A RECORD number of Asia property investors are seeking to sell their assets this year amid economic uncertainties, according to a survey by property consultancy CBRE Group.

More than 40 per cent of respondents said that they would dispose of assets this year to realise returns and repay debt, the highest figure since the annual survey began. Selling intentions are highest in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Net buying intentions in Asia remain largely unchanged.

“While the rate-hike cycle has come to a halt in major global markets, investors are waiting for indications that the current repricing cycle has finished before deploying significant amounts of capital,” CBRE executives Henry Chin and Greg Hyland wrote in the report. “Investors in most markets, excluding Japan, will therefore continue to adopt a wait-and-see approach.”

Pessimism in Hong Kong, which remains in a prolonged property downturn, is the most acute among major markets. Investment appetite shrank to a 15-year low as financing costs reached a 22-year high. Investors there indicated continued uncertainty surrounding income returns for industrial and office assets.

In contrast, Japan and South Korea are viewed more positively. Japan ranked as the top destination for cross-border property investment for a fifth consecutive year, while more than half of South Korean investors are keen to increase allocation to real estate.

Mainland Chinese investors, meanwhile, expect more distressed opportunities in the coming year amid the nation’s ongoing property crisis.