Singapore Again Leads List of World’s Priciest Cities and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

Singapore has yet again earned the title of the world’s most expensive city

The rising cost of living in Singapore leads today’s collection of real estate headlines from around Asia as the city-state again tops a list of the world’s most expensive places. Also making the cut, Hong Kong home prices have now fallen to 2017 levels and Korea’s KIC reports a recovery in returns.

Singapore Again Leads Economist List of World’s Most Expensive Cities

Singapore has yet again been ranked as the most expensive city to live in, sharing the top spot with Zurich this year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. This is the ninth time in 11 years that Singapore topped the list, while Zurich jumped from its sixth place ranking last year.

New York, which shared the top spot with the Southeast Asian nation last year, dropped to third place, sharing the spot with Geneva, the EIU reported in its twice-yearly Worldwide Cost of Living survey. Read more>>

Hong Kong Second-Hand Home Prices Fall to Lowest Since March 2017

Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices fell by 2.16 percent in October, dragging the official index to its lowest point in more than six and a half years as transactions hit the lowest level of the year.

The Rating and Valuation Department’s gauge of lived-in home prices slumped to 321.4 — only a whisker higher than 321.2 recorded in March 2017 — from 328.5 in September, according to the latest data, released on Tuesday. Read more>>

Korea’s KIC See Pre-Fee Returns Rising to Over 7% 

Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), the sovereign wealth fund, has exhibited a return rate in the 7 percent range from January to the end of August this year. It has successfully recovered approximately 40 percent of losses incurred in the previous year.

KIC announced on Nov. 29 that the total asset return rate for the year up to the end of August stands at 7.12 percent pre-fee. It appears that a significant portion, around 40.7 percent, of the annual loss of US$29.7 billion from the previous year has been recovered. Read more>>

Seoul Office Vacancy Contracted to 2.1% in October

Office vacancy rates in South Korea’s capital city fell to their lowest level this year in October as people returned to work following the practical end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to RealtyPlanet, a Seoul-based real estate consultancy, office building vacancy rates in Seoul stood at this year’s low of 2.13 percent in October, down from 2.4 percent in September. Read more>>

Blackstone’s Schwarzman Points to European Real Estate Opportunities

Steve Schwarzman, the founder of Blackstone — one of the world’s largest owners of commercial real estate — is doubling down on the asset class in which he made his name.

The private equity firm with roughly $1 trillion in assets under management plans to invest in real estate across Europe, Schwarzman told Bloomberg on Monday after the Global Investment Summit in London. Blackstone has raised about $200 billion in recent months, according to Schwarzman, who called that war chest one of the biggest piles of unspent cash in the world. Read more>>

Singapore Launches Sale of Sites for Hybrid Public-Private Housing

Two executive condominium (EC) sites were launched for sale by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Thursday in the board’s capacity as the government’s land sales (GLS) agent.

Both land parcels have a lease period of 99 years and are expected to yield about 560 housing units each. Read more>>

Singapore Condo Rents Slid Again in October

The condominium rental market booked its third consecutive month of declines in October, while prices for Housing and Development Board rents fell for the first time since October 2021.

Based on flash estimates from SRX and 99.co, rents in the condo rental market were down by 0.2 percent in October 2023 from the month before. This was led by a 0.9 percent fall in the Outside Central Region and a 0.3 percent decline in the Core Central Region. Read more>>

Hiranandani Group Ventures Into Real Estate Consultancy Services

The Hiranandani Group has ventured into real estate consultancy services with the launch of Eleva, a division that will operate as a consultant to landowners and developers and provide strategic project development solutions.

The new venture will also explore working on stalled or stressed projects, the Mumbai-based real estate developer said Wednesday. There will be no fresh investment in the venture at the moment. Read more>>

Tune in again soon for more real estate news and be sure to follow @Mingtiandi on X, or bookmark Mingtiandi’s LinkedIn page for headlines as they happen.

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