Tuesday 26 June 2007

Asian property prices heating up

While the existing home sales data show that the US housing market continued to weaken in May, the property market in Asia is booming. Reuters has a round-up of the latest developments in property markets in Asia.

Property markets are on the rise across Asia, fuelled by cash-rich investors looking for higher returns, the booming economies of China and India and the emergence of Japan from over a decade of economic stagnation.

With global investors increasing allocations to property and diversifying geographically, investment in Asia jumped 43 percent to $94 billion in 2006, consultants Jones Lang LaSalle say.

The flow of capital into Asia shows no sign of abating. The property arm of Morgan Stanley, for example, has earmarked around 60 percent of a $8 billion fund it has just raised for Asia -- and Japan, China and India in particular.

The Singapore property market has participated in the boom as well.

Home prices in Singapore have seen their biggest gains in over seven years led by strong buying by foreigners in the luxury segment, with government data showing a 10.2 percent rise in private residential property prices in 2006...

Office buildings are also reporting almost full occupancy as liberal tax policies draw financial firms to the city-state.

And this at a time when consumer price inflation in Singapore has been relatively tame. From Channel NewsAsia:

Singapore's consumer prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in May from April, according to Department of Statistics data.

Compared with the same month a year ago, the consumer price index (CPI) in May 2007 was 1.0 percent higher.

For the first five months of this year, the CPI rose by 0.6 percent over the same period of 2006.

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