It was purchased from privately held Townwood for about $315 million with advice from CBRE.

To be named Ascendas Innovation Place, the property is held by a vehicle for a fund which invests in core office real estate in the gateway cities of Singapore, Australia, South Korea and Japan.

The acquisition marks Ascendas-Singbridge's first foray into the commercial office sector in Australia, and builds on the group's portfolio in the market after the acquisition of 27 logistics properties by Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust last year.

Ascendas-Singbridge chief investment officer Jonathan Yap said with this addition, the group would bring assets under management in Australia to about S$2 billion.

"With this entry into the commercial office market in Australia, we hope to replicate the success we've had with our other asset classes. While we continue to derive value from the best-in-class assets we invest in, we continue to be on the lookout for others that will bolster our growth," Mr Yap said.

The deal comes as the latest JLL Research Index shows Sydney in fourth place in the worldwide rankings.

The JLL "New World Cities", including Melbourne and Brisbane, account for 16 of the top 20 in JLL's Investment Intensity Index.

They are typically small to medium-sized cities with transparent, open real estate markets and favourable infrastructure and liveability.

Established world cities that feature in the top 20 include London, Sydney, New York and Paris.

Investor demand for prime assets in the world's most globalised urban economies continues to be strong.

JLL head of office investments, Australia, Rob Sewell said investors continued to regard Australia, and in particular Sydney, as an attractive investment destination.

"This is particularly the case for offshore investors. In 2015, offshore investment volumes accounted for more than 40 per cent of all commercial property transactions in Australia," Mr Sewell said.

"The proportion of offshore investment in the office sector alone was even higher, where 54 per cent of asset acquisitions [by value] were purchased by an offshore buyer. This is the highest level of annual foreign capital inflow ever recorded in the Australian office sector."

Mr Sewell said there were many reasons why Australia, and Sydney in particular, attracted offshore and domestic capital.

Improving market fundamentals, especially in Sydney, were supportive of robust investment market activity.

"Positive take-up across metropolitan Sydney, combined with robust NSW economic growth, and Sydney's status as key gateway city into the Asia-Pacific region, saw investment capital concentrated in NSW," he said.

"Last year, over 50 per cent of national office transactions volumes by value occurred across the metropolitan Sydney office markets."