Testing times for the residential leasing market

Further downside pressure looms amidst tighter immigration.

Dr Chua Yang Liang, Head of Research South East Asia of Jones Lang LaSalle, commented:

South East Asia (SEA), led by Indonesia and increasing the Philippines, is enjoying a growth spurt on the back of commodity demand and offshoring and outsourcing activities.

How the SEA region would respond to the slowing global demand remains uncertain but the strong underlying domestic demand could mitigate this downside risk.

Nonetheless Singapore remains at the cusp of this shift and given cost savings as the modus operandi for most firms together with tighter immigration, the Singapore residential leasing market is likely to face further downside pressure.