Regional Focus

The world economy has faced a very challenging 2022 with numerous headwinds such as rising inflation rising, climbing interest rates climbing, and slowing growth.

As UK continues to experience surging interest rates amid an economic crisis, mortgage lending is set for its biggest plunge in more than a decade.

Inflation continues to grab headlines and create a challenging investment environment - RealVantage

Inflation, interest rates, and pandemic recovery are influencing property markets. Australia sees a decline in house prices, while UK and Asia-Pacific are bullish.

Despite the cooling measures implemented in Q4 2021 to cool the Singapore property market, the strong demand for residential properties and the lack of supply have resulted in home sales rebounding in March 2022, after being subdued for the first two months of the year.

Office markets are rebounding globally, with Melbourne and Sydney rents rising and Singapore seeing its fastest growth rate in rents since 2021.

With pandemic concerns in the UK subsiding and practically all Covid restrictions being lifted, demand for housing in the UK capital London has risen as workers return to offices.

Australia, Japan and Singapore stand out as the top real estate investment locations in APAC, Build to Rent hit a record high in UK.

China's developer defaults are causing distress in the housing market, whilst US and UK property continues to rise in various sectors.

China's Housing bubble at risk following the finances of Evergrande, while Australia office market stays resilient despite CBD vacancies.

Contrary to indicative inflationary factors, there is evidence for the stability of the real estate market in the West and Australia.

In order to combat rising house prices, drastic efforts have been made to catch up to exorbitant demand.

As house prices around the world continue to trend upward, the effects are being felt not just by home buyers, but also by homebuilders as well, albeit more positively.

This year, in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s ranking of the world’s most liveable cities, Australia and New Zealand take six of the top-10 spots.

Housing markets across the globe, particularly in richer countries, continued to gain, with the OECD's housing unaffordability surpassing 2008's levels, according to Bloomberg.

Investments in sustainable real estate assets have been growing steadily as they are increasingly being viewed as pandemic-resilient with the ability to generate stable returns.

Residential real estate markets in Perth and Singapore continue to heat up with a high demand causing residential property prices to soar to new highs.

Price discounts to some retail and hospitality real estate assets after a year of reduced business activities due to the pandemic has begun attracting fund managers and asset owners in Asia.

According to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in Singapore, new private apartments sales have more than doubled in the past month, and home prices have also been increasing at a rapid rate.

According to Colliers International, a 50 percent surge in investment activity is expected in the second half of 2021, driven by a broad-based renewal of confidence in the property market due to vaccine developments and sustained government stimuli.

The sharp fall in interest rates across Asia Pacific over the last year has created a conducive environment for real estate investments with support for capital values across the region.

Forecasts of house prices in Australia continue to be revised upwards, with the latest forecast by ANZ projecting a 17 per cent increase in 2020, up from 9 per cent previously.