According to the latest report by property consultancy firm DTZ, foreign investors increased their presence in Singapore real estate by ramping up their property investments here to $4.1 billion in 2013. This was more than 30% higher than the year before.
Notably, nearly 90% of foreign investments came from Asia. China investors were particularly active, nearly tripling their investment year-on-year to $2.9 billion.
Some of the deals that involved big China players include Bright Ruby Resources' purchase of Grand Park Orchard for $1.2 billion, Kingsford Development winning two adjacent private residential sites at Upper Serangoon View, and Qingjian Realty (South Pacific) Group winning two executive condominium sites at Woodlands Avenue 5/Avenue 6 and Anchorvale Crescent.
Apart from Chinese realtors, Japanese developers also contributed to the increase in foreign investments in 2013, with prominent deals such as Japan-based Daisho Group buying The Westin Singapore hotel for $468 million.
Overall, the bulk of investments continued to be driven by domestic investors, with total investment activity for the whole of 2013 recorded at $28.5 billion, which is 0.7% lower than $28.7 billion in the previous year.
In the residential sector, residential properties did not make up the largest share of investment sales for the first time since 2009, having been overtaken by mixed-use developments. Integrated projects saw more than twice the investment from the previous year at $6.9 billion, or 24.3% of market share. Major integrated properties transacted include The Paragon and PoMo.
Comparatively, residential developments declined 37% from 2012 to $6.4 billion, or 22.5% of total market share.
As for office investments, they slid for the third straight year, accounting for 17.5%, or $5 billion, of investment activity in 2013.
Hence, overall activity is likely to be weaker this year.
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