In the largest deal, a joint venture between Singapore developer Far East Land and Housing Development Company Pty/Ltd and the Hong Kong-based Sino Land Company Limited, has entered into an agreement to acquire The Westin Sydney and its adjoining Heritage Retail podium for $445.3 million.

The sale was advised by Craig Collins and Peter Harper of JLL Hotels and Gus Mooors and Stephen Burt from Colliers International.

The sale follows the purchase of the Sydney Hilton by the Singapore-based Asian investment house Bright Ruby for $442 million on a leaseback arrangement.

Far East Land and Sino Land are members of Far East Organisation and its Hong Kong-based sister company, Sino Group, respectively.

The Westin Sydney continues to be managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts under the existing management agreement. At the same time, tenants in the Heritage Retail podium will now have access to the new owners' property management infrastructure serving the group's Sydney-based retail and office properties.

According to JLL Hotels, Australian hotel real estate has consistently been of significant interest to international investors over the past five years. "China's recent policy change, a relaxation of the outbound investment regulations allowing investors to be more readily available to compete in international bidding processes, could almost guarantee an ongoing increase in south-east Asian capital entering the Australian market," the agents said.

Far East Hospitality Holdings, a joint venture between Far East Organisation's listed unit, Far East Orchard Limited, and The Straits Trading Company, also has a hospitality joint venture in Australia with the Toga Group.

But investors are also buying up other assets to get a foothold into the higher yielding property sector.

One was by LaSalle Investment Management on behalf of LaSalle Australia Club Investments Trust (LACIT) that today announced that LACIT acquired a site for $66 million, on which large format retail will be constructed within the newly created Sydney Business Park located at Marsden Park, 45 kilometres north-west of the city's CBD.

The land will be developed into Home Hub Marsden Park, a 19,000-square metre plus large format homemaker centre across 35 tenancies. The precinct is on a major arterial transport corridor within Sydney's North West Growth Centre.

At Chatswood, a stage 1-approved site has hit the market after 22 years' in the making, whetting the large appetite of developers searching for blue-ribbon locations in Sydney.

For sale through Dominic Ong, Tim Holtsbaum, and Linda Zhu of Knight Frank, this 2608-square metre site offers three street frontages across 654 – 666 Pacific Highway, 1 Freeman Road and 2A Oliver Road, Chatswood.

The site can accommodate development of two residential towers of eleven and eight levels providing panoramic views of the surrounding North Shore on upper levels with commercial/retail space on the ground floor.