Singapore is the second most preferred city in Asia-Pacific for cross-border investments this year, according to the CBRE 2021 Asia Pacific Investor Intentions Survey.

Singapore is the second most preferred city in Asia-Pacific for cross-border investments this year. (Photo: straitstimes.com)

Desmond Sim, head of research for Southeast Asia at CBRE – a global commercial real estate services company, said Singapore remains an important hub for foreign corporations looking to access Southeast Asia.

The survey notes that Singapore is turning out to be a viable alternative to China’s Hong Kong for companies setting up Asia-Pacific headquarters.

The upbeat news comes in the wake of the Economic Development Board’s report that Singapore attracted about 17.2 billion SGD (12.9 billion USD) in fixed asset investments last year amidst the pandemic.

Japan’s Tokyo topped the study due to the availability of high-quality assets and strong liquidity. Seoul came in third, followed by Shanghai of China and Ho Chi Minh City of Viet Nam.

The survey polled 492 investors, who were mainly based in Asia-Pacific, between November 9 and December 14 last year.

It revealed that there was a broad-based improvement in market sentiments, with 60 percent of investors intending to buy more real estate, the highest level since 2016. The recent commencement of vaccination programmes in several countries around the world has further boosted market confidence.

But interest in the office sector, which used to be the most popular for investors, dipped with the rising adoption of remote working. Demand for retail and hotels also remained soft, the report added.

Meanwhile, logistics came up top as the most popular sector for investment, as the pandemic drove the acceleration of e-commerce, boosting demand for this asset class, the report said. Investors were also more interested in data centres, as demand surged for video conferencing and other platforms to support remote working. This has led to increasing requirements for data storage.

Source: VNA