As coronavirus outbreak rages on, perceptions of a country’s health security to sway investors’ decision
- Countries with good health care systems and highly ranked abilities to react to viral outbreaks are likely to benefit from an increase in buyer activity
- The deadly and rapidly spreading coronavirus is making buyers and investors undeniably conscious of health security
The ability of different countries to effectively deal with the deadly Covid-19 outbreak will serve as a new benchmark for property buyers, say market observers. With the rapidly spreading epidemic providing the stress test for a country’s health security preparedness, there will be some winners and losers among the favoured investment destinations.
“After the epidemic, we expect health care to be even more important to buyers,” said Georg Chmiel, executive chairman of property portal Juwai IQI. “Countries like Thailand, the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia, which have good health care systems and highly ranked abilities to react to viral outbreaks, are likely to benefit from an increase in buyer activity.”
Chinese investors, one of the biggest sources of cross-border capital in property markets who spent an estimated US$120 billion in 2017, would be more conscious of health security in basing their decision, he added.
According to the latest Global Health Security (GHS) index report released in October, no country in the world is fully prepared for epidemics or pandemics, but the US, with an overall score of 83.5, has the best capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to public health emergencies such as a viral outbreak. The UK came second, followed by the Netherlands, Australia and Canada, respectively.
The study by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative, and London-based The Economist Intelligence Unit assessed the capabilities of 195 countries.