# Selective investing is key as real estate opportunities abound: market outlook forum

- **Source:** EdgeProp Singapore
- **Published:** 2026-08-04T05:02:14.000Z
- **Author:** Fiona Lam
- **Original:** https://www.edgeprop.sg/property-news/selective-investing-key-real-estate-opportunities-abound-market-outlook-forum
- **Topics:** Commercial & Industrial, Transactions & Deals, Investment & Capital Markets

## Featured rationale

The contrast signals better overseas entry points but resilient Singapore demand, potentially encouraging selective diversification while moderating expectations for domestic residential price growth.

## AI summary

Overseas property prices in some markets have corrected about 20%–30% from their peaks, while Savills forecasts Singapore private-home values to rise about 3% y-o-y in 2026.

## Original article

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Now might be a good time to put money into real estate — but only selectively and with discipline. Repricing has created attractive investment opportunities in various markets and property sectors, although the era of near-zero interest rates is unlikely to return.

“The cost of capital is no longer cheap, so when you’re buying property these days, be very conscious about interest rates,” said Keith Ong, CEO and co-founder of RealVantage, a co-investment platform for institutional-grade real estate across global markets.

He added that interest rate spikes in recent years had “caused a lot of distress” in markets including Hong Kong, UK and the US.

Read also: Singapore-based investors now the top non-local buyers of Hong Kong office assets

Speaking at an investment forum organised by RealVantage and EdgeProp Singapore, Ong noted that Singapore’s real estate market has been “remarkably resilient through this cycle”. This is even as investors may face limitations such as substantial ticket sizes, high transaction costs, and difficulty accessing certain sectors such as logistics and large-scale commercial assets.

Beyond Singapore, asset prices in some overseas markets have corrected by about 20% to 30% from their peaks. Banks are also becoming more willing to lend and transaction activity is picking up.

“That’s where things get interesting,” Ong said. “I’m not saying everything is cheap, but your entry point right now can be substantially better than three or four years ago.”

He reckoned investors will need to be “very selective” instead of simply seeking market exposure, and diversification also remains key.

“Different markets will give you exposure to different sectors, different return drivers and at different stages in the real estate cycle, and that in itself is an important form of diversification,” he said.

At the July 30 event, which drew more than 150 attendees, Ong was joined by other speakers: Suan Teck Kin, UOB’s group head of economics and market research, and executive director; Alan Cheong, executive director of research and consultancy at Savills; and Kylie Robb, CEO of MaxCap Group. Mark Ho, managing director, investment management at RealVantage, moderated the panel discussion.

Read also: Offices get pricier to rent and buy in 2Q2026, pipeline supply dwindles

The speakers shared their insights and views on Singapore’s macroeconomic outlook and monetary policy; the city-state’s residential, office and retail property markets; the growing role of private real estate credit in markets such as Australia and New Zealand; residential opportunities overseas, including in Japan; as well as implications of the AI boom.

Economic growth, rising household wealth in Singapore

Singapore’s economy has seen robust growth over the past five quarters. This was driven largely by strong manufacturing activity, particularly in the electronics and precision engineering clusters as they benefit from AI demand.

However, there is elevated volatility as tariffs, geopolitics and energy shocks could quickly change inflation trends, exchange-rate dynamics, and risk premia, UOB’s Suan noted.

The bank’s research team upgraded its growth forecast for the country’s 2026 gross domestic product (GDP) to 4.8%, from 4.0% previously. It projects a slightly more moderate 3.0% increase in 2027.

This comes as UOB expects AI-related tailwinds to be sustained through the third quarter of 2026.

Suan also touched on why interest rates in Singapore are likely to have bottomed, and the implications of a strong Singapore dollar when weighing overseas investments.

Against the resilient macroeconomic backdrop, he highlighted that rising income, household formation and solid household balance sheets will likely continue to support real estate demand in the city-state.

Read also: How cross-border real estate financing is evolving between Hong Kong and Singapore

In particular, household wealth will remain a key demand driver for the property market, as Singapore households tend to have low leverage and are highly liquid. Many are flush with cash and looking to deploy it for good returns, Suan said.

Outside of Singapore, UOB has a generally positive outlook for the next six to 12 months for selected markets such as the US, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. For example, both Australia and Japan are likely to record moderate GDP growth, although Australia may see an easing labour force participation rate, while further rate hikes are expected in Japan.

