 |
| Steven Mayes, MD – Sri Lanka Operations and Sunil Subramanian, Head – Transactions at the launch of JLL’s annual Real Estate Report |
Comprehensive insights indicate increasing role of Realty in the Sri Lankan growth story
§ Sri Lanka debut ranking of 69 on JLL’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index
§ Colombo office market comprises nearly 1 million square feet of Grade A stock at 95% occupancy
§ Increased demand for residential property from wealthy and middle classes.
§ Growing demand for Class A commercial office space as economy increases in sophistication
§ Real estate set to play major role in SL’s growth
§ Projects double-digit growth in domestic real estate sector over medium term
Global real estate consulting firm JLL has announced the publication of a comprehensive new report titled ‘Sri Lanka – Land of Real Estate Opportunities’. The publication addresses a strong demand for accessible, in-depth analysis into the domestic property market.
Through the new report, JLL aims to create a dialogue on the varied challenges which local and international investors face when engaging in real estate transactions in Sri Lanka, in addition to enumerating on the unprecedented scope of opportunity for valuable investments in the country’s rapidly developing property sector.
“The launch of our report coincides with Sri Lanka’s first wave of high-end real estate development projects in both the residential and commercial segments,” said Steven Mayes, Managing Director, JLL Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. “This marks a significant milestone for the domestic market, which we believe holds the potential to become one of the South Asian region’s most promising success stories.”
He added, “There are challenges that need to be addressed, of course; Sri Lanka is prone to limited but notable downside risks, largely arising out of the currently subdued levels of Foreign Direct Investment and a high fiscal deficit. Nevertheless, we see strong demand for Grade A commercial office spaces. Coupled with the major growth potential over the medium-long term catalyzed by major infrastructure development projects like the Colombo International Financial City and the Western Region Megapolis, we believe that the overall outlook for the Sri Lankan real estate sector is strong.”
Based on comprehensive in-house market analysis, surveys and related data and trend analyses complied over the past five years, JLL anticipates strong, broad-based, double-digit growth spanning all sectors of the domestic real estate sector. The Firm expects this growth to be driven by the surging demand for residential and retail spaces over the coming years.
The report further notes that Sri Lanka continues to outperform neighboring markets in terms of the ease of approvals required to obtain building permits and register real estate projects. This is indicative of an ongoing concerted effort towards improving the country’s platform to begin truly competing on the international stage.
Notably, the report features Sri Lanka’s debut onto the JLL Global Real Estate Transparency Index at a rank of 69 out of 109 international markets. The ranking quantifies transparency based on 139 variables relating to transaction processes, regulatory and legal frameworks, corporate governance, performance measurement and data availability, with higher real estate transparency being associated with stronger investor and corporate real estate activity.
About JLL
JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. A Fortune 500 company, JLL helps real estate owners, occupiers and investors achieve their business ambitions. In 2016, JLL had revenue of $6.8 billion and fee revenue of $5.8 billion and, on behalf of clients, managed 4.4 billion square feet, or 409 million square meters, and completed sales acquisitions and finance transactions of approximately $136 billion. At the end of the first quarter of 2017, JLL had nearly 300 corporate offices, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of more than 78,000. As of March 31, 2017, LaSalle Investment Management had $58.0 billion of real estate under asset management. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit www.jll.com.
JLL has over 50 years of experience in Asia Pacific, with 36,800 employees operating in 95 offices in 16 countries across the region. The firm won the ‘World’s Best’ and ‘Best in Asia Pacific’ International Property Consultancy at the International Property Awards in 2016 and was named number one real estate investment advisory firm in Asia Pacific for the sixth consecutive year by Real Capital Analytics. For further information, visit www.ap.jll.com.
About JLL Sri Lanka
JLL Sri Lanka is the leading professional services firm specializing in real estate in Sri Lanka. Based out of Colombo, the firm provides investors, developers, local corporates and multinational companies with a comprehensive range of services including research, analytics, project and development services, property and asset management, integrated facilities management, real estate capital markets and transactions encompassing commercial office spaces, hotels, land, industrial, retail and residential units.
With over 100 staff based in the country, the firm aims to combine local market knowledge with its access to global multinational relationships and capital sources, to provide Sri Lankan corporates, government agencies and clients with superior execution, towards transforming their real estate portfolios into efficient inventories, as well as in raising capital for real estate assets. For further information, please visit www.jll.com.lk
Tags
Sri Lanka Business