Singapore beats Malaysia as top property investor

The financial crisis didn’t stop Singaporeans accounting for 73 % of all property transactions in ASEAN in Q4 last year.

The property sector in South East Asia has been flourishing, with the total transactional value showing an increase of 25% in Q4.

Out of the total value of US$ 2.4bn spent in the quarter, 73% of investment value came from Singapore according to figures from property analysts DTZ. Of the full year value, Singapore accounted for the full year value.

Malaysia came in second, followed by Thailand.

The real estate investment market in the region was mainly driven by domestic companies and private investors. Domestic buying accounted for 80% of the total transactional value in Q4 2009 and 84% of the full year value.

Also, most of the investments in Q4 2009 were channeled into the residential sector (44%), followed by the retail sector (25%).

The residential sector formed the lion’s share at 57% of total transactional value in Singapore in Q4 2009, but made only 13% of the value in Malaysia and none in Thailand.

Major buys of the year for Singapore listed by DTZ include the Clementi Mall, sold by the HDB for US$388 million to CM Domain, and the former The Parisian (located at 21 Angullia Park), sold by Overseas Union Enterprise to China Sonangol International for US$203 million.

In a note by DTZ, the market is expected to be more active in 2010 with some deals already at due diligence stage. In Singapore, the residential sector is expected to dominate as developers seek to replenish their land bank.

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