Mixed outlook for Singapore residential, office and retail

Echoing Suan’s observations on household wealth in Singapore, Cheong from Savills highlighted the strong pool of domestic liquid assets in discussing the Republic’s residential property market.

The amount of liquid assets per household has been growing more quickly than private residential property prices since 2024.

Part of the demand for private homes has come from older generations helping younger family members enter the market. For example, parents are forking out the down payment for a purchase in the child’s name, Cheong said.

In particular, the “bulge bracket” with reserves are the Gen Xs and Baby Boomers, or the Merdeka Generation. For the past few years, the largesse of savings from these cohorts have been tapped to acquire private residential properties on behalf of Millennials and Gen Zs, he added.

However, from the medium term onwards, although individuals aged 65 and older comprise an increasing proportion of Singapore’s total population, the new entrants to this age group may not have the same level of savings as those that entered earlier.

This is because more of them may have suffered from structural unemployment in their 50s and thus lost out on the last mile of their maximum earning capacity and therefore savings as well.

Taken together, Cheong cautioned against extrapolating the private residential market’s past strong price gains into the future.

Given Singapore’s ageing population and growing concerns over job security, investors should “dampen” their expectations for residential price increases and also be more careful, as many assumptions that have supported the market may not necessarily hold going forward.

Savills forecasts capital values of private homes to rise by about 3% y-o-y this year.

In the office market, Cheong noted that the overall Grade A basket of buildings — comprising Grades A, AA and AAA — continues to benefit from limited new supply, tight vacancies of premium buildings, and occupiers’ ongoing flight to quality.

“As long as the weight of institutional money continues to pile on, you will see demand for Grade A offices,” he added.

Besides, with some older office buildings earmarked for redevelopment, their displaced tenants will be in the search for replacement spaces. That may help to boost the occupancies of other buildings.

Savills expects Grade A CBD office rents to remain buoyant, increasing by 5% in 2026, followed by a 5% to 7% increase in 2027.

As for the retail property market, challenging conditions have persisted over the past decade, although there have been gradual signs of recovery from 2021 and the vacancy rate started to stabilise in 2023.

Retail rents in both the Orchard and suburban areas have seen muted growth since 2021, according to Savills’ research.

Leasing demand in the Central Region softened in the first quarter of 2026, particularly in secondary locations and less prominent units.

On the other hand, the suburban retail market has shown relative resilience, despite ongoing headwinds from cautious consumer spending and rising operating costs.

Private credit gains ground in Australia, New Zealand

Besides direct property ownership and equity investments in real estate, investors are also finding opportunities higher up the capital stack through commercial real estate debt.

In Australia and New Zealand, a structural pullback by banks from commercial real estate lending has created a funding gap that private credit managers are increasingly stepping in to fill, said Robb from MaxCap, a Melbourne-based commercial real estate credit specialist.

She added that Australia and New Zealand are attractive commercial real estate debt markets as they offer access to high-quality assets, strong lender protections and compelling risk-adjusted returns.

The transparency in both markets also allow for reliable valuations, data and price discovery for exit.

Robb reckoned this is an attractive point in the cycle, as higher-for-longer rates strengthen the relative attractiveness of credit as compared to equity.

“It’s a floating-rate product, so gradual interest rate increases are actually to the benefit of investors because they will get a higher return in total,” she said. This is so long as rates are not climbing dramatically and borrowers are still able to service their debt.

Robb also distinguished commercial real estate private credit in Australia and New Zealand from parts of the US private credit market that have come under scrutiny lately.

Unlike the unsecured corporate lending associated with the recent US private credit turmoil, commercial real estate debt is backed by tangible assets, which offers investors an additional layer of downside protection.

“In Australia, private credit is predominantly real estate. There is a real asset underlying it,” Robb said.

AI boom still requires disciplined investing

While AI has become a major investment theme across sectors, Ong said RealVantage approaches data centres in much the same way as other real estate assets, starting with the fundamentals.

Earlier this year, the firm had invested in an existing data centre. Besides assessing the demand drivers and the tenant’s creditworthiness, RealVantage also examines factors such as the facility’s power requirements and capital expenditure needs.

“In any investment, we always go down to the fundamentals,” he remarked. “Can the tenant pay you rent? How long can he last? And, finally, is there somebody who will take the real estate off you?”

Investors need to bear in mind that data centres are relatively illiquid assets and might not be easy to sell as they are “very lumpy” assets commanding “huge” cheque sizes, Ong continued.

