Market Outlook

This quarterly briefing offers you a roundup of the private equity and venture capital deals along with capital activities across major sectors in the quarter and trends that are shaping investment decisions today.

It distills the perspectives of our teams of subject-matter professionals in the region into pertinent insights to keep you ahead in navigating the private equity landscape.

Hong Kong's retail sector had an impressive start into 2018 with retail sales growing 13.9% YOY so far this year, and reaching record levels comparable to the last market peak. Millennials and Generation Z have been driving the retail market towards more lifestyle consumption and experiential shopping. Premium, leading fashion, and health and beauty are creating robust expansion needs for prime space.

Nonetheless, the retail rental should only see a moderate recovery in 2018 with the overall highstreet rents growing by 1-3% YOY in 2018 and 3-5% YOY in 2019.

The GPR/APREA AsiaPac Performance Snapshot tracks the dynamics of listed real estate securities (including REITs) across 12 AsiaPac countries/regions and eight sectors, over multiple time horizons. 

Business sentiment firmed amidst Singapore’s solid economic growth of 4.4% y-o-y in 1Q2018. The finance & insurance sector expanded by 9.1% y-o-y, while the information & communications sector grew by 5.7% y-o-y. Office-using employment increased by 7,100 workers in 1Q2018. Private economists now expect 2018 GDP growth to exceed 3%.