Southeast Asia’s property markets looking up thanks to young population, upbeat GDP growth, analysts say
- Foreign investment is continuing to pour into property markets in Southeast Asia
- Young population, rapid economic growth expected to remain catalyst for price gains
Vietnam and Singapore are tipped to lead price growth in the property markets in Southeast Asia this year, underpinned by the region’s youthful population and relatively long period of political stability.
“The youthful population is playing a large part in the growth of the region, and the long period of political stability in the region is helping too,” said Chris Marriott, Southeast Asia chief executive officer at Savills.
Asean data shows the 10 member states had a combined population of 642.1 million in 2017, with roughly half between the ages of 20 and 54.
Except for the 2014 coup in Thailand, transfer of power in many of the southeast Asian states has been relatively peaceful, resulting in an average annual growth rate of 5.3 per cent for the region from 2000 to 2017. In comparison, the European Union had an average annual growth rate of 1.4 per cent from 2012 to 2017.
The property markets of the southeast Asian economies received foreign investment amounting to US$7.79 billion in 2018, a 15 per cent decline from the US$9.16 billion in 2017, according to data from Real Capital Analytics.
As of the third week of January, the region has received about US$2.05 billion in foreign investment, with Singapore getting the lion’s share with US$1.97 billion, followed by Vietnam at US$33.2 million.
In Singapore, tech companies Google and Yahoo were looking to add a combined 850,000 square feet of office space, Mariott said.