Singapore is APAC's most prepared city: study

It topped the governance rankings ahead of Tokyo and Ho Chi Minh.

Singapore topped the list as the most prepared city in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, a study by Cushman and Wakefield revealed. It bested other APAC cities such as Melbourne (2nd) and Shanghai (3rd).

According to the study, the Lion City ranked first in terms of governance compared to other APAC cities. The report noted that the city-state leads the region amidst its same ruling party in power for the past five decades. Other high scoring nations were Japan, China, and Vietnam whilst Manila is considered the least stable.

“These scores reflect the ability of these governments to propose and implement policy, social stability, and the government’s ability to rule,” the firm explained.

Meanwhile, Singapore ranked second in terms of cybersecurity, beating Hong Kong and coming next to top placer Tokyo. The report noted that Tokyo and Singapore ranked first and second, respectively, in the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU).

In terms of sustainability, Singapore placed second next to Sydney. The study explained that the advent of cogeneration and trigeneration, the production of electricity, heating and cooling simultaneously, limits the contribution and demand are increasingly recognised in building sustainability ratings.

The report also noted that the Singapore government targeted that 80% of all buildings should be green-certified by 2030.

Despite the city-state’s strong finish in most indicators, the firm noted that its weakness lies on rent volatility.

“If rents are generally stable, or linear in growth, then company CFOs can plan accordingly,” the firm explained. “However, any sudden appreciation in rents is likely to have greater adverse impacts on company performance.”

The study looked into the state of preparedness of 17 APAC cities through a range of macroeconomic, structural, defensive, and social indicators including factors in the built environment.