Commercial real estate acitivty soars 177% to $12.09b in 2021

The sale of One George Street drove the market turnaround.

Singapore’s commercial real estate activity skyrocketed by 177% to $12.09 (US$9.0b) in 2021, making them the fifth most active market in the Asia Pacific (APAC), the latest Asia Pacific Capital Trends report from Real Capital Analytics showed.

The sale of the billion-dollar office property in One George Street to JP Morgan, in particular, drove the turnaround in the market, according to the report. The sale was also the fifth top deal in the Asia Pacific (APAC) for 2021.

The market was also named the leading source of cross-board capital overtaking the United States for the first time in 10 years.

Based on the report, Singaporean investors spent almost $21.49b (US$16b) throughout APAC.

“GIC was the dominant investor by far, with high-profile acquisitions such as the Milestone logistics portfolio in Australia and the forward purchase of a logistics centre in South Korea. Many of the large Singaporean developers were also busy doing deals abroad as travel restrictions began to ease later in the year,” the report stated.

Other notable developers that concluded deals overseas in 2021 include CapitaLand, Mapletree, CDL and Keppel.

Meanwhile, RCA’s Head of Real Estate Research David Green-Morgan said Singapore also continues to be "a top target for the world’s biggest global investors."

"Overseas capital accounted for over half of the investment into Singapore’s commercial property market last year. More than US$5 billion ($6.7b) was spent, which is the second-highest on record just behind 2019’s peak, and meant that Singapore placed third on the list of top cross-border targets in the Asia Pacific, behind Sydney and Tokyo.”

1 SGD = 074 USD