This is the 26th year Redas has hosted the landmark industry conference, and the guest of honour was Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, and Second Minister for National Development and Finance.
Singapore’s private real estate investment volumes, excluding public land sales, jumped 15% q-o-q in 2Q2025 as investors bought into a variety of asset classes like industrial and residential developments, says Michael Tay, deputy managing director, Singapore advisory and head of capital markets Singapore, at CBRE.
Total real estate investment activity in Singapore during the first six months of this year grew by 7%. “The hope that some asset classes might see a degree of repricing in 1H2025 did not materialise, and most investors now lean towards core-plus and value-add strategies with respect to Singapore,” says Tay.
The uptick in capital deployment in Singapore was largely mirrored in key regional markets in the Asia Pacific region. Japan, mainland China, South Korea, and Australia emerged as the top markets receiving inbound real estate investment capital, according to research by CBRE.
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Michael Tay, deputy managing director, Singapore advisory and head of capital markets Singapore, at CBRE speaking at the Redas conference. (Picture: Redas)
Tay shared these insights at the Real Estate Market Outlook 2025 conference organised by the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas) on July 24. This is the 26th year Redas has hosted the landmark industry conference, and the guest of honour was Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, and Second Minister for National Development and Finance.
Brisk investment activity across the Asia Pacific region in 1H2025 came amid global concerns over the ongoing US-China trade war and inflationary pressures, and the imposition of steep tariffs by the US is unlikely to have Trump’s desired effect of revitalising the US’s manufacturing base, says Taimur Baig, managing director and chief economist at DBS Bank.
“America’s consumption appetite for goods produced in Asia is undiminished. We also see that the inertia in US federal spending is so large that the latest tariffs are unlikely to improve their overall fiscal position,” says Baig.
China is also emerging as a new source of cutting-edge technologies in life sciences and pharmaceuticals. Baig expects that most technological breakthroughs in these sectors over the next 15 years will stem from innovations and patents from Chinese-based firms.
Taimur Baig, managing director and chief economist at DBS Bank speaking at the Redas conference. (Picture: Redas)
He points out that this undermines Trump’s idea of eroding China’s manufacturing capability today through trade policies. “The impact of the ongoing trade war on overall global trade flows has so far been marginal, but its negative impact on consumer and investment sentiment is palpable,” says Baig.
The unpredictability of the US-China trade war weighs heavily on the minds of real estate investors, with 61% of fund managers surveyed by CBRE citing it as their top concern. Fear of a possible recession, mainly from investors with exposure in mainland China and Singapore, was another challenge facing real estate investment in the coming months.
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Likewise, Singapore-based investors also cited interest rate cuts coming slower than expected as a possible headwind this year. Investors looking to deploy capital into Singapore’s real estate are prioritising institutional-grade modern logistics assets, centrally located Grade-A offices, and neighbourhood shopping malls, says Tay.
In Singapore’s private residential market, prices have soared 55% in the eight years between 2Q2017 and 2Q2025 despite several rounds of property cooling measures imposed on the market, says Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank. The latest market intervention on July 3 saw an increase in the holding period for seller’s stamp duty (SSD) on residential properties to four years with increased rates.
URA transaction data indicates that there were 7,261 private residential units sold in 1Q2015, which comprised 3,375 units sold in the primary market by developers. Meanwhile, the second quarter of this year saw 5,128 units sold, with developers moving 1,212 units during the period.
Knight Frank estimates that total new home sales for this year will range from 7,000 to 9,000 units sold, and this will likely support a price increase of 3%–5% in 2025.
Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank, speaking at the Redas conference. (Picture: Redas)
Steadily growing affluence and relatively low levels of household debt among Singaporeans have largely supported the ongoing pace of demand, says Tay. He observes that price increases in city-fringe and suburban locations are largely attributed to local buying power.
“Compelling new launches will continue to attract homebuyers as long as the economy remains stable,” he says, adding that the private residential market has demonstrated its resiliency despite headwinds in the global economy and ongoing uncertainties.
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This year’s Redas Real Estate Market Outlook coincides with SG60 celebrations, and the conference also celebrated the public-private partnership between the government and the stakeholders in the built environment sector.
“From kampongs to high-rise HDB flats, from shophouses to iconic skyscrapers, our built environment has evolved in tandem with our aspirations as a people,” said Minister Indranee Rajah in her keynote address at the start of the conference.
She reiterates the government will continue to keep the sector future-ready through initiatives like CORENET X, which will be mandatory from Oct 1 this year, and supporting technology adoption through the $100 million Built Environment Technology and Capability (BETC) Grant.