Investors with properties in several Asia Pacific countries should continue to do well this year, say experts.
In particular, Jakarta and Bangkok have been tipped to be the best performing areas for property investment.
International real estate firm Knight Frank highlighted the cities in their Asia Pacific Residential Review.
“We are pointing to Jakarta and Bangkok because they are in a good position to be boosted by strong economic growth and they have a growing property-owning class that is not only affluent but also aspirational,” said a spokesman.
“There’s no doubt that these two areas have been strong performers over the past year and this should continue.”
Strong demand
The firm also says that the property market in the Asia Pacific region will remain ‘bullish’ because there is strong demand and little or no cooling measures being put in place.
The reviews also flags up Singapore and Hong Kong as being two locations which will remain stable, particularly their prime residential markets.
The spokesman added: “We can see why Singapore is attractive to investors – it has a transparent legal system and a stable political scene which will help prevent prices from falling.
“In Hong Kong the new stamp duties being imposed on foreign buyers will curtail demand from mainland China, which makes up a large proportion of buyers.
“However, we do expect prices to rise there, though at a slower pace than we have seen in the past year.”
One former bright star – the property market in Vietnam – is marked out as somewhere to avoid, as the firm says that economic uncertainty will continue the country’s ‘downward trajectory’.
Phillipines warning
“We expect 2013 to be another tough year, especially for the prime end of Vietnam’s housing market though we have seen price drop in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, we believe that the price corrections have now taken place,” said the spokesman.
It’s not all good news for the Asia Pacific property market, with the resurgent Philippine Stock Exchange bringing mixed tidings.
Shares ended 2012 at a record high – up an impressive 33% over the year – but experts say the gains will not last and warn many listed companies are over-valued.
Leading Manila-based broking firm AB Capital says the record low for interest rates has led to a property boom based on cheap loans.
A spokesman said: “Some sectors, such as property, have been growing too fast but it will be harder to sustain growth and some developers are at risk.”