RealVantage's Ho likewise said investors should not get too caught up in the AI boom, but instead focus on the “nuts and bolts” of an investment and consider whether demand is sustainable.

## Chinese translation

> Translation model: openai_codex_cli

### 市场展望论坛：房地产机会充足，选择性投资是关键

住宅、办公楼、零售、私人信贷、AI领域的机会和风险在哪里？来自一场投资论坛的要点。

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现在或许是把资金投入房地产的好时机，但只能有选择性地、以纪律性方式进行。重新定价已在多个市场和物业领域创造出有吸引力的投资机会，尽管接近零利率的时代不太可能回归。

“资本成本不再便宜，所以如今买房地产时，必须非常留意利率，”RealVantage首席执行官兼联合创始人Keith Ong说。RealVantage是一个面向全球市场机构级房地产的共同投资平台。

他补充说，近年来利率飙升已在包括香港、英国和美国在内的市场“造成很多困境”。

另见：Singapore-based investors now the top non-local buyers of Hong Kong office assets

Ong在RealVantage和EdgeProp Singapore联合举办的一场投资论坛上发言时指出，新加坡房地产市场“在这一周期中表现得非常有韧性”。即便投资者可能面临一些限制，例如较高的入场金额、高交易成本，以及难以进入物流和大型商业资产等特定领域。

在新加坡之外，一些海外市场的资产价格已从峰值回调约20%至30%。银行也变得更愿意放贷，交易活动正在回升。

“这就是事情变得有意思的地方，”Ong说。“我不是说所有东西都便宜，但你现在的入场点可能比三四年前好得多。”

他认为，投资者需要“非常有选择性”，而不是简单地寻求市场敞口，多元化也仍然是关键。

“不同市场会让你接触不同领域、不同回报驱动因素，以及房地产周期中的不同阶段，这本身就是一种重要的多元化形式，”他说。

在7月30日的活动上，出席人数超过150人，Ong与其他演讲者同台，包括UOB经济与市场研究集团主管兼执行董事Suan Teck Kin、Savills研究与咨询执行董事Alan Cheong，以及MaxCap Group首席执行官Kylie Robb。RealVantage投资管理董事总经理Mark Ho主持了小组讨论。

另见：Offices get pricier to rent and buy in 2Q2026, pipeline supply dwindles

演讲者分享了他们对新加坡宏观经济前景和货币政策、这个城市国家的住宅、办公楼和零售房地产市场、私人房地产信贷在澳大利亚和新西兰等市场日益增长的作用、包括日本在内的海外住宅机会，以及AI热潮影响的见解和观点。

新加坡经济增长和家庭财富上升

新加坡经济在过去五个季度实现强劲增长。这主要由强劲的制造业活动推动，尤其是电子和精密工程产业集群，因为它们受益于AI需求。

不过，UOB的Suan指出，关税、地缘政治和能源冲击可能迅速改变通胀趋势、汇率动态和风险溢价，因此波动性有所上升。

该银行研究团队将新加坡2026年国内生产总值（GDP）增长预测从此前的4.0%上调至4.8%。其预计2027年增幅将略为温和，为3.0%。

这是因为UOB预计，AI相关顺风因素将持续至2026年第三季度。

Suan还谈到为什么新加坡利率很可能已经触底，以及在权衡海外投资时强势新元的影响。

在具有韧性的宏观经济背景下，他强调，收入上升、家庭形成和稳健的家庭资产负债表，很可能继续支撑这个城市国家的房地产需求。

另见：How cross-border real estate financing is evolving between Hong Kong and Singapore

特别是家庭财富仍将是房地产市场的关键需求驱动因素，因为新加坡家庭杠杆率往往较低且流动性很高。Suan说，许多家庭现金充裕，正在寻找机会部署资金以获得良好回报。

在新加坡以外，UOB对未来六至12个月内美国、澳大利亚、日本和香港等选定市场总体持正面展望。例如，澳大利亚和日本都可能录得温和GDP增长，尽管澳大利亚劳动力参与率可能有所下降，而日本预计将进一步加息。

