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Singapore’s commercial real estate investment soar by 72 percent year-on-year to US$1.9 billion in the first quarter of 2019.
Bucking regional downtrend, Singapore saw commercial real estate investment soar by 72 percent year-on-year to US$1.9 billion in the first quarter of 2019, reported The Business Times citing Real Capital Analytics (RCA) data.
“While the last three months of 2018 were dominated by a handful of major deals in the industrial sector, the start of this year was characterised by a more diverse range of transactions in the retail and office, as well as industrial sectors,” said Petra Blazkova, senior director of Apac analytics at RCA.
“Solid occupier demand in Singapore is also allowing investors to lock in higher rents.”
On the other hand, the Asia Pacific commercial property market had a slow start to the year, with overall investment volume falling 36 percent to US$30.5 billion in Q1 2019, as it struggled to match the pace registered in 2018.
It was further aggravated by macroeconomic concerns such as the US-China trade war, China’s slowdown and the global downturn in consumer goods demand, said RCA.
In fact, Japan and China saw investment volumes take a double-digit decline from the previous year, amid a more downbeat economic picture.
Nonetheless, Beijing took the top spot for the first time in the first quarter of 2019, from seventh place last year, thanks to two mega-deals of more than US$1.3 billion.
Hong Kong settled into second place with an investment volume of US$4.4 billion, followed by Tokyo US$3.9 billion. Singapore retained its position last year at sixth place.
By sector, RCA said the slowdown in Asia Pacific office sector reflects elevated pricing levels.
It noted that while office assets emerged as the mainstay of transaction volumes, retail assets proved to be the flavour during the quarter under review, climbing eight percent to US$9.4 billion from 2018 as investors acquired assets in Tianjin, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Meanwhile, offices continued to be at the top of investor wishlists, on the back of the ongoing cyclical recovery within the office market in most major metros.
Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg
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