Singapore helps Asia-Pac property deals to new record of US$157b

Fri, Feb 16, 2018

Yunita Ong


SINGAPORE'S flurry of large deals in 2017 lifted real estate transactions in the Asia-Pacific, with acquisitions growing 6 per cent to hit an all-time high of US$157.5 billion.

This smashed the previous peak attained in 2015 by 2 per cent, accoridng to data from research firm Real Capital Analytics (RCA), which has been tracking prices globally since 2000.

Investors across the region snapped up industrial assets, with sales growing 20 per cent to US$19.1 billion, and apartments, which chalked up 57 per cent higher sales to US$20.3 billion. But they shunned the office and retail sectors, which remained flat from 2016.

In Singapore, real estate acquisitions jumped 50 per cent year on year to US$15 billion, the highest since 2007. Including US$6 billion in land sale sites, the total was US$21 billion.

NTUC social enterprise Mercatus Co-operative's S$2.2 billion purchase of Jurong Point ranked as the region's top property transaction of the year. CapitaLand Commerical Trust's acquisition of Asia Square Tower 2, for S$2.1 billion, was second.

RCA said mega en-blocs here also helped. Besides Sim Lian Group's S$970 million purchase of Tampines Court, the largest en bloc since 2007, deals like Normanton Park and Eunosville also added to the total.

It said US$11.8 billion out of the total US$21 billion transacted in Singgapore involved deals above US$500 million each.

"With the economy gaining strength and the expectation of a price recovery to come, both domestic and overseas investors are active," said RCA in its report released this week.

Singapore ranked fifth most active in 2017, after China - whose acquisitions slipped 6six per cent to US$36.2 billion - Japan, Australia and Hong Kong, where acquisitions jumped 39 per cent jump to a record US$20.9 billion.

On RCA's leaderboard for most active metro areas, Singapore rose from sixth in 2016 to rank third in acquisitions in 2017, after Hong Kong and Tokyo.

The Japanese capital shrank 12 per cent to US$16.5 billion as activity migrated to secondary cities like Yokohama and Osaka. Trailing behind Singapore was Shanghai, at US$14.5 billion, and Seoul, at US$9.8 billion.

Sales of land sites across the region also climbed 41 per cent to a record US$644 billion, much of it thanks to China where such deals rocketed 42 per cent to US$596 billion. Hong Kong, where land sales jumped 78 per cent to a record US $21.4 billion, also helped.