Real estate markets in Asia-Pacific grew at a record-breaking pace in the first quarter of this year — thanks in part to China and despite a global decline, according to real estate consultancy JLL.

The region recorded a new first-quarter high of $45 billion in real estate transaction volumes, according the company’s Global Capital Flows report for the first quarter of 2019.

That’s a 14% increase compared to a year ago — outperforming the Americas, as well as Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the JLL report showed.

“Driving this performance was China, where quarterly investment surged to an all-time high of US$17 billion due to an increase in cross-border capital inflows and large-scale transaction activity,” said the report.

Japan, Australia and Hong Kong saw a fall in investment volumes, the report found. But other strong-performing real estate markets in the region — such as South Korea and Singapore — managed to offset that decline and push the overall performance of the region up, it said.