What drives Singapore’s investment sales growth of 10–20% in 2025?

Investments for the fourth quarter of 2024 grew by 13.3% year-on-year.

Singapore’s investment sales are on track to grow 10–20% in 2025, driven by strong demand for industrial, residential, and retail assets, according to Colliers’ Q4 2024 Investment Report and Outlook for Singapore.

Bastiaan van Beijsterveldt, Managing Director at Colliers Singapore, noted that government land sales (GLS) made up 33% of recent investments, while industrial led at 29%, followed by residential and retail.

According to Wong Xian Yang, Head of Research for Singapore and Southeast Asia at Cushman & Wakefield, high occupancy rates and rising rents, particularly in suburban malls, have reinforced the attractiveness of Singapore’s real estate market.  

“Industrial properties continue to offer very favorable positive use spreads, partly due to a shorter tenure,” Wong said.

Residential demand is also expected to grow, with developers seeking land banking opportunities as new sales rise toward the end of 2024. However, Wong noted that developers remain selective amid cooling measures, with en bloc pricing being a key consideration.  

“The retail market is really a surprise on the upside and proven quite resilient, considering the rise of e-commerce,” Wong said. He highlighted that well-located tier-one malls with strong tenant mixes have adapted successfully, maintaining high occupancy rates.

“So basically, assets that have the potential to have a bigger spread between the interest rate and the return rate whereby there's potential upside over the short to medium to longer term,” Beijsterveldt said.  

He cautioned that if global interest rate cuts are slower or smaller than expected, investment activity could be impacted. “Generally, the spread here in Singapore is pretty tight or pretty low compared to maybe some other countries around the Asia Pacific region,” he said, noting that investors could seek higher returns in alternative markets.  

“There is a degree of uncertainty in 2025 and depending on how events play out, some investors might choose to take a wait and watch approach, and this will invariably affect investment sales volumes,” Wong said.