years, Chin also identifies what type of commercial spaces local retailers are eyeing in preparation for servicing this new influx of consumers.

If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

Purpose-driven businesses and communities create opportunities for us to evolve how we live, work and play. So, how do we lay the foundations of a conscious city to maximise the human experience? In this episode of Talking Property, we dive into how dynamic environments form the fabric of our future city.  

Natasha Mulcahy, Director of ESG at CBRE, sits down with Brett Leavy, the Virtual Heritage Jedi at Bilbie XR Labs, to discuss the role that country plays in creating conscious cities. The conversation also explores how important the past is to our future and how we can use digital storytelling and today's cutting-edge technology to contribute to the conservation and management of the environment. 

If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].

Purpose-driven businesses and communities create opportunities for us to evolve how we live, work and play. So, how do we lay the foundations of a conscious city to maximise the overall human experience?

In this episode of Talking Property, Sameer Chopra, CBRE's Head of Research, Pacific & ESG, Asia Pacific, sits down with Dr. Caroline Butler-Bowdon, Executive Director, Cities Revitalisation and Place for Transport NSW, to explore the intricacies of becoming a conscious city. From socially aware communities that harness the potential of data and information to self-improve, to cities grounded by history and nature, the collective identity of a conscious city is more complex than most would assume. 

Each episode from this series takes place in the lobby of some of Sydney’s most iconic buildings and brings together our very own in-house experts with market leaders who are shaping our future cities.

If you have any questions regarding this episode or property topics that you’d like CBRE to address in future episodes, please email us at [email protected].