Property Market Sentiment Plummets 1Q2025 Wake Trump Tariffs
The most recent Real Estate Sentiment Index (RESI) report conducted by the National University of Singapore (NUS) has revealed a significant decline in the sentiment of Singapore’s property market. This comes in the wake of sweeping tariffs announced by the Trump administration.
The quarterly report, which collects responses from senior executives of real estate firms, offers an alternative measure of the private real estate market’s performance. According to the latest report, the sentiment index dropped from 6.0 in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 4.3 in the first quarter of 2025. This marks the end of a positive trend that lasted for five quarters since the third quarter of 2023.
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Professor Qian Wenlan, the director of NUS Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies (IREUS), commented on the impact of tariffs on the property market. “Tariffs generally increase costs for both businesses and consumers,” she said. “This is especially concerning for a trade-dependent economy like Singapore, where the United States is one of our top trading partners.”
The fear of a global economic slowdown was the top concern among respondents, with 88% citing it as a major risk. This is a significant increase from 70.4% in the previous quarter. The second most-cited risk factor was job losses and a decline in the domestic economy. Concerns about the impact of tariffs on the local economy also rose sharply from 29.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 70.8% in the first quarter of 2025.
Respondents were also asked to rank potential risks, with the industrial and logistics sector seeing the most significant decline in sentiment. It experienced a 36-point swing, with only 11% of respondents reporting a positive outlook in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to 25% reporting a negative outlook in the first quarter of 2025. Similarly, the office sector saw an 18-point drop in sentiment, with the percentage of respondents reporting a negative outlook increasing from 7% to 25%.
“The weakened business environment is likely to have a spillover effect on the property sector,” said Qian. “While sentiment for business parks and high-tech spaces remained flat, it fell across the board for other sectors.”
Despite the current state of the market, Qian believes that it is too early to determine the long-term impact of tariffs on the global economy. Trade negotiations are still ongoing, and the situation remains unpredictable.