Property investments down 78% YoY to $613.79m in Q1: study

The number of deals crashed 32% during the quarter.

Singapore experienced a sharp fall in investment volume as transactions plunged 78% YoY in Q1 to $613.79m (US$432m), according to a Real Capital Analytics’ (RCA) report.

The steep drop was attributable to the number of deals which fell significantly by 32% YoY, with the volume of deals above the $355.2m (US$250m) mark stumbling the hardest.

“Singapore saw high investment volumes in 2019 and despite the slowdown this quarter, it remains a global destination. It will see a further dip, but once yields cross a certain threshold, deal volumes should come back,” said David Green-Morgan, managing director at RCA.

Meanwhile, Asia Pacific’s real estate investment volumes nosedived in Q1 by 50% YoY to $30.28b (US$21.3b). Many transactions under contract have been delayed, leading to a pipeline of pending deals which were $11.37b (US$8b) over the average level for the last two years.

Further, APAC’s industrial sector held up in Q1 with volumes falling by a relatively modest 10% at $5.69b (US$4b), whilst the retail sector as well as senior housing and care both crashed 61% with $6.25b (US$4.4b) and $142.14m (US$0.1b), respectively.