Hong Kong, Singapore are most favored among key Asian property markets: Pacific Star Group

Hong Kong and Singapore are its most favored of 11 Asian property markets, said Pacific Star Group one of Asia’s leading real estate investment houses in its press release.

The Group made the conclusion in its biannual Asian Property Outlook and Strategy report. Included in the study were also Bangkok, Beijing, Delhi, Ho Chi Minh, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo.

The press release said that report rated Hong Kong and Singapore as Tier I for the attractiveness of their office, retail and residential properties.

The rating is based on their aggregate scores across key property drivers, which include economic outlook, demographics, socio-political stability, ease of doing business, transparency, vacancies, financing environment and timing in rental cycles.

The markets in the study are banded into three tiers: Tier 1 for “extremely attractive”, Tier II for “attractive” and Tier III for “less attractive”.

Pacific Star Group in the press release on Tuesday said Hong Kong and Singapore demonstrated strong fundamentals in most of the property drivers. It expects total returns for both cities to be in the very low teens for retail, low teens for residential, and single digit for office properties over the next 12 months.

“We recently saw lease renewals by anchor tenants, from the financial sector, in Capital Square which we manage. The closing of these major leases has helped to diversify the lease expiry profile of Capital Square and also allowed us to ride on the uptrend in the office market,” Pacific Star elaborated on the office sector outlook for Singapore.

“Financial sector tenants will continue to drive leasing demand in Singapore. In spite of the large supply pipeline, we expect vacancy rates to be lower than expected given strong pre- commitments. Strong upward pressure on office rents will persist.”

On Hong Kong, another financial hub, Pacific Star noted that net take-up was positive in the third quarter 2010. “The tight supply situation in core areas is not expected to ease in the near term and this will result in office rents rising next year.”

On retail property sectors in the two cities, Pacific Star said they will continue to be underpinned by strong employment prospects and improved tourism spending.

Singapore is drawing more visitors because of its integrated resorts launched this year while Hong Kong will see higher tourism receipts because of rise in visits by Chinese mainland.

Turning to residential real estate in the two economies, demand by global investors will remain strong, particularly from China and India‘s rising wealthy class.

The high level of affluence in these cities, coupled with low local borrowing costs, will continue to fuel residential demand in Singapore and Hong Kong, Pacific Star added.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2010-12/07/c_13638917.htm