Singapore’s real estate market appears to be losing some of its appeal for investors, revealed the Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2015 forecast jointly published by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC.
The city-state fell to ninth place among cities in the region for property investment and development prospects, two spots down from 2014.
Singapore’s slip in the rankings was attributed to the introduction of government measures to curb price increases in the residential market, which has dampened investor enthusiasm.
The report also stated that while property prices have generally held firm, both residential and commercial transactions have fallen significantly, “as both foreign and international investors turn to foreign markets to look for deals”.
But despite its decline, the fundamentals of Singapore property remains strong and attractive, noted Yeow Chee Keong, Real Estate & Hospitality Leader, PwC Singapore.
“Singapore continues to be an attractive location to do business, live, work and play and this is evidenced by her high rankings in several global reports on ease of doing business, quality of living and competitiveness, among others, including being ranked number three in PwC’s Cities of Opportunity.
“There should be more opportunities for deals in the commercial sector in 2015 given the supply and the expected increase in office rental. In the residential sector, what we hope to see is an increase in sustainable transactions beyond 2015 should there be a re-calibration of the cooling measures or of sellers’ expectations of exit values,” he added.
The Emerging Trends forecast provides an outlook on the real estate markets in Asia Pacific, based on the opinions of 385 global real estate professionals, including consultants, developers and investors.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
