(Bloomberg) -- AMP Ltd. says that office valuations in Australia are likely near the bottom after shedding more than a quarter of their value.

The Sydney-based wealth and pensions manager is now looking to the domestic office market for opportunities amid expectations that prices in the embattled sector don’t have much further to fall, according to Chief Investment Officer Anna Shelley.

“We do think valuations are starting to bottom out,” she said at an Australian Financial Review conference in Sydney on Tuesday. “We’re now down 26%, so we’re close to a similar draw down” seen in the global financial crisis when values fell 30%, she said. 

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Some of the biggest funds in Australia’s booming A$3.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion) pension system - known locally as superannuation - wrote down their office investments by up to 20% last year and scaled back their exposure to property.

AMP now joins funds such as Australian Retirement Trust and HESTA in seeking opportunities in the sector at home and abroad. Last week, Aware Super said it was teaming up with UK firm Delancey Real Estate to invest 1 billion pounds into property, targeting high-end offices in central London. 

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