Real estate investment sales surged to a 10-year high in 2017

Total sales reached $36.03b.

Strong results in Q4 contributed to the full-year figure of real estate investment sales of $36.03b. This is an increase of 59.0% from the $22.66b recorded in 2016 and is also the highest figure since 2008, Savills Singapore revealed.

According to its briefing, several large Government Land Sale (GLS) sites and private residential en bloc sites pushed Q4 investment sales to $10.81b, an 8.3% QoQ growth from Q3.

The residential segment was again the best performer in Q4 with the investment value of residential sites and end-units rising 68.9% QoQ to $7.14b.

Investment sales in the commercial segment grew by 19.2% QoQ to $3.09b, mainly driven by the sales of the Beach Road commercial site and Chevron House.

The industrial segment bagged $518.4m worth of transactions, a sharp drop by 81.9% QoQ. Nevertheless, the market did see some activity in terms of big-ticket sales in the last few months.

It is anticipated that in 2018 investment levels may be slightly higher than the $22.66b seen in 2016, settling in the range of S$25 to S$27 billion.

Savills Singapore senior director Alan Cheong said, “Although 2018 may see lower investment sales numbers, this belies the fact that there are still keen buyers and a lack of available stock is the stumbling block.”