Commercial Property Investments In Singapore Up 3-Fold
SINGAPORE – The latest report from Real Capital Analytics (RCA) entitled Asia Pacific Capital Trends shows that commercial real estate investments in the city-state tripled to US$9 billion for the whole of 2021 compared to the prior year, reported The Business Times on Thursday noon (10 February, SGT).
The rebound in Singapore’s commercial property investment market was attributed to foreign investors that heavily invested in office space in the city-state as compared to the rest of Asia Pacific (APAC).
For instance, the divestment of the One George Street office building to Nuveen Real Estate and JPMorgan Global Alternatives during the last quarter of 2021 represented the 1st billion-dollar commercial real estate sale since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, while German investor AM alpha struck a deal to purchase an office tower in Singapore’s central business district (CBD) for almost S$269.7 million.
According to David Green-Morgan, Head of real estate research in Asia Pacific at RCA, Singapore remains as the top target for the largest investors in the world. In fact, offshore capital made up more than 50 percent of the investment into Singapore’s commercial property market last year. Foreign capital accounted for over US$5 billion, the second highest on record just behind the peak in 2019.
Moreover, Singapore commercial property investors also spent a significant amount in the rest of Asia Pacific, with nearly US$16 billion invested. This makes the group the top source of cross-border capital ahead of US companies.
Commercial property investment in the region exceeded the US$200 billion mark for the first time in 2021. Volume increased by 20 percent year-on-year, and the “strength” of the recovery was broad-based across most major markets and all major commercial property types, noted RCA.
Furthermore, the Asia Pacific Capital Trends report revealed that purchases of income-producing real estate in 2021 hit US$205.4 billion, up 22 percent from 2020 and 23 percent higher than the 5-year average before the COVID pandemic. Sales of individual buildings also exceeded all previous highs, hitting US$152.8 billion.
