APAC BUSINESSES MORE LIKELY TO EXPAND REAL ESTATE PORTFOLIOS THAN GLOBAL COUNTERPARTS - POLL

KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 -- Businesses headquartered in Asia-Pacific (APAC) are less likely to feel the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on their real estate portfolios as corporates continue to expand global portfolio, according to Knight Frank’s latest survey.

The property consultancy said in a survey of almost 400 international businesses with a combined headcount of over 10 million, only 14 per cent of the APAC respondents are expecting the pandemic to permanently alter their real estate strategies.

The survey results, published in Knight Frank’s global (Y)OUR SPACE publication, also showed a contrast between APAC and overall global corporate real estate attitudes, with 17 per cent more APAC businesses likely to increase real estate portfolios and 18 per cent fewer APAC businesses likely to decrease their global portfolios compared to their global counterparts.

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However, for those expecting to increase or decrease their portfolios, the proportion of those seeking to make substantial changes of more than 20 per cent was greater than that of global levels, it said in a statement today.

On the Malaysian market, Knight Frank Malaysia executive director of corporate services Teh Young Khean said the overall activity for new take-up in the office market would generally be slower in the next three years as companies readjusted their plans for the short term.

“However, this varies depending on industries. Businesses related to e-commerce, hygiene and healthcare, technology and business process outsourcing are active and we foresee more take up will be coming from these sectors.

“Despite the current market condition in Malaysia, we have also seen an increase in enquiries on workplace consultancy from organisations to assist in developing strategies on future workplace arrangements,” he added.

-- BERNAMA