China overtook Japan to become Asia Pacific's biggest real estate investment market last year, after a 15 percent growth in investments from 2011, a research note by international real estate firm DTZ Research said on Monday.

With an overall 8 percent increase in 2012, Asia Pacific was the only region globally to post growth in the value of invested real estate stock, the research showed.

Asia Pacific's strong performance was driven by emerging markets.

Growth in the Australian and Japanese markets was more subdued in comparison, with growth in Australia dropping to 4 percent down from 7 percent in 2011.

"Asia Pacific continued to drive growth in global invested stock in 2012, with China now the largest regional market on the back of strong economic fundamentals," said Kate Barrow, DTZ Head of Asia Pacific.

Deleveraging continued, with private equity replacing private debt as the largest source of growth.

Investors and lenders in the global survey said they remained wary, but investors were positive on their outlook for the region, added Barrow.

Commercial investment volumes in Asia Pacific remained buoyant by historical standards as transaction volumes excluding land sales increased by 21 percent in 2012, according to the research.

With almost all of Asia Pacific markets attractively priced, liquidity is expected to become another differentiator for investors. In Asia Pacific, Singapore stood out as offering investors high liquidity.