Land prices across major Asian cities grew at a slower pace in the first six months of 2014, advancing by 4.9 and 2.9 percent for office and residential sites respectively, compared to 9.8 and 7.7 percent during the same period last year, according to Knight Frank.
“One reason for the deceleration is the slowdown in China, although activity also fell across the rest of Asia,” said Nicholas Holt, Research Head for Asia Pacific.
He added: “In H1 2014, investment volumes totalled only 37.6 percent of the amount achieved in the whole of last year.”
Meanwhile, land transaction volumes in Asia dropped five percent year-on-year in H1 2014.
The report also noted that Singapore’s housing market faced strong headwinds, and as a result, land prices here stayed flat.
“In Q2 2014, as compared to the same period last year right before the impact of the Total Debt Servicing Ratio ruling was felt, prices of non-landed houses in (the) Core Central Region dropped 4.8 percent as transactions plunged 52.5 percent, softening demand for land,” said Holt.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg