Modelling the Australian property investment universe

The benefits of measuring the Australian property investment universe are highly significant. The information can provide the basis for property asset allocation, be a key measure of a nation's wealth and indicate property market opportunities for institutional investors. This research examined three property universe models, each measuring a different component of the Australian property investment market at a specific point of time. Linked together with overseas comparisons, these models provided an outline of the Australian property investment universe. As at December 2003, the Australian property investment universe is estimated to be approximately $332 billion, with a core property market (office, retail and industrial) of $154 billion. However, with institutions owning $104 billion of Australian properties (PIR 2003) and applying overseas research on comparing property investment markets to invested institutional property markets, the findings tended to support the suggested Australian property investment universe figures.