Sovereign fund China Investment Corp plans to buy Australia's biggest office block portfolio from Morgan Stanley for $1.82 billion, according to Reuters.

The nine office towers in Sydney and Melbourne would make up the biggest of several offshore commercial real estate purchases by CIC in recent months. In June, French media reported that CIC bought 10 malls in France and Belgium from the U.S. real estate group CBRE for 1.3 billion euros ($1.44 billion).

The Morgan Stanley purchase, which requires approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board, indicates that China's interest in Australian real estate is broadening from the residential sector.

China invested A$27.65 billion ($20.17 billion) in Australia in 2013-14, overtaking the United States as the largest source of foreign investment, with almost half going into real estate, FIRB has said.