Chinese investors paid $3b for Singapore office assets

They also injected over $2b on residential lands in 1H17.

Singapore is attracting more real estate investors from China and Hong Kong as transaction volumes rose by 6% this year despite a rather weak market in 2016, real estate firm JLL said in a report.

In the first half of 2017, Singapore gained investments worth $3b into office assets and $2b into residential land from investors in Hong Kong and mainland China.

According to Regina Lim, head of capital markets research, Southeast Asia, JLL, "Singapore remains a key market for many investors due to its long-term positive fundamentals. Real estate transaction volumes in Singapore rose by six per cent year-on-year in the first half of the year, as investor sentiment is turning positive after CBD office rents bottomed earlier than expected."

JLL also noted remarkable purchases in Q12017 such as the FWD Group's purchase of a 50% stake in One George Street and Chinese company Nanshan Group and Logan's $1b investment in a government land sale site in Stirling Road.

According to JLL, investors' confidence increased when they saw a pick-up in tenant demand and in office rents in Q2.

"Due to stronger than expected rental growth, we upgraded our Singapore office rental forecasts for 2018 by about 10 per cent. We now expect Singapore prime office rents to rise 20% over the next four years,” Lim said.