Hotels and serviced apartments are increasingly finding favour among corporate investors in Singapore, according to property consultants. Chesterton Singapore says the segment is compelling, leveraging on the growth in tourism as well as rising interest in hospitality real estate investment trusts. Mapletree Investments recently signed a deal to buy a 49-per cent stake in Oakwood Asia Pacific, with...
Property Investment
Commercial real estate has long had a place in the portfolios of wealthy investors, who see it as a useful diversification away from residential property and the more volatile assets such as stocks or bonds. But lately, the trend has accelerated, in particular among Singaporean and other Asian investors, who are taking advantage of the strength of their currencies and the environment of low interest...
Big institutional investors have been actively buying up properties across the region. Property investments by pension, insurance and sovereign wealth funds have doubled over the last two years. And some of these investments have spilled over into the Singapore property market. Property sales for investment purposes hit S$31.45 billion in Singapore last year. These include purchases of government land,...
Property investments remain a core asset in the investment portfolios of Asia's wealthy individuals. According to Citibank Singapore, real estate accounts for a third of client portfolios under its management. These customers typically have net assets of S$1m and above. Property prices in Asia, particularly Singapore and Hong Kong, have seen a boom in recent years. This is particularly due to low...
The Republic is no longer the region's top destination for real estate investment and development opportunities, according to a report co-published by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). In the report, called Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2013, the Republic fell to third place in the rankings, losing the top place it held for the last two years to Jakarta. "The...
Australian real estate may present a good investment opportunity next year as a robust economy and a growing shortage of homes underpin prices that, according to analysts, have room to go up still further. Analysts say that foreigners will be drawn to the market, with Chinese, Singaporean and Malaysian buyers continuing to lead demand. Despite restrictions on foreign buyers of Australian properties, Asian...
This year has been a rewarding year for the industrial property market. The overall momentum of the industrial property sector has been strong and more sustainable than that of the private residential sector. Besides continued rental recovery, factory units and multiple-user warehouses have received strong buying interest. In the first 10 months of this year alone, a total of 1,491 factory units were...
Bear in mind the importance of value investing as you look for your ideal property DESPITE the numerous government measures introduced to cool the property market, the high-end residential market in Singapore has not been adversely affected. To begin with, the measures so far are targeted at the mass market which has seen property values rising ahead of economic recovery. Based on Jones Lang LaSalle...
Tips on investing in property in the current market In my recent talks to property investors, I would conduct a straw poll with the question: "How many of you believe property prices will increase, go flat or decrease within the next twelve months?" Inevitably, I would get three different groups of respondents. My follow-up question would be: "In the worst-case scenario, would prices decrease at the same...
When investing in real estate, buy with your head - not your heart. IT HAS been three years since the Dow Jones was at its peak of over 14,000 in October 2007. The last 36 months have been tumultuous for investors. Major institutions collapsed, some even disappeared. During that time, portfolio managers kept having to adjust and shift, seeking safety in products such as fixed-income instruments and...