Here's why private office sales dampened in 4Q2017

Chevron House's $660m acquisition was one of the only two major deals in the quarter.

There were only two significant grade office block transactions sealed in Q4 of 2017, real estate firm Savills Singapore said.

According to its office sector briefing, the lack of investible grade office stock from the private sector has been the restraining factor in securing more transactions.

PoMo, a nine-storey office and retail block in Selegie Road, was bought for $342m by Hong Kong’s Gaw Capital Partners.

Oxley Holdings paid $660m to acquire Chevron House, a 32-storey commercial development at Raffles Place.

The opposite happened for the public sector, as it was fueled by the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme.

A commercial site at Beach Road was awarded to a joint-venture between GuocoLand and Guoco Group for $1.62b.

Savills Research Singapore senior director Alan Cheong said, "To some extent, the bullish winning bid reflects the optimism of developers underpinned by the recent recovery in the office leasing market and better economy outlook."

This will be the only known major supply of prime office that comes to market beyond 2022.