新加坡住宅、办公楼和零售前景不一

Savills的Cheong呼应Suan关于新加坡家庭财富的观察，在讨论新加坡住宅房地产市场时强调了本地流动资产池的强劲。

自2024年以来，每户家庭的流动资产金额增长速度快于私人住宅房地产价格。

私人住宅需求的一部分来自较年长世代帮助较年轻家庭成员入市。例如，Cheong说，父母会为以子女名义购买的物业支付首付款。

特别是拥有储备的“bulge bracket”群体，是X世代和Baby Boomers，或Merdeka Generation。过去几年，这些群体的大量储蓄已被用于代表Millennials和Z世代购买私人住宅物业，他补充说。

不过，从中期开始，尽管65岁及以上人士在新加坡总人口中占比不断上升，新进入这一年龄组的人士可能没有早前进入该年龄组者同等水平的储蓄。

这是因为他们中更多人可能在50多岁时遭遇结构性失业，因此失去了最大赚钱能力以及储蓄的最后一段路。

综合来看，Cheong提醒不要把私人住宅市场过去强劲的价格上涨简单外推至未来。

鉴于新加坡人口老龄化以及对就业保障的担忧增加，投资者应“降低”对住宅价格上涨的预期，并且更加谨慎，因为许多曾支撑市场的假设未来未必一定成立。

Savills预计，今年私人住宅资本价值将同比上升约3%。

在办公楼市场，Cheong指出，由A、AA和AAA级组成的整体Grade A楼宇篮子，继续受益于有限的新供应、高端楼宇低空置率，以及租户持续向优质物业迁移。

“只要机构资金的重量继续涌入，你就会看到对Grade A办公楼的需求，”他补充说。

此外，随着一些较旧办公楼被指定重建，其被迁出的租户将寻找替代空间。这可能有助于提升其他楼宇的出租率。

Savills预计，Grade A CBD办公楼租金将保持强劲，2026年上涨5%，随后在2027年上涨5%至7%。

至于零售房地产市场，过去十年挑战性状况持续存在，尽管自2021年以来已有逐步复苏迹象，空置率也从2023年开始稳定。

根据Savills的研究，Orchard和市郊地区的零售租金自2021年以来增长温和。

2026年第一季度，Central Region租赁需求转弱，尤其是在次级地点和不太显眼的单位。

另一方面，尽管谨慎的消费者支出和不断上升的运营成本带来持续阻力，市郊零售市场表现出相对韧性。

私人信贷在澳大利亚、新西兰取得进展

除了直接拥有物业和房地产股权投资外，投资者也在通过商业房地产债务，在资本结构更高层级寻找机会。

来自MaxCap的Robb表示，在澳大利亚和新西兰，银行从商业房地产贷款结构性收缩，形成了资金缺口，私人信贷管理机构正日益介入填补。MaxCap是一家总部位于墨尔本的商业房地产信贷 specialist。

她补充说，澳大利亚和新西兰是具有吸引力的商业房地产债务市场，因为它们提供接触高质量资产、强有力贷款人保护和有吸引力的风险调整后回报的机会。

两个市场的透明度也使估值、数据和退出价格发现更加可靠。

Robb认为，这是周期中一个有吸引力的节点，因为较高且持续更久的利率强化了信贷相对于股权的吸引力。

“这是一个浮动利率产品，所以逐步加息实际上有利于投资者，因为他们将获得更高的总回报，”她说。前提是利率没有大幅攀升，且借款人仍有能力偿还债务。

Robb还将澳大利亚和新西兰的商业房地产私人信贷与最近受到审视的美国私人信贷市场部分领域区分开来。

与最近美国私人信贷动荡中相关的无担保企业贷款不同，商业房地产债务由有形资产支持，为投资者提供了额外一层下行保护。

“在澳大利亚，私人信贷主要是房地产。其背后有真实资产，”Robb说。

AI热潮仍需要有纪律的投资

尽管AI已成为跨行业的重要投资主题，Ong表示，RealVantage对待数据中心的方式与对待其他房地产资产大体相同，都是从基本面出发。

今年早些时候，该公司投资了一个现有数据中心。除了评估需求驱动因素和租户的信用质量外，RealVantage也会审视该设施的电力需求和资本开支需求等因素。

“在任何投资中，我们始终深入到基本面，”他说。“租户能向你支付租金吗？他能持续多久？最后，是否有人会从你手中接下这项房地产？”

Ong继续说，投资者需要记住，数据中心是相对缺乏流动性的资产，可能不容易出售，因为它们是“非常大块”的资产，需要“巨大”的支票金额。

RealVantage的Ho同样表示，投资者不应过度沉迷于AI热潮，而应专注于一项投资的“nuts and bolts”，并考虑需求是否可持续。