SINGAPORE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Monica Yip and Dorothy Marie Ng, WongPartnership
tality sector, resulting in increases in room rates and occupancy rates as well as revenue for hotel managers and owners. Industrial Property 2024 saw revived interest in data centres, which had been subject to a three-year moratorium on development between 2019 and 2022 arising from environmental impact assessment. In May 2024, the Singapore government announced that at least 300 megawatts of data centre (DC) capacity would be added to the nation’s exist - ing 1.4 gigawatts of capacity over the next few years, with additional capacity being set aside for DC operators that use green energy options. Also announced in May 2024 was Singapore’s new Green Data Centre Roadmap ( “DC Road- map” ), which sets out strategic objectives for continued growth in data centre capacity, whilst maximising efficiency and economic potential. Besides setting out the Singapore government’s focus on resource optimisation and the utilisa - tion of low-carbon energy options for DCs, the DC Roadmap also highlights incentives and schemes available to DC operators. As part of continuing efforts to promote energy effi - ciency and sustainability in DCs, the Building and Construction Authority and the Infocomm Media Development Authority jointly introduced in October 2024 the BCA-IMDA Green Mark for Data Centre 2024, which revises the existing cer - tification criteria for DCs promulgated in 2019. Technology firms have shown increasing interest in South-East Asia for DC construction in order to meet the growing demand for infrastructure and computing power for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. With greater demand for DC capacity arising from the growing use of genera - tive AI models and cloud computing, it remains to be seen whether Singapore’s DCs will be
able to tap into such demand both locally and regional. Overall, the industrial property market in Sin - gapore continued to grow apace in 2024, with rental growth being mostly driven by an increase in the multi-user and warehouse segments, though continuing uncertainty in global markets and interest rates (which did not fall as much as many had hoped for) may dampen investor sentiment going into 2025. Stamp Duty A regime requiring payment of additional buyer’s stamp duties (ABSD) for purchase of residential properties was introduced in 2013 in an effort to cool the buoyant residential property mar - ket. Remissions from ABSD are given in certain cases such as remission for a married couple, remission for qualifying foreigners under Free Trade Agreements with Singapore, remission for housing developers and remission in certain cases of purchases by trusts subject to terms and conditions. In 2024, it was announced that there will be remission from ABSD given to single Singapore citizens who are seniors aged 55 and above where they purchase residential properties on or after 16 February 2024. Such single seniors can claim a refund of ABSD paid on their replace - ment private residential property if they meet certain conditions. Sales of residential units, which had dropped to a record low in the beginning of 2024, saw a resurgence in the last quarter. There is antici - pation that home sales will continue recovering in 2025 with launches of new developments expected.
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