Property investment sales dived 71.9% to $3.9b

Even investment from private sector dropped.

According to Savills, although some big-ticket deals were sealed in the last few days of 2013, including the S$970 million deal for TripleOne Somerset and the S$468 million sale of The Westin Singapore hotel, property investment sales in the fourth quarter of 2013 fell by 71.9% on a QoQ basis to S$3.9 billion.

This is from a high base of S$13.8 billion in Q3 which was mainly bolstered by an active IPO market for REITs and the sale
of some large state lands.

Here's more from Savills:

For the whole of 2013, the investment market recorded a total of around S$29.7 billion, representing a 0.9% increase from 2012.

The private sector continued to dominate the market, contributing S$3.1 billion or 80.5% of Q4’s investment sales.

However, sentiment remained weak, with investment sales across all property types recording lower transaction volumes compared with the previous quarter. 

Consequently, the total investment value in the private sector recorded a 68.1% quarterly drop from S$9.8 billion in Q3.