ACCORDING to JLL's latest Hotel Investment Outlook for 2019, hotel transaction volume for Asia-Pacific will hit US$9.5 billion this year, an increase of 15 per cent from last year's US$8.3 billion. In comparison, hotel investment volume in Europe and the Middle East could soften five to 10 per cent while the Americas is projected to remain flat.
In Singapore, where the market is usually tightly held with limited formal opportunities, a series of transactions in recent months indicates greater investor appetite.
This includes the announcement of Ascott Raffles Place being sold to a private investor for S$353.3 million in January this year; as well as the sale of Wanderlust Hotel, Wangz Hotel and Darby Park Executive Suites totalling S$175.7 million in the second half of 2018.
In January, a hotel site in the Central Business District received a top bid of S$562 million from Worldwide Hotels Group Midtown Development. This translated to S$2,148.50 per square foot per plot ratio. Waterloo Apartments, in Singapore's Civic District, also transacted for S$131 million in what was effectively a land sale.
Adapted from The Business Times 22 March 2019