Future Returns: Finding Value in Asian Emerging Markets
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    HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $1,692,763 (+1.39%)       Melbourne $1,026,321 (+0.58%)       Brisbane $1,075,782 (+0.61%)       Adelaide $975,673 (+1.16%)       Perth $939,830 (-0.46%)       Hobart $767,281 (+0.12%)       Darwin $772,894 (+3.13%)       Canberra $995,835 (+2.65%)       National $1,102,190 (+1.16%)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $769,314 (-0.77%)       Melbourne $497,623 (-0.57%)       Brisbane $664,130 (-0.83%)       Adelaide $500,856 (-1.62%)       Perth $532,200 (-2.10%)       Hobart $533,165 (-0.86%)       Darwin $386,839 (+0.04%)       Canberra $488,214 (-1.44%)       National $568,780 (-1.03%)                HOUSES FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 12,369 (-353)       Melbourne 14,131 (-529)       Brisbane 8,333 (-99)       Adelaide 2,953 (-60)       Perth 8,005 (-15)       Hobart 1,269 (-21)       Darwin 162 (-13)       Canberra 1,171 (-24)       National 48,393 (-1,114)                UNITS FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 9,463 (-139)       Melbourne 7,921 (-85)       Brisbane 1,694 (-13)       Adelaide 447 (+1)       Perth 1,655 (-24)       Hobart 243 (+3)       Darwin 300 (+3)       Canberra 1,185 (+2)       National 22,908 (-252)                HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $800 ($0)       Melbourne $590 ($0)       Brisbane $650 ($0)       Adelaide $640 ($0)       Perth $700 ($0)       Hobart $580 (-$5)       Darwin $730 (-$5)       Canberra $700 ($0)       National $681 (-$1)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $750 ($0)       Melbourne $595 (-$5)       Brisbane $650 (+$10)       Adelaide $520 (-$10)       Perth $650 ($0)       Hobart $500 (+$20)       Darwin $615 (+$10)       Canberra $580 (+$10)       National $617 (+$4)                HOUSES FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 5,703 (-93)       Melbourne 7,643 (+47)       Brisbane 3,854 (-40)       Adelaide 1,395 (-7)       Perth 2,236 (+59)       Hobart 208 (-7)       Darwin 77 (-11)       Canberra 502 (-8)       National 21,618 (-60)                UNITS FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 7,805 (-17)       Melbourne 5,420 (+97)       Brisbane 1,844 (-67)       Adelaide 377 (-3)       Perth 743 (+21)       Hobart 88 (+9)       Darwin 110 (+11)       Canberra 562 (+24)       National 16,949 (+75)                HOUSE ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND         Sydney 2.46% (↓)       Melbourne 2.99% (↓)       Brisbane 3.14% (↓)       Adelaide 3.41% (↓)     Perth 3.87% (↑)        Hobart 3.93% (↓)       Darwin 4.91% (↓)       Canberra 3.66% (↓)       National 3.21% (↓)            UNIT ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND       Sydney 5.07% (↑)        Melbourne 6.22% (↓)     Brisbane 5.09% (↑)        Adelaide 5.40% (↓)     Perth 6.35% (↑)      Hobart 4.88% (↑)      Darwin 8.27% (↑)      Canberra 6.18% (↑)      National 5.64% (↑)             HOUSE RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 2.0% (↑)      Melbourne 1.9% (↑)      Brisbane 1.4% (↑)      Adelaide 1.3% (↑)      Perth 1.2% (↑)      Hobart 1.0% (↑)      Darwin 1.6% (↑)      Canberra 2.7% (↑)      National 1.7% (↑)             UNIT RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 2.4% (↑)      Melbourne 3.8% (↑)      Brisbane 2.0% (↑)      Adelaide 1.1% (↑)      Perth 0.9% (↑)      Hobart 1.4% (↑)      Darwin 2.8% (↑)      Canberra 2.9% (↑)      National 2.2% (↑)             AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL HOUSES AND TREND       Sydney 29.4 (↑)      Melbourne 29.0 (↑)      Brisbane 34.0 (↑)      Adelaide 27.7 (↑)      Perth 38.4 (↑)        Hobart 29.4 (↓)       Darwin 25.7 (↓)     Canberra 31.4 (↑)      National 30.6 (↑)             AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL UNITS AND TREND       Sydney 27.6 (↑)      Melbourne 29.4 (↑)      Brisbane 32.7 (↑)      Adelaide 26.2 (↑)      Perth 39.4 (↑)        Hobart 32.2 (↓)       Darwin 36.1 (↓)     Canberra 38.5 (↑)      National 32.8 (↑)            
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Future Returns: Finding Value in Asian Emerging Markets

