Tag Archives: Tokyo

S’pore ranked outside top 5 for real estate prospects

Japan and Australia remain the favourite countries for real estate development and investment, according to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2016 forecast jointly published by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC.

Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne and Osaka took four of the top five spots for promising markets in the Asia Pacific. Ho Chi Minh City was rated fifth.

The study, which surveyed 343 real estate professionals, ranked Singapore eleventh for investment prospects and ninth for development out of 22 regional markets.

Specifically, it pointed to a slow residential market here, mainly due to government actions in 2013 to stem soaring home prices.

“Given the current sentiments of Singapore’s property market, we’re seeing local players becoming more involved at a regional and global level as they explore, increase and diversify investments into other major markets such as Japan and Australia,” said Yeow Chee Keong, Real Estate & Hospitality Leader, PwC Singapore.

He added: “The residential market will continue to hope for an increase in the level of transactions, and that will be dependent on whether there will be modifications made to the cooling measures.”

Despite the tepid enthusiasm, the Emerging Trends report noted that “Singapore is always a market where institutions are looking to buy,” adding that a number of major property purchases are expected to be completed before the end of 2015.

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Singapore 6th most expensive city in Asia

According to the latest cost of living survey from ECA International, Singapore is now the 6th most expensive city in Asia for expatriates to live in, up from its previous ranking of 9th spot. Singapore also rose to the 36th spot from 68th in the global ranking in one year.

The company, which provides solutions for firms sending their staff overseas, said the continued strength of the Singapore dollar against major currencies had pushed the republic up the global ranking.

ECA International also said prices of goods and services commonly purchased by international assignees have risen at much faster rates in Singapore than in other developed locations in the region.

It said such goods and services now cost almost 3% more in Singapore than in Hong Kong while just a year ago, the same would have cost 5% more in Hong Kong.

ECA International pointed out that Singapore is now more expensive for international assignees than Hong Kong, New York, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Shanghai.

Meanwhile, Tokyo remains the most expensive city for international assignees.

Globally, Tokyo heads the top 10 list followed by Oslo, Nagoya, Stavanger in Norway, Yokohoma, Zurich, Angola’s capital Luanda, Geneva, Kobe and the Swiss capital of Bern.

The region’s top 10 most expensive cities are:
1) Tokyo
2) Nagoya
3) Yokohama
4) Kobe
5) Seoul
6) Singapore
7) Hong Kong
8) Beijing
9) Shanghai
10) Busan