Asian Property Market - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ever since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, property markets have greatly developed through the years. Asian governments have improved the financial stance associated with the structure of housing finance, allowing more access to a diverse range of mortgages products.

Housing in Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

has an important role in economic growth. In the early 1990s large urbanization

Urbanization

Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....

in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

and other Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

countries brought about a large housing price appreciation. Asia

Asia

attracted global economic interest up until the economic crash of 1997. A decade later, the Asian economy has been stabilized, and has allowed the property market to advance. As a result, foreign investment is continuing to grow. The market is currently experiencing a 50% increase in the amount being invested into Asian countries globally. Although some countries in Asia

Asia

may not be stable enough for international investment, the majority of the markets are expected to boom.

Hong Kong

has one of the most developed mortgage market in Asia

Asia

. Mortgage loans account for 25-30% of bank loans in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

. Land ownership and land restrictions by the government risk inefficiencies with housing supply and demand.
In 1998 there was a property price collapse; from 1997 to 2003 Hong Kong

Hong Kong

residential property prices fell by 61% following the Asian economic crisis. Investigations show that there is a distinct correlation between lending and property prices and that the influence is thought to have come from the property prices to the bank credit rather than the other direction. Hong Kong

Hong Kong

is known for having one of the most expensive real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

sector in the world, in both commercial and residential space. As property value increase, the tendency with Hong Kong

Hong Kong

property owners is to leave property vacant whilst waiting for a better time to sell it on. This subsequently raises the vacancy rate. (For example in 2007, the vacancy rate for residential properties in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

was close to 2.5% with an 11 % increase in the value of residential properties).

Singapore

The Singapore

Singapore

property market has an 11 year price cycle. The current cycle is expected to peak in 2010. The Singapore’s property market is however, vulnerable to turbulence in its local economy. The threats that face this include, raising inflation

Inflation

In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...

, under performance in forecast economic growth and weaker export

Export

The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...

business out of the country.

Due to the nature of the country, the majority of property is in the public sector accounting for 85% of the total households. In the 1990s, the government had schemes to encourages development of private housing, which was successful as private housing share increased rapidly. In 2007, Singapore’s residential property market boomed due to strong economic growth and an influx of professional migrants to Singapore

Singapore

, which particularly boosted the financial service industry. The demand for Singapore

Singapore

office space is driven by the tight supply issue in the Singapore

Singapore

property market and the expanding financial facilities available to service private wealth in Asia

Asia

. (For example in 2008, according to the Singapore Land Authority

Singapore Land Authority

The Singapore Land Authority is a statutory board under the Ministry of Law of the Singapore Government.-History:...

the availability of Singapore residential property was tight with only 4,457 new units are under construction or planned for 2008 to 2013).

Indonesia

Property development news has been mainly focused in Jakarta

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

, the nation’s capital. In 1970s, Jakarta's governor Lieutenant General Ali Sadikin

Ali Sadikin

Ali Sadikin was an Indonesian politician. He was often called Bang Ali. He served as the governor of Jakarta, the country's capital, from 1966 to 1977. Appointed by a weak Sukarno, he likely had the full approval of Suharto. A former marine, he saw the city as a battlefield...

focused on rehabilitating plublic services and re-housing. The government were able to provide low cost housing for residents in the low income bracket as well as providing subsidised loans for low cost housing through state owned mortgage banks. Jakarta

Jakarta

became the focus of a real estate boom in the late 1980s, however suffered during the Asian financial crisis, to which the city majorly suffered from. However, the market has slowly rejuvenated. Within the residential sector, there is an ever increasing trend of investment into new builds. Many of the ongoing projects are middle-lower and middle-upper class (dominating the market at 73% in 2008). New builds are located in the north of the city. The demand has been increasing as worsening traffic into Jakarta

Jakarta

has influenced commuters decisions to move closer to the workplace, many of the new apartment towers are located adjacent to business centers.

Thailand

The property market in Thailand

Thailand

, first boomed in the 1980s, this was thanks to a well performing economy, that attracted many people into property investment. A few years later the government encouraged commercial banks to sell their mortgage services and products. Thailand suffered great economic losses during the Asian economic crisis and the market did not regain again until 2000, were the property market saw US$ 2 billion being invested into Thai property. Property prices in Thailand

Thailand

are considerably low compared to other southeast Asian locations, attracting foreign investors, may of which for tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

. For the nationals of Thailand

Thailand

, there are currently commercial banks and government housing banks are dominant in the mortgage lending services with a commercial share of 80-90%. The surge has been observed and analyst believe that Thailand's property market may well be in its infancy. However, in recent years and throughout 2010 there was speculation centered around a potential Thailand condo bubble. Yet Thai authorities claim there is still no sufficient evidence of a property bubble forming in Thailand.

Philippines

The Philippines

Philippines

was arguably the worst effected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, with the biggest drop in property market, and has not yet managed to recover fully to this day. Despite this, with a predicted GPD growth of 7.4% in 2007, the Philippines' economy is strongly growing in both Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

and Cebu

Cebu

Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands...

City. A growing trend in the economy in 2004 resulted in a small property boom, where all office space, luxury residential and retail markets are still on the rise. This is surprising as Philippines

Philippines

is still perceived as an un-desirable place to do business in Asia

Asia

although there are plenty of professionals coming into the country and joining the expatriate

Expatriate

An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...

community. Economic growth is heavily reliant on private consumption and investment. There are 8 million overseas nationals who continue to invest into property in the Philippines

Philippines

, but growth may be vulnerable due to the recent 10% depreciation of the US dollar against the Peso. Manila

Manila

's CBD (Central Business District

Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

), Makati City

Makati City

The City of Makati is one of the 17 cities that make up Metro Manila, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines and one of the major financial, commercial and economic hubs in Asia...

, is the most expensive district in the city for office space. On the contrary, Manila

Manila

still remains to be one of the cheapest places in Asia

Asia

to buy luxury residential property. A recent surge in supply for this will trouble the market and previous investors within the next few years.

General Information

Singapore Land Authority

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