Savills bets on scale, automation to reach 100,000 managed units by 2030

Managing a luxury condo is no longer just about keeping the lifts running, facilities well-maintained, gardens manicured and common areas clean.

Increasingly, concierge services are expected to match those of five-star hotels. “Residents expect white-glove service,” says Savills Singapore CEO Marcus Loo, and the pricier the home, the higher the bar.

Take the 54-unit, ultra-luxury Park Nova by Shun Tak Holdings, completed in 2024, which Savills manages. In January 2025, the developer sold its largest penthouse, a 5,899 sq ft five-bedroom unit, for $38.888 million ($6,593 psf). Based on caveats lodged, that is the second-highest psf price ever paid for a condo unit in Singapore.

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Residents paying such prices expect service to match. “They want best-in-class, uniformed staff — those who have excellent customer service, preferably former Singapore Airlines stewardesses who can communicate well and have technical know-how,” says Loo. “It’s very difficult to find a single individual with such qualities.”

At large suburban estates, the challenges are different. Savills was recently appointed managing agent of the 2,203-unit Treasure at Tampines, Singapore’s largest private condo by number of units.

Managing a development of that scale inevitably generates a high volume of feedback from residents, on everything from maintenance issues to landscaping, says Loo. The managing agent, he adds, needs both “technical know-how” and “service excellence.”

Whether in luxury or mass-market estates, residents now expect more from their managing agents. That adds to the pressure on an industry already grappling with one of its biggest challenges: finding and retaining experienced staff amid rising labour costs.

Building scale, bringing services in-house

For Savills, the response has been to build scale, bring more building services in-house, and increasingly deploy technology and robotics as it works towards a target of 100,000 strata units under management by 2030.

It currently manages 71,793 units across 226 strata developments, or 249 projects including non-strata properties.

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The portfolio has more than doubled since August 2011, when Savills acquired a 51% stake in CKH Asset Management. At the time, the Singapore-based property management firm had 300 employees and managed close to 30,000 units across about 100 strata developments, primarily condos, as well as retail, office and industrial assets.

More recently, in September 2022, Savills Singapore acquired Absolute Maintenance Services, adding cleaning as well as mechanical and electrical (M&E) capabilities to its property management platform.

Savills further expanded its property and integrated facilities management (IFM) business in December 2025 by acquiring a 70% stake in Alpina Holdings, with an option to take full ownership in 2030.

Alpina provides building services, M&E, and alteration and addition works, mainly for government and public-sector clients.

The rationale is that more clients, including government agencies, are moving towards IFM, where a single provider takes responsibility for multiple building services.

Increasingly, clients prefer to appoint a single IFM company, says Loo. “They ideally do not wish to deal with multiple contractors — the M&E, cleaning services or the landscape companies.”

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Bringing these functions in-house, rather than coordinating multiple external contractors, could eventually allow Savills to capitalise on economies of scale. Each estate would keep a leaner on-site team, supported by roving teams deployed across clusters of nearby developments.

Running a sizeable portfolio also requires back-office support and a manpower pool deep enough to deploy staff when needed, not just property managers on the ground, Loo adds.

Low barriers to entry fuel competition

Most managing agents are appointed for one to three years, and Loo estimates that, at any given time, about half of management councils are looking to switch. That churn keeps Savills busy. “We participate in almost 20 tenders every month,” he says.

Barriers to entry are also low. “There are a lot of new property management companies who break into the market by slashing prices despite the fact that they are making a loss,” says Loo. “That is not sustainable and, ultimately, it is the estate that loses.” Some estates that left Savills for cheaper rivals have since returned, he adds.

The potential market is substantial. According to Building and Construction Authority data published on data.gov.sg, there were 3,806 active Management Corporation Strata Title (MCST) developments across residential, commercial, mixed-use and industrial properties as at April 6.

Savills is betting that its in-house capabilities will give it an edge. “We offer our clients a one-stop-shop solution to manage key MCST services at lower cost to the estate due to economies of scale,” says Loo.

Rising costs drive automation

Costs are a pressure point for MCSTs. Loo estimates that property management costs have increased by more than 20% since the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by higher wages and foreign worker levies.

Winnie Wong, Savills Singapore senior managing director of property management, points to a broader set of pressures facing the sector, including increasingly complex regulatory requirements, higher operating and maintenance costs, and the challenges associated with ageing developments.

Addressing these issues will require both greater digitalisation and continued investment in workforce development, she says. That includes upskilling property management professionals and making the industry more attractive as a career.

For Loo, greater automation is inevitable. Cleaning and M&E services are the two largest cost components in managing an estate, followed by security and landscaping, he says.

Attitudes towards robot cleaners have also shifted. About five years ago, council members were wary of robotics, fearing the machines would not meet cleaning standards, says Loo. “So they still preferred the cleaning company to provide physical labour.”

Today, Absolute Maintenance Services is running demonstrations of robot cleaners at several estates. There are limits, however. “The thing about robot cleaners is that they need level ground,” he says. “The challenge with a lot of the estates is that they generally do not have flat surfaces.”

The machines are therefore deployed mainly in lobbies and common areas of apartment blocks, where they can clean at regular intervals around the clock. This has helped some councils cut manpower costs, Loo adds.

Automation is also changing how estates manage access. QR codes and facial recognition allow visitors and vehicles to enter and exit more smoothly.

Ageing estates: En bloc versus rising upkeep costs

On Sept 8, Parliament passed the Land Titles (Strata) (Amendment) Bill 2026, introducing a tiered reduction in collective-sale consent thresholds based on building age, and stricter procedural safeguards.

Under the changes, the consent threshold will be lowered to 70% from 80% for developments aged 40 to 59 years, and to 65% for those aged 60 years and above. It remains at 80% for developments aged more than 10 to 39 years, and at 90% for those 10 years or newer.

“I think in the next six to 12 months, because of this announcement, there may be a knee-jerk reaction by some of these estates who are trying to explore a collective sale,” says Loo. Savills has already received several enquiries from estates wanting to assess whether a sale makes sense. But Loo is unsure whether it will lead to a surge in en bloc sales.

There are a few factors at play. One is the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme, which continues to offer developers a steady pipeline of sites. “They have many options in terms of GLS sites,” he says.

With that alternative, an en bloc site must offer enough upside to justify the extra cost. “The main reason developers would buy an old estate en bloc, pay for demolition costs and other additional costs, is that they can increase the number of units in the development, from 300 to 600, for example, or up to 1,000 units.”

Savills has first-hand experience managing older strata developments that have explored or completed collective sales. It has managed Roxy Square since July 1995. The freehold mixed-use development in Katong was put up for collective sale at $1.25 billion in 2024 and relaunched at a reduced $1.115 billion in 2025.

Loo says long-standing property management relationships can also generate referrals within Savills when a development begins exploring a collective sale.

For instance, Savills’ investment sales team handled the collective sales of two long-standing management clients: Delfi Orchard, sold to City Developments for $439 million in May 2024; and Concorde Hotel & Shopping Centre, acquired by Hotel Properties for $821 million in November that year. Savills had managed both since October 1995.

Meanwhile, for owners who stay put, maintaining an ageing condo can become increasingly expensive. Loo says major components such as lifts may need to be upgraded or modernised when developments reach their 20th to 25th year, failing which they become more prone to breakdowns.

But if an estate defers upgrades and cuts maintenance spending, upkeep suffers. Over time, Loo argues, that can affect not only the development’s image but also its value.

“If you want to stay in a condo, you must be prepared to pay to ensure the upkeep of the estate,” he says. “If there's a failure to maintain the estate, it inevitably affects the value of your property, and ultimately, the residents suffer."

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