Investment in APAC Hotels Reach $4.7 Billion in H1

Investment in Asia Pacific hotels reached $4.7 billion in the first half of 2025, with investors focusing more selectively on the region’s more established hospitality markets, with 84% of total transaction volume occurring in just five key countries, according to real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

Japan continued to lead regional hotel investment with $1.5 billion in transactions, followed by Greater China ($744 million), Australia ($664 million), Singapore ($546 million), and South Korea ($504 million) respectively.

Collectively, the other markets across the region accounted for $758 million or 16% of total hotel investment volume. Of this, $301 million was from investment transactions in Thailand, JLL said.

Capital deployed in the first half of 2025 represented a 23% decline compared to the same period in 2024, reflecting a more cautious investment environment amid ongoing global macroeconomic uncertainty.

Investors have gravitated to safe haven markets, while decision-making timelines have lengthened. At the same time, the bid-ask spread between seller expectations and buyer valuations have also widened with sellers holding firm on price expectations and buyers applying greater scrutiny, leading to extended due diligence periods on both sides of transactions.

JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, Asia Pacific’s CEO Nihat Ercan said that coming off a high base last year, the level of investment moderation is indicative of a more cautious investment market whereby a realignment of capital sources in the hotel investment landscape is occurring.

In their interactions, although institutional investors remain selective, private capital is moving decisively to secure prime hospitality assets that offer both defensive income characteristics and growth potential, which should ensure an uptick in activity in this year and into next, he explained.

According to JLL analysis, private equity firms have increased their capital allocations to hospitality assets, with a 6% y-o-y rise in investment volumes. This shift represents strategic positioning to capitalise on market dislocations and potentially undervalued assets in key gateway markets.

Additionally, High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) from within the region have emerged as increasingly active buyers in H1 2025, seeking portfolio diversification through hotel investments, with capital invested into hotels growing by 54% from the same period last year.

Outlook Positive

The outlook for the region’s hospitality industry remains positive in the long-term, driven by solid fundamentals.

International tourist arrivals across Asia Pacific increased by 12% in Q1 2025 compared with the same period last year, driving a supportive growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) across the region. This performance improvement has bolstered investor confidence in the sector’s recovery trajectory.

Key gateway cities demonstrated varied performance with majority of the main markets showed higher ADR than pre-pandemic levels.

Tokyo recorded over 80% occupancy, slightly below pre-pandemic levels but improving year-over-year, while ADR significantly exceeded 2019 figures and continued growing, while Singapore maintained stable occupancy compared to last year with ADR surpassing 2019 but declining slightly from the previous year.

Sydney demonstrated occupancy trends at nearly 80%, while ADR remained flat compared to last year. Similarly, Bangkok hotels demonstrated resilient performance with ADR significantly exceeding previous peaks, despite tourist arrivals declining 6.3% year-over-year in the first seven months with the latest official arrival targets set at 35.5 million tourists.

Total hotel transaction volume across Asia Pacific is projected to reach $12.8 billion for the full year 2025, representing about 5% increase from 2024. This forecast anticipates accelerated investment activity in the second half of the year as backlog of deals in due diligence are expected to settle during the second half of the year, says JLL.

Liquidity is expected to remain strong in the traditional markets of Japan, Australia, Greater China, Singapore and South Korea, while markets like Vietnam and Malaysia should benefit from strong tourism momentum, JLL added.