Property Investment Sales Hit Record Highs In 2007

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 11 December 2007

Property investment sales are hitting a new record high this year.

According to property consultant CB Richard Ellis, total investment sales for this year total nearly S$51 billion.

This is 66 per cent higher than the record of S$30.57 billion achieved for the whole of last year.

The growth was driven by large acquisitions from developers in both the private and public sector.

A site at Marina View which went for almost S$1 billion was among the key property deals for the year which helped to push total property investment sales to a new all-time high.

Property consultants said the strong numbers were driven by a strong appetite for acquisitions.

Jeremy Lake, Executive Director of CB Richard Ellis, said: "I think the property market is probably in the sweet spot at the moment, and by that I mean everything seems to be looking very positive. We've seen developers have a very story appetite for sites. We've seen individual investors buying a large amount of condominiums and houses and then on the office side the office market has been very strong. We've seen a large number of foreign investors buying office buildings for investment."

The residential sector took the lead with 60 per cent of the investment sales pie.

There were 109 en bloc sales alone, amounting to S$13.3 billion.

Public sector land sales were also brisk.

36 government sites were sold for a total of S$11.5 billion.

These comprised purchases of government land sites and the tender awards of luxury water front residential land parcels.

A total of 36 government sites were bought by developers during the year so far consisting of three white sites, nine residential sites, eight commercial sites, six hotel sites and 10 industrial sites.

Meanwhile, investment activity in the office sector remained strong with almost S$14.89 billion of sales.

This accounts for 29 per cent of the overall sales pie.

Office investment sales account for 29 per cent of this year’s total investment sales so far.

CBRE notes that although sentiment in the residential sector has been hit by concerns over the US sub-prime market, it expects the office sector to remain resilient.

“I think the sub-prime has reached Singapore for the residential sector which has been driven largely by sentiment. Sentiment is a little bit bruised at this point in time so your individual home buyer or residential investor is perhaps watching and waiting for more signs of how the market will respond,” said Mr Lake.

CBRE says it expects investment sentiment to remain positive in 2008, given continued economic growth. -CNA/vm