Chart of the Day: Office investments made up 71.5% of property sales in Q2

It was thanks to the sale of 30% stake in TripleOne Somerset and 50% stake in AXA Tower.

This chart from EDMUND TIE shows that office (and office mixed-use) investment sales made up 71.5% of the total property investment sales in Q2. This translates to a 68.9% QoQ surge to $1.3b.

This was mainly contributed by the sale of 30% and 50% stakes of TripleOne Somerset and AXA Tower respectively, as well as sale of retail and office units at 30 Raffles Place. With the sale of the 30% stake in TripleOne Somerset for $155.1m ($2,250 psf strata area), the purchaser, Shun Tak Holdings, will own 100% of the building, having previously acquired 70% stake in January 2017 from a consortium led by Perennial Holdings.

The purchase came after an asset enhancement initiative of the development in 2019. The largest transaction in Q1 was the sale of 50% stake of AXA Tower for S$840m to Alibaba Group, an anchor tenant of the building, from a Perennial-led consortium which included Singapore Press Holdings, HPRY Holdings and Piermont Holdings.

Once the deal is completed, AXA Tower will commence its redevelopment. At 30 Raffles Place, Saudi Arabia-based Olayan Group was reported to purchase the retail podium and the three lowest office floors for $315.0m ($2,596 psf strata area).