Real estate investors pick China over Singapore

SINGAPORE, Dec 9 — Singapore’s popularity as one of Asia’s top real estate investment destinations has slipped, according to a new survey of institutional investors by the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The report put the Republic in fifth place in the latest rankings of Asia-Pacific cities with the best property investment prospects. It came in second the last time.
The top three cities, overtaking Singapore in the investment league table, are Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing respectively, with Seoul in fourth place.

Choo Eng Beng, PwC’s assurance real estate leader, said the results came as no surprise in the light of the remarkable resilience of the Chinese economy.
And Stephen Blank, senior research fellow of finance at the Urban Land Institute, said Singapore’s drop should be put into context, given that the difference between the third, fourth and fifth places was minor.

About 270 industry experts from across the region — including investors, developers, property companies, lenders, brokers and consultants — were questioned about their views on the outlook of the property sector for the survey.
Concern about an oversupply of property in Singapore over the next two years dented the city’s ranking among developers. Experts placed Singapore 11th, compared with seventh last year.
Respondents seemed most bullish about investment prospects for the residential property sector here, whereas other categories, such as retail and office, were placed in the “hold” category.