Property investment sales have reached S$6.8 billion so far this quarter, up 42 percent from S$4.8 billion in the previous quarter, according to the latest figures from Savills Singapore.
Savills added that about S$28.5 billion of such transactions have been closed since the start of 2011.
The property consultancy firm estimates some S$29 billion of property investment sales by the end of the year, a slight decline from last year’s S$31.4 billion.
“The investment sales market is expected to moderate in the next few quarters, taking into account softening macroeconomic conditions,” said Steven Ming, Savills Executive Director (Investment Sales).
“However, there’s still ample liquidity and demand in the market. At the same time, investors/funds may favour Asian real estate due to better economic performances compared with Europe and the US. Singapore is well positioned to attract such investors.”
Jeremy Lake, Executive Director (Investment Properties) at CBRE, expects the figure for 2012 to hover between S$20 billion and S$25 billion.
Developers in the residential segment are expected to remain active in buying Government Land Sales (GLS) mass-market private housing sites, despite the potential decline in land bids, as developers work in the cost of absorbing the additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) and providing other soft discounts.
Following the initial knee-jerk reaction of holding off purchases for a few weeks, Lake predicts that prospective buyers upgrading from public to private housing will return to the market.
“As buyers in this segment are predominantly Singaporeans and more likely to purchase for owner occupation, they may not even be affected by the ABSD; even if they are, the ABSD rate for them is only three percent.”
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