Further indications Australian property market has peaked
Further reports suggest that the Australian property market may well have reached its peak, and that a fall in prices is imminent. This article claims that investors in the market will put over AUD 5bn worth of office towers, shopping malls, and logistics centres up for sale ﻿over the next three months, partly due to the record high prices, and partly because the final quarter of the year has typically represented a strategic time to sell property, (﻿so as to record the proceeds in end of year results)﻿.

Australian investors will put over $5 billion worth of office towers, shopping malls and logistics centres up for sale over the next three months as they react to record prices.

Next week marks the beginning of the final quarter of 2015. The period has always been a strategic window for owners to recycle capital and sell before the end of the year but the record amount has led some to question whether Australian real estate is nearing the top of the cycle.

In portfolios alone Charter Hall Group, JP Morgan, Brookfield and Valad Property Group and a handful of other owners are expected to put more than $4 billion in real estate up for sale by year's end. It follows the strong sales results achieved in the sale of the Investa balance sheet portfolio and the GIC/Frasers portfolio.

420 George in Sydney is one of the trophy assets expected to sell during the fourth quarter. Tyrone Branigan

"The strong level of major transaction activity is being fuelled by record low interest rates, appetite from investors to grow their portfolio and the depth in offshore demand, particularly given the dollar's depreciation," JLL's Simon Rooney said.

Mr Rooney said in the retail space owners are seizing on the opportunity to re-weight and redirect their portfolios and disposing of core and non-core assets.