Singapore Notched $9.6b in Real Estate Deals In 2021
Singapore’s commercial real estate market rebounded sharply in 2021 with $9.6 billion in deals recorded across all property types as of mid-December, up from $3.2 billion in pandemic-struck 2020, according to Real Capital Analytics. Including deals pending closure by year-end, the city-state’s 2021 investment haul marks the second-best annual total on record, surpassed only by 2019’s record level, RCA said in a research note. The real estate information provider attributed the recovery in Southeast Asia’s financial capital to a torrent of cross-border capital, which made up more than half of this year’s transaction outlay. “The $5.3 billion of overseas investment garnered so far in 2021 puts Singapore above the likes of New York and Tokyo, a remarkable feat considering how much smaller its investment market is,” said Benjamin Chow, RCA’s head of analytics for Asia. Apart from the outsized role of foreign investors, Singapore also stands out among developed markets this year for the ongoing dominance of commercial transactions, as the rental residential and industrial sectors have played a larger role in the US and Europe during the pandemic. Two-thirds of Singapore’s 2021 investment came from the office and retail sectors, led by CBD office towers and neighborhood shopping centres. Trading of rental apartment complexes has historically been thin in Singapore because of high transaction costs and sluggish rental growth, RCA said, while the industrial sector in the highly urbanised city-state has paled in comparison with the boom in logistics appetite across Asia Pacific’s bigger markets. A jumbo office deal opened 2021 in the Lion City as a joint venture of Allianz Real Estate and South Korea’s National Pension Service in January purchased a 50 percent stake in the OUE Bayfront tower from OUE Commercial REIT for close to $477 million. The OUE Bayfront deal stood as Singapore’s top office transaction of 2021 until December, when JP Morgan Asset Management and Nuveen Real Estate completed the acquisition of their respective half-stakes in One George Street in Raffles Place from CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and FWD Insurance for a combined $944 million. The year’s other large office deals included Ascendas REIT’s purchase of a 75 percent stake in Galaxis from CapitaLand for $400 million to take full ownership of the building in the One North business park; Rivulets Investments’ acquisition of 61 Robinson Road from ARA Asset Management for $314.5 million; and Haiyi Holdings paying $220 million for a 30 percent stake in the UBS headquarters building at 9 Penang Road, a move that put the property in control of parties linked to acquisitive mainland-born businessman Gordon Tang. Big-ticket retail deals in the last 12 months included Arch Capital buying YewTee Point mall from Frasers Centrepoint Trust for $164 million and Firmus Capital picking up Le Quest Mall from Qingjian Realty for $148 million.
Tags : INTERNATIONAL REIT Acquisition Singapore Foreign investors Deals Transaction Southeast Asia Real Capital Analytics