Singapore investors poured more capital into real estate in the Asia-Pacific last year compared with a year earlier, with land and offices topping their list of purchases, even as their acquisition fervour back home continued to ease.
Data from Real Capital Analytics (RCA), which tracks portfolio or standalone acquisitions of at least US$10 million (£8.22 million), showed that outbound real estate investments in the region by Singapore investors rose 31.8 per cent to US$9.7 billion (£7.98 billion), while domestic investments slipped 20.7 per cent to US$4.8 billion (£3.95 billion).
The S$4.1 billion (£2.36 billion) acquisition of commercial property Century Link in Shanghai Pudong by a fund set up by Singapore-listed ARA Asset Management with China Life and South Korea’s Peninsular Investment Partners stood as the biggest single-property purchase in the region last year.
“With cooling measures still in force in their home market, Singapore developers have continued to look for opportunities abroad,” said Cushman & Wakefield managing director for Asia-Pacific research Sigrid Zialcita.
Depreciation risks of the Yuan also spurred more real estate deals by Chinese investors outside the country, RCA data shows. Their outbound real estate investments in the Asia-Pacific surged 66.2 per cent to US$13.4 billion (£11.02 billion), while their investments within mainland China grew 6.9 per cent to US$337.7 billion (£277.65 billion).
Amid lingering concerns over Yuan weakness, well-capitalised Chinese developers piled into land and office deals in Hong Kong, setting new price benchmarks there. Being at the doorstep and having a currency pegged to a strengthening greenback, Hong Kong ticked all the boxes, Ms Zialcita said.
