Singapore, Japan To Remain Property Hot Spots As Global Investors Diversify: JLL CEO

The real estate markets of Australia, Japan, Korea and Singapore will remain hot spots in the next few years as global investors seek to diversify their portfolios with demand for real estate in China and Europe continues to be soft, according to Christian Ulbrich, global CEO and president of property consultancy JLL.

“The world is becoming quite small for international investors,” Ulbrich told Forbes Asia in a recent interview in Singapore. “Europe and China are struggling. So where do you go? Other than that, you go to the U.S., where everybody is already in anyway. That’s why you saw a nice pickup in transaction volumes in Singapore, Japan, Australia and Korea.”

Real estate investments in the Asia Pacific climbed 23% to $131 billion in 2024, led by gains in Australia, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore, according to the capital tracker report published by JLL in January. Singapore—which has been attracting scores of billionaires and high-net worth individuals to set up family offices in the island nation— posted the strongest growth across the region, with global investors pouring over $11.5 billion in the Lion City, up 60% from the previous year.

Among the biggest transactions in Singapore last year was the purchase in August of a portfolio of office and industrial properties by a consortium comprising of New York-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus and Australian developer Lendlease from tycoon Lim Chap Huat’s Soilbuild Group for S$1.6 billion ($1.2 billion). Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok’s Allgreen Properties was also active last year, acquiring a suburban shopping mall in March and picking up a residential plot next to its flagship property Great World City commercial center just outside the central business district from a government land auction in July. A company liked to billionaire couple Zhang Yong and Shu Ping (contolling shareholders of Chinese hot pot chain Haidilao) reportedly bought an office building at the heart of CBD from CapitaLand.

“In Singapore, people feel that it is a very predictable environment, a very safe environment for real estate investments,” Ulbrich said. “There aren’t that many places in the world where you can think this is [more]

predictable than here.”

Apart from Singapore, Ulbricht said he expects Australia, Japan and Korea to remain attractive to global investors.

Japan attracted about $36 billion of investments in 2024, up 48% from the previous year as investors snapped up hotels amid a tourism boom in the Land of the Rising Sun, according to JLL. In October, U.S. private equity firm TPG Angelo Gordon agreed to buy the 882-room Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba for 106 billion yen ($698 million). “Japan remained attractive for its positive yield spreads, despite rising interest rates,” JLL said in its note in January.

Besides hotels, industrial properties, particularly in Australia, India and Korea were also in demand last year amid a boom in digital infrastructure. In September, U.S. private equity firm Blackstone led a consortium that includes the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to buy Australian data center operator AirTrunk for A$24 billion ($15.3 billion) in what was billed as the sector’s largest ever deal. In June, a fund backed by Sydney-based Macquarie Group bought its first data center portfolio in Korea. “There’s a hype around data centers,” Ulbricht said. While demand for such facilities is strong, growth is capped because there isn’t enough electricity supply to power all these data centers, he added.