Major investment deals in Singapore’s property sector since January have totalled $21.4 billion

Major investment deals in Singapore’s property sector since January have totalled $21.4 billion, thanks to a roaring collective sale market.

The figure is 48 per cent higher than that a year ago, and investment sales are on track to hit a record this year, according to a report by property consultancy CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).

‘At this halfway point, there is every reason to expect that investment sales for the whole of 2007 will surpass the $30.5 billion set last year and may hit $35 billion,’ said Mr Jeremy Lake, CBRE’s executive director for investment properties.

But the value of deals done in the April to June period dipped slightly from that recorded in the preceding three months. The figure came to $9.7 billion, down from $11.7 billion in January to March.

Investment deals tracked by CBRE are sales of properties done at a value exceeding $5 million. They include land sales, collective sales and sales of strata-titled properties.

Of the sales so far this year, the private sector accounted for 86 per cent, or $18.5 billion, said CBRE. Government land deals, including the recent sale of a Dakota Crescent site for $229 million, made up the rest.

The lion’s share of the deals this year remained with the residential sector, which made up 68 per cent of all investment sales. A total of 67 collective sales have been recorded since January, to the tune of $7.9 billion, said CBRE.

Office deals took second place, accounting for 23 per cent, or $4.8 billion, of the pie.

For the second half of the year, Mr Lake predicts that sales from the public sector will ‘contribute significantly’, given the release of sites in the government land sales programme.

Source: The Straits Times, 22 June 2007