Property investment volume drops 17.5% QoQ in Q1: C&W

On a yearly basis, investment volume increased by almost 40%.

Property investment volume was valued at $6.1b in the first quarter of 2022, a 17.5% drop from the figures in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to global commercial real estate services firm, Cushman & Wakefield.

But investment volume rose by almost 40% compared to the figures in the first quarter of 2021, which was driven by performances in both residential and commercial markets, Cushman & Wakefield added.

For almost half of the first quarter of 2022’s investment sales, total residential investment volume increased from $2.8b in the last quarter of 2021 to $3b in the first quarter of 2022, which was driven mainly by government land sales (GLS) deals.

Cushman & Wakefield said there was no residential GLS tender on sale in the latter part of 2021 whilst four resident GLS were sold in the first quarter of 2022 for around $2b.

Most of the sites attracted developers even as cooling measures were implemented whilst unsold inventory stayed at record low of only 14,333 units at the end of 2021.

Wong Xian Yang, chief of research at Cushman & Wakefield Singapore, said they expect developers’ land acquisition activities to pick up in subsequent quarters as unsold stock continues to run low and “clearer picture” of the cooling measures’ effect on home buying demand emerges.