Private apartments are seen against the backdrop of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and the Singapore Flyer observatory wheel in Singapore on March 23, 2022.
Roslan Rahman | AFP | beautiful pictures
Rents in high-end residential areas rose the most in Singapore, Lisbon and Berlin in the first half of this year, according to a new research report by real estate services firm Savills.
Data from the British firm shows prime rents in Lisbon increased the most by 13.9% from December 2022 to June 2023, followed by Singapore at 13.6% and 9.2% in Berlin during the same period.
The rental markets of Lisbon and Singapore have experienced high price growth over the past 18 months, with rents increasing by more than 40%, Savills said, caused by an increase in demand for luxury homes from international tenants.
However, Berlin’s main rent increase was due to an influx of wealthy residents, the study said.
Singapore’s main rent increased significantly due to the stalled construction during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, 18,000 private housing units will be completed this year and a slight price adjustment is expected, said Alan Cheong, chief executive officer of Savills Research and Consulting.
However, Cheong emphasized that high-end luxury rents in the city-state could still increase by about 15% year-on-year with an immediate increase through the first half of 2023.
Prime rents rise in Asia
According to research by Savills, 11 of the 30 cities with the highest rent growth are in the Asia-Pacific region.
After Singapore, Kuala Lumpur took fifth place with apartment rent growth of 4.3% from December 2022 to June 2023, and Bangkok followed with a 4.2% increase.
Hong Kong came in at 12th place with a 2.7% increase, followed by Tokyo 5 places lower with a 1.7% price increase.
Residential buildings in the Kachidoki area in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, February 11, 2023.
Kosuke Okahara | Bloomberg | beautiful pictures
The report said the rental markets of Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok are “regaining momentum not seen since before the pandemic”. The agency said Hong Kong’s main rent increase was due to increased rental demand after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted at the end of 2022 and Tokyo was benefiting from the return of residents to the city.
Paul Tostevin, head of World Research at Savills, said the supply of luxury housing is expected to remain tight in many cities, citing impeding factors such as high construction costs, development challenges and rising debt costs.
“Looking ahead, we expect rents to continue to outperform capital values for the remainder of 2023 and over the medium term, as supply continues to be tight in the face of growing demand, with positive rent growth in most cities in the Index for the remainder of 2023,” said Tostevin.
