Asia Pacific
A seminar organized by the ULI Singapore NEXT Committee presented attendees with the little-known concept of real estate “tokenization,” or fractional investing/trading, as a potential bridge between private investors and direct ownership. Although not new, tokenization in real estate is a niche market, particularly in Asia Pacific, with Singapore hosting a small number of the specialized digital platforms.
ULI Asia Pacific has released its 2025 Asia Pacific Home Attainability Index, revealing persistent challenges to affordable or accessible housing across the region. The fourth edition of the report assesses 51 market segments across 41 major cities.
The closing panel at the 2025 ULI Asia Pacific Summit brought together real estate players from a wide range of geographies and capital markets roles. Audience polling at the start of the discussion revealed that Summit attendees believe the world will become more multipolar after a generation of American exceptionalism, with some audience members feeling that the U.S. will fall behind Asia or Europe.
Setting the tone for this year’s ULI Asia Pacific Summit, moderator Lola Woetzel, senior partner emerita at McKinsey & Company, presented a panel of industry leaders with the perennial question: “How does it feel to live here?” The discussion brought into sharp focus the complex realities shaping housing across the region.
Once the site of an abandoned quarry, Singapore’s Rifle Range Nature Park now serves as a buffer zone protecting one of the island nation’s last primary rainforests, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, from encroaching development and human activity. Located to the reserve’s south, Rifle Range is Singapore’s first net-positive energy nature park, harvesting more energy than its annual operational requirements.
At the 2025 ULI Asia Pacific Summit, a distinguished panel of industry leaders convened to dissect what the rise of artificial intelligence means for the sector and how organizations can harness its potential. Their debate spanned the frenetic growth of data centers, the journey of AI adoption, and seismic shifts afoot for the built environment and the workforce.
At the 2025 ULI Asia Pacific Summit—May 26–29, in Hong Kong—a panel of Asian economic and geopolitical experts addressed one of today’s most immediate global concerns: the implications of U.S.–China economic decoupling and the broader geopolitical shifts reshaping global trade and investment.
Fourteen developments from across Asia have been named winners of the 2025 ULI Asia Pacific Awards for Excellence, one of the real estate industry’s most prestigious honors. Announced at the 2025 ULI Asia Pacific Summit held in May in Hong Kong, this year’s award winners include projects in Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, the Philippines, and Singapore.
Winning proposal reimagines Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Waterfront as a model for sharing cities, where density drives innovation and inclusive urban living.
India, one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, is urbanizing rapidly. By 2030, more than 40 percent of its populace is projected to live in urban areas, contributing there to more than 70 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. The demand for commercial and residential spaces is surging, which attracts global investors eager to capitalize on this dynamic market. This rapid growth comes with a pressing question, however: can India urbanize without following the carbon-heavy trajectory of other developed countries?
Singapore
One of Singapore’s most vibrant districts demonstrates how public/private partnerships and the community can shape the built environment.
Governments, businesses, and communities need to collaborate to reduce carbon emissions to ensure that decarbonisation is not just a buzzword.
Although market dynamics are changing in countries across Asia, new opportunities are opening up in real estate investment
Hong Kong
The creation of public space from unused, underused, or unequally shared linear spaces in urban areas has been happening for a long time. Major reference points in the architectural and planning worlds are Boston’s Emerald Necklace, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (1878–1896); Freeway Park in Seattle (1972-1976); the Baltimore Inner Harbor (1963–1983); the Promenade Plantée in Paris (1987-1994); and the High Line in New York (2005–2019).
Conducted in October, the Emerging Trends in Real Estate® survey ranked Tokyo (1), Osaka (2), Sydney (3), and Singapore (4) as the four cities with the best investment prospects for the region. However, MSCI data and anecdotal reports reveal that market disparities are profoundly evident across both geographies and sectors in Asia Pacific.
A new initiative aimed at promoting low-carbon steel in China’s real estate sector has been launched, co-convened by ULI Greenprint, the World Steel Association, and the China Iron and Steel Association. This collaboration unites major real estate developers and steel manufacturers to drive the transition to low-carbon steel production, with the goal of significantly reducing emissions in Mainland China and Hong Kong. China’s steel industry plays a pivotal role in global efforts to combat climate change.