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Daily Archives: 24 Sep 2009

London still the place to be

Posted on 24 Sep 2009 | Comments Off

Singapore and Asian investors now see the City as a safe long-term investment, and as long as the sterling is low they will be buying

THE UK property market is waking up, prices are rising and the British pound is regaining its strength. The good news is that there are still bargains to be had for astute overseas investors.

The first recommendation for buyers is to get an opinion, via a friend or relative in the UK, to check if the location really is where it should be – that is, ‘24 minutes from Bond Street’, or ‘within easy reach of London’s top schools’.

Many buyers may be tempted into a purchase that, while looking like great value on paper, would offer little opportunity for capital growth and is probably not attractive to tenants. Having said that, there are still opportunities to be had, especially in the established locations, to make the Singapore dollar sweat against the pound sterling.

According to the latest quarterly index from Savills Research, prime central London prices rose by 4.3 per cent in the three months to June, effectively wiping out the falls seen in the first quarter. By any measure, this is a significant quarterly growth. Continue reading →

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Posted in Overseas Property

Tagged London Property, UK Property, UK Property Market

Hong Kong office rentals arrest decline

Posted on 24 Sep 2009 | Comments Off

Despite the slower pace of rental falls and increased leasing activity, vacancy rates are climbing, says UMA SHANKARI

THE Hong Kong office market is mirroring the trend seen lately in the Singapore market – rents are still falling, but at a slower rate. Data from property firm Savills showed that overall Grade A office rents fell by 5.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2009. This is a slowdown from the decline of 11.1 per cent seen in Q4 2008 and 10.2 per cent in Q1 2009.

‘The results indicate that the rate of decline of office rents has slowed, suggesting that we are approaching the bottom of the current down cycle,’ said Savills in a report.

Savills Research now expects the rate of decline of Grade A office rents to slow over the second half of 2009 and record another 10 per cent slide for the remainder of 2009 before stabilising.

Knight Frank, which does monthly rental updates, noted that the month-on-month decline in the average Grade A office rent slowed to 1.9 per cent in July, after falling 3 per cent in June. Knight Frank expects that Grade A office rents will bottom out by Q4 of this year.

The trend is similar to what is happening in Singapore. Office rents in Singapore fell for the fourth consecutive quarter in Q3 2009, but the pace of decline has eased on the back of returning business confidence, said CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). Continue reading →