Singapore Office Space Among Top Assets On Investors’ Radar

SINGAPORE – A survey of top investment executives from 37 global and regional investors revealed that their the top markets they plan to invest this year are Sydney logistics, Japan multifamily, and Singapore office, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s (JLL) latest Investor Sentiment Barometer that was published on Tuesday (15 March, SGT).

In particular, Sydney logistics is the top market for 18 percent and in the top three for 41 percent of the respondents. Japan multifamily is the top market for 17 percent and in the top three for 39 percent of the respondents. Lastly, Singapore office is the top market for 11 percent and in the top three for 26 percent of the respondents.

Property consultancy JLL said the office sector remains core for numerous investors. In fact, about 60 percent of the investment leaders polled said they intend to increase their office asset under management (AUM) this year, with half of this group planning on increasing their AUM by over 10 percent in 2022.

“The pandemic has negatively impacted office demand in many markets. However, this survey suggests that the office sector will remain resilient, and office assets will remain core to many global and regional investor portfolios. This is reflected in office transaction volumes [in Asia Pacific] which reached US$74.4 billion in 2021, up from US$63.8 billion in 2020,” it noted.

However, this is still down from the US$87.4 billion office investment volume recorded in the region before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.

Nonetheless, a separate recent report from JLL known as the Asia Pacific Office Digest highlighted that in supply-constrained office markets like Singapore, office rents climbed 4.2 percent year-on-year in 2021.