Covid-19 border crossings have changed real estate patterns in South-east Asia: Report

THE Covid-19 pandemic is shaking up regional labour markets, which is expected to weigh on the real estate sector and, for some economies, remittance income.

Residents are moving out of central regions in the Singapore, Philippine and Thailand markets, on the back of growing telecommuting, Maybank Kim Eng economists Chua Hak Bin, Lee Ju Ye and Linda Liu wrote in a report on Friday.

But an exodus of expatriates is also dampening residential rentals and sales in South-east Asia, despite demand from citizens fleeing outbreaks abroad.

The Maybank Kim Eng analysts identified migration out of city centres in several Asean markets. The trend has fuelled regional home-buying in Singapore and the Philippines, as well as more rural agricultural employment in Thailand and Indonesia.

For instance, millions of Thais left Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai during the first Covid-19 outbreak last year, while agricultural areas such as rubber-producing Nakhon Si Thammarat and tapioca-growing Chaiyaphum saw rising net arrivals, the report said.

Otherwise, home purchases by key foreign buyers in Thailand more than halved year on year, Maybank Kim Eng noted, in a review of sales to non-citizens from countries such as China, Russia and France. The Philippines also reported a net departure of Chinese nationals, who work in the offshore gaming operators industry.

Meanwhile, rental prices declined markedly in Bangkok and Hanoi, the report added, citing data from human resources consultancy ECA International.

This comes as the analysts noted that "Asean countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam have seen a sharp drop in the number of new workers deployed overseas", with the Philippines and Vietnam more vulnerable.

"The global pandemic crisis has led to massive job cuts, forcing millions of migrant workers to return home," the report said, and "migration patterns and real estate demand (are) shifting in Asean because of the pandemic".