Where to look in Asia’s emerging markets.

By Abby Schultz
Wed, Aug 25, 2021 3:34pmGrey Clock 4 min

Chinese regulators have been cracking down on the nation’s tech companies—sending stock prices reeling—but Frank Brochin, senior portfolio manager in the institutional advisory practice at the Colony Group in Boston, is confident the long-term growth story for China will continue to pay off for investors.

To Brochin, who manages money on behalf of endowments, foundations, and family offices, Chinese stocks will continue to strengthen from long-term growth factors fueling the economy, including the rise of the urban middle class, increasing domestic consumption, and the growth of the services economy.

The story is similar, if not even more attractive, in India and Southeast Asia, making “developing Asia” among the best places to invest in the world today for long-term investors, according to Brochin.

“Unlike other emerging markets, in Asia you have a secular economic and social transformation taking place,” he says. These factors “will give economic growth for the next couple of decades, while at the same time the markets are attractive.”

Penta recently spoke with Brochin about his views on investing in Asian markets, even as declining Asian tech shares contribute to driving emerging market indexes south. For the year through Aug. 23, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets exchange-traded fund (ticker: EEM) is down 2.33% compared with a 17.4% gain in the iShares MSCI World ETF (URTH).

For institutional investors, Colony invests almost exclusively in active managers in emerging markets who have an on-the-ground presence and can select public and private companies poised to benefit from the dual trends of urbanization and rising domestic consumption.

Why China Remains a Good Bet

The performance of Chinese tech stocks such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA), Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700.Hong Kong), and ride-hailing company Didi Global (DIDI) began grabbing headlines in the fall of 2020 as they attracted increasing attention from the country’s regulators. In November, Ant Group’s anticipated US$3.4 billion initial public offering was suspended after executives of the Alibaba payments firm and Jack Ma, founder and controlling shareholder, met with Chinese regulators.

But Brochin says China’s heightened scrutiny is about catching up to regulations that Western countries, including the U.S., have had in place for years, and they are looking beyond tech to also include pharmaceutical companies, real estate, and other domestic industries.

China is a country emerging from a period of strong economic growth that “suddenly finds itself with Alibaba representing 20% of [the] gross market value of all retail sales in China,” he says. “In effect, they are truly just catching up and trying to align business practices with the long-term interests of the nation.”

In Brochin’s view the crackdowns are “not an assault on private entrepreneurs.” The Chinese Communist Party knows they need continued economic prosperity and economic growth to stay in power, and “they know the private sector provides that prosperity to the people of China,” he says.

India as a “Favourite Place” to Invest

The urbanization and increasing domestic consumption happening in China is also occurring in India, although the social and economic transformation of the country has a longer way to go, Brochin says.

Nearly half the population of India, for instance, is still employed in agriculture or agricultural-related jobs, he says, which points to the potential for growth as that percentage declines.

With only about US$2,000 of gross domestic product per capita in India, compared with closer to US$10,000 of GDP/capita in China, the country has a long runway for growth, Colony said in an earlier report.

India also has “a very young and growing population” versus China, which “has plateaued,” and it is “a more domestically focused economy and a Democracy,” Brochin says.

