Mr Tong added that Asian high net worth investors accounted for 50 per cent of interest across the eight portfolio assets.
Asian investors also bought two childcare centres including a long-leased Little Locals operation at Auchenflower, Brisbane, for just over $11 million, representing a yield of 4.5 per cent.
Mr Tong said pre-pandemic Asian investors were certainly active but typically managed their assets from afar, remaining in their country of origin.
This has changed post-pandemic, Mr Tong said, with many of the latest Asian investors planning to call Australia home.
“Now that borders have opened up there’s a lot more capital flowing in and out of the country,” Mr Tong said.
“Inquiry levels have definitely picked up and off the back of that we’re seeing an increased number of bids and eventual purchasing from buyers coming out of Asia.
“Traditionally it’s always been China, but we’re seeing a lot more capital from Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong coming in to the country, that’s for sure.”
As in the past, Asia investors are attracted by the stability and perceived safety of Australia, which Mr Tong said has been enhanced by government management of COVID-19.
“It’s not like back in the day, where you saw a lot of people coming from offshore, putting money in and going back to where they came from,” Mr Tong said.
“A lot of these Asian groups are coming to invest in Australia because they’re planning to move the family here long-term.
“They’re buying houses, sending their kids to school here, so it’s not a one-off investment for them.”
Billy Holderhead from Burgess Rawson said Asian buyers were also in evidence at its portfolio auction in Melbourne on Wednesday, where 16 out of 21 properties sold for a total of $67 million on a blended yield of 5.03 per cent.
The highest price paid was $16.202 million for a Bunnings in Mount Isa after the eventual owner tried to blow other bidders out of the water with an opening bid of $15 million.
His gambit failed, but he did end up buying the property with a final $2000 bid. The other significant result, said Mr Holderhead, was a gym in Noble Park, Melbourne, that fetched $6.7 million, the asset yielding 3.76 per cent due to generous land size.
