London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

From Australia to Hong Kong: Not one Asia-Pacific housing market spared as coronavirus knocks investor confidence

From Australia to Hong Kong: Not one Asia-Pacific housing market spared as coronavirus knocks investor confidence

Analysts agree that not one property market in the region will be spared from flagging demand caused by the health crisis. Investment into housing markets is likely to be muted further by weakened demand from tenants, that will lead to lower rents

The deep global recession will lead to significantly lower home sales this year across Asia-Pacific as economies grapple with an unprecedented downturn brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While it is difficult to precisely quantify the slump, analysts agree that not one property market in the region will be spared.

“Given the nature of the pandemic and the sudden shock to real estate activity, with projections of a recessionary environment across most regional economies, it is probable that the loss in buyer confidence [caused by] the uncertain economic outlook, job losses and weaker household balance sheets will result in significantly lower housing transaction volumes this year,” said Harry Tan, head of research, Asia-Pacific, at property investment manager Nuveen Real Estate.

Investment into housing markets is likely to be muted further by weaker demand from tenants, that will lead to lower rents.

“The housing market hasn’t been spared when it comes to the drop in confidence,” said Kenneth Kent, general manager at property listing website Squarefoot.com.hk.

The potential severity of the decline can be seen in first-quarter data, and anecdotal evidence from property agents.

In Singapore, the number of homes sold in the first quarter of this year fell 11.7 per cent to 4,309 units from the fourth quarter of 2019.

In Hong Kong, sales of new homes plunged to 2,262 deals in the first quarter of the year, lower by more than half from a year earlier, according to Midland Realty.



In Australia, Sydney-based Ken Jacobs, who manages his own property agency, an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, said a A$20-million (US$12.8 million) offer on a holiday home has been put on hold because the client’s “family had lost US$70 million in the last two weeks.”

In Thailand, Daiwa Capital Markets estimates that the 2020 earnings of seven developers listed on the stock market will decline by 27 per cent this year.

“Housing prices in emerging Southeast Asian markets could face a more challenging time in the short term as investors’ confidence drops due to extensive travel bans, lockdowns and the way Covid-19 situation is handled,” said Christine Li, Cushman and Wakefield’s head of research for Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Demand from Chinese investors has in recent years boosted property markets in the region including Singapore, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam, but the pandemic will probably keep them from venturing overseas to park their money.

“Several countries in the Asia-Pacific are still in extraordinary states of paralysis,” said Georg Chmiel, the chief executive at Juwai IQI, which operates a property portal.

The subdued demand for homes is likely to last between six months and a year, according to Sing Tien Foo, professor and director at the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies, National University of Singapore.

“It depends on how soon the Covid-19 can be contained. The sooner activity can resume to normalcy, the faster we’ll see the return of market activity,” he said.

Governments across the region have been trying to mitigate the economic damage by rolling out massive stimulus packages.
Hong Kong has announced an estimated HK$287.5 billion (US$37.1 billion) stimulus plan, which is about a 10th of the size of the city’s economy.

Japan, meanwhile, has unveiled a ¥108.2 trillion (US$1 trillion) plan to kick-start its economy, while Singapore’s stimulus package is worth over S$50 billion (US$35.1 billion).

These measures may be enough to limit the damage to the region’s property sector, according to Simon Smith, senior director, research and consultancy, Savills.

“Although there may be a price adjustment, a deep slump is unlikely,” said Smith. “[We’re] expecting recovery to begin in late 2020.”



Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×