It is a good time to buy office property as the absence of major players has led to a drop in prices, according to GDI Property Group.
"The listed funds and the instos, the major players in property, can't buy at the moment. That's why the yield has gone up, because the major players are out of the market," GDI executive chairman Anthony Veale said.
"It puts us in the position of doing some sensible transactions, and buy right."
GDI has recently bought the Grenfell Centre in Adelaide for $76 million from AMP.
The company now seeks to raise $48.5 million from investors through an office trust, which it launched yesterday in Sydney.
Many listed property trusts bought property at the wrong stage of the economic cycle, Veale said.
In essence, they were only interested in raising their funds under management, rather than looking for sensible property deals.
But as many listed trusts are now raising capital to repair their balance sheets, they are less likely to part with assets in their portfolio next year, and will look to re-enter the property market.
"Our hunch is that equity will start to come into the market," he said.
High-net worth private buyers have already re-entered the market, Veale said.
This is particularly noticeable in Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, where property prices have come down quickly.
Property entrepreneur Kevin Seymour, for example, paid about $23 million to acquire a property at 10 Felix Street in Brisbane in January this year.
But Sydney is still lacking in transactions, because sellers have not been willing to drop prices, Veale said.
