But according to Arthur de Haast, head of JLL’s International Capital Group, the biggest beneficiary was North America. The Asia-Pacific region put in a much less stellar performance.
In the Asia-Pacific there was a sizable fall of 30 per cent in volumes compared with the previous quarter, “but still a decent gain year-on-year” to US$18.5 billion (B555 billion), Mr de Haast wrote in a report issued this week.
The natural disasters in Japan, the region’s largest property investment market, aggravated a normal seasonal slowdown, he noted.
“It is not surprising that healthy markets elsewhere in the region, including strong growth in Australia and steady levels of activity in China and Hong Kong, failed to make up the shortfall.
“Looking ahead [for the world as a whole], debt concerns in some advanced economies and the risk of overheating in some emerging markets will induce caution and careful asset selection, adding to a natural deceleration in the recovery.
“Nevertheless, the pipeline of product in the market gives us confidence that full-year volumes will reach our forecast of US$440 billion [B13.2 trillion].”