Also, household expansion in India’s urban areas is growing at about 4.4% a year—faster than its population growth of about 1.1%—because the trend is for multi-generations of families to no longer live under the same roof, according to Colony.

Another benefit: India applies “the rule of law” and its stock market is similar to the west, Brochin says.

“The growth drivers are the same as in China, but will take place over a much longer period of time,” he says, adding that India is the firm’s “favourite place in the world outside of the U.S. where we invest.”

The Benefit of Inefficiencies in Southeast Asia

Colony also favours selective investments in Southeast Asia, noting that the region—from Bangladesh to Indonesia—is home to about 850 million people, more than in the U.S. and Europe combined.

“You have a seriously critical mass of population and a critical mass of economic activity,” Brochin says.

And countries in the region, which include Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia, are affected by many of the same growth drivers as China and India as people move from rural areas to the cities. Many Southeast Asian countries, too, are at the very beginning of this growth trajectory, meaning their economies should continue expanding for a couple of decades.

One difference is that the markets are inefficient, volatile, and there is very little stock research—factors that can provide an opportunity for those who know where to look.

In a report, Colony points out that there are more than 4,400 companies trading publicly in Southeast Asia, while the percentage covered by analysts ranges only from 8% in Bangladesh to 42% in Thailand.

“If you use active managers, people who are on the ground who can find companies that few investors have paid attention to, you can do well in Southeast Asia,” Brochin says.

Reprinted by permission of Penta. Copyright 2021 Dow Jones & Company. Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Original date of publication: August 24, 2021.



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A full-doc loan is the most straightforward and competitive option for self-employed borrowers with up-to-date tax returns and financials. Lenders assess two years of tax returns, assessment notices, and business financials. This type of loan offers high borrowing capacity, access to features like offset accounts and redraw facilities, and fixed and variable rate choices.

2. Low-Doc Loan
Low-doc loans are designed for borrowers who can’t provide the usual financial documentation, such as those in start-up mode or recently expanded businesses. Instead of full tax returns, lenders accept alternatives like profit and loss statements or accountant’s declarations. While rates may be slightly higher, these loans make finance accessible where banks might otherwise decline.

3. Standard Variable Rate Loan
A standard variable loan moves with the market and offers flexibility in repayments, extra contributions, and redraw options. It’s ideal for borrowers who want to manage repayments actively or pay off their loans faster when income permits. With access to over 40 lenders, brokers can help match borrowers with a variable product suited to their financial strategy.

4. Fixed Rate Loan
A fixed-rate loan offers repayment certainty over a set term—typically one to five years. It’s popular with borrowers seeking predictability, especially in volatile rate environments. While fixed loans offer fewer flexible features, their stability can be valuable for budgeting and cash flow planning.

5. Split Loan
A split loan combines fixed and variable portions, giving borrowers the security of a fixed rate on part of the loan and the flexibility of a variable rate on the other. This structure benefits self-employed clients with irregular income, allowing them to lock in part of their repayment while keeping some funds accessible.

6. Construction Loan
Construction loans release funds in stages aligned with the building process, from the initial slab to completion. These loans suit clients building a new home or undertaking major renovations. Most lenders offer interest-only repayments during construction, switching to principal-and-interest after the build. Managing timelines and approvals is key to a smooth experience.

7. Interest-Only Loan
Interest-only loans allow borrowers to pay just the interest portion of the loan for a set period, preserving cash flow. This structure is often used during growth phases in business or for investment purposes. After the interest-only period, the loan typically converts to principal-and-interest repayments.

8. Offset Home Loan
An offset home loan links your savings account to your mortgage, reducing the interest charged on the loan. For self-employed borrowers with fluctuating income, it’s a valuable tool for managing cash flow while still reducing interest and accelerating loan repayment. The funds remain accessible, offering both flexibility and efficiency.

Red Door Financial Group is a Melbourne-based brokerage firm that offers personalised financial solutions for residential, commercial, and business lending.

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