Singapore real estate investment up 29.5% to S$9.32b in Q1

This was the highest sales volume since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Singapore’s investment market managed to remain resilient amidst the current market uncertainties. According to Savills, sales value increased 29.5% QoQ to S$9.32 billion in Q1 2022, reflecting a rebound after a decline in Q4/2021. Compared with the same period in 2021, investment sales value more than doubled from the S$3.89 billion in Q1/2021. 

Savills adds that the sales volume in the quarter was the highest since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the previous last peak registering a sales value of S$11.22 billion in Q3/2019. The strong investment sales came with the gradual reopening of borders and Singapore taking an endemic approach to COVID-19. 

Here’s more from Savills:

While private investment sales rose by 9.6% in the quarter, the increase in investment sales value was largely attributed to the surge in public investment sales which registered a strong rebound after a slump in Q4/2021. Investment sales in the public sector amounted to close to S$2.00 billion in Q1/2022, nearly four times the S$488.1 million recorded in the previous quarter. Although the number of transacted sites was relatively similar, the sales prices of the sites were much higher. 

A breakdown of the investment sales numbers showed that the commercial sector supplanted the residential sector as the top in value terms in Q1/2022, making up 62.4% of total investment sales value. This was a significant jump from the 30.4% in Q4/2021, as investors turned to other real estate types due to a new round of cooling measures aimed at the private residential sector in December 2021. 

As a result, the proportion of residential investment sales declined from 47.6% in Q4/2021 to 33.4% in Q1/2022. Investment sales values for the other property types (such as hospitality, industrial and others) remained low, with slightly higher proportions for the hospitality and industrial sectors.