Singapore becomes biggest group of asset buyers in China

Trade war no massive deterrent to capital inflows from the Little Red Dot, says Cushman & Wakefield

Singaporean property investments accounted for 42 percent of total spending by global capital in China last year, according to data by real estate agency Cushman & Wakefield, reported the South China Morning Post.

Total spend in China by investors in Singapore hit CNY34.65 billion (USD5 billion) in 2018. “Asian investors, particularly those from Singapore, have the know-how and rich experience in China’s property market,” explained Alvin Yip, head of Cushman & Wakefield’s capital markets for Greater China, to the Post.

More: Singapore reaps what it sows

“They hold a long-term view on the Chinese market and they are unlikely to be deterred from pursuing solid assets by the trade war.”

Management at Singapore’s largest developer, CapitaLand, reassured analysts that they are still “bullish on the market” despite the shadow of the Sino-American trade war on the Chinese economy. Along with the state-run Government Investment Corporation (GIC), the development firm acquired in November Shanghai’s Star Harbour International Centre in what was billed the largest single foreign purchase of Chinese real estate.

“The trade war has a minimal impact on [Singaporean investors’] decision making,” Yip was quoted as saying by the Post. “They are keeping their asset allocation strategy unchanged, and they need to invest part of assets in China.”