Singapore’s full-year property investment tally stood at $23.7 billion in 2020, revealed a Cushman & Wakefield report.
Singapore saw total property investment volume for the fourth quarter of 2020 hit $3.33 billion, while the full-year investment tally stood at $23.7 billion, revealed a Cushman & Wakefield report.
Residential investment volume doubled from $0.82 billion in Q3 2020 to $1.57 billion in Q4 2020.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority’s advance estimates showed that private property prices increased during the fourth quarter, bringing the full-year hike at 2.2%.
The report noted that the uptick in residential sales also saw an increase in residential investment sales, like the $93 million sale of Guillemard-Jalan Molek site as well as the $62 million sale of Sophia Ville and Fair Haven.
The Good Class Bungalow (GCB) market also ended 2020 with healthy sales and higher transaction values despite the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Transactions in Q4 2020 included Chatsworth Park GCB at $44.0 million and Tanglin Hill GCB at $31.5 million.
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The biggest non-landed residential transaction for the quarter, on the other hand, was the $62 million sale of Wallich Residence superpenthouse – the unit bought by James Dyson for $73.8 million over a year ago.
Over at the commercial property sector, transaction volume plunged 93% to $0.92 billion with the absence of REITs merger.
“Nevertheless, there is still some optimism in the office market against the backdrop of the imminent recovery,” said Cushman & Wakefield.
Keppel REIT, for instance, is purchasing a 100% stake in Keppel Bay Tower from Keppel Land for $657.2 million.
Shophouse investment sales increased by nearly five-fold to $232 million in Q4 2020 from $44 million in the previous quarter.
In fact, the quarter registered 12 shophouse transactions above $10 million, an increase from three in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, the industrial sector “showed some nascent recovery in Q4, despite a 34% decline in transaction volume” from the previous quarter.
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In Q4 2020, Perennial Real Estate consortium’s $118 million acquisition of Big Box in Jurong emerged as biggest deal of the quarter.
It was followed by Metro Holdings’ $76.6 million acquisition of a 26% stake in a portfolio of 14 properties. The portfolio comprises six industrial properties, four high-spec industrial properties, three logistics properties and one business park situated in various parts of Singapore.
The two deals boosted the industrial transaction volume for Q4 to $296.6 million, bringing industrial transactions for the full-year to $2.1 billion, down 64% from 2019’s $5.9 billion.
For 2021, Cushman & Wakefield expects overall property investment volume to return to pre-COVID-19 levels at between $18 billion and $20 billion, on optimism that the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine will boost economic growth.
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