Millions of workers who have been working outside of their home country have been returning home since the global pandemic struck.
This follows the massive job cuts as well as a volunteer move for safety reasons, observe Maybank Kim Eng economists Chua Hak Bin and Lee Ju Ye.
For instance, the number of overseas Singaporeans fell by 14,000 to 203,000 as of June 2020. This marks the first annual drop since 2009, the economists note, adding that over 50,000 Singaporeans based abroad could return by mid-2021.
A similar trend was seen elsewhere in Asean, with the number of overseas Filipinos (excluding offshore foreign workers) jumping 16% to a 3-year high in in 2020.
Meanwhile, the number of new visas issued to expat workers has shrunk across the region. Such visa issuance was down 20% in Malaysia last year, while that in Thailand fell to about two thirds of what it was before the pandemic hit.
These developments have caused ripples in the prices of rent. In Thailand, for one, the expat rental prices was down 12% in Bangkok.
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Conversely, housing rents have been on the rise in Singapore since last June. The rental rates for housing development board (HDB) flats had gone up by 3.5% in March, while that for condominium units was up by 2.4%.
This probably comes as more Singaporeans based abroad have been returning home, Chua and Lee suggest.
Aside from this, the duo note that there has been an increased demand for larger spaces away from crowds.
“The out-migration dubbed the ‘doughnut effect’ [has] reallocated real estate demand towards the suburbs and away from the city centre,” observe Chua and Lee.
To this end, the rentals of private residential properties in Singapore’s core central region has been declining since 2Q2020 to hit -1% in 1Q2021. By contrast, rentals outside the central region have risen by 3.1% to a 5-year high.
Similarly, property prices outside Philippines’ national capital region rose by 6.1%, while dropping by 8.6% in units within the capital.
Interestingly, the relocation of expats has prompted some countries to rethink their immigration rules. This has been enabled by the digitalisation and the option to tele-commute and permanently adopt work-from-home arrangements, mull Chua and Lee.
In line with this, Thailand has approved a new package in November 2020 that offers cheap residency visas for condominium buyers.
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The country, as well as Indonesia, are looking to offer ‘digital nomad’ visas that allow for remote workers to visit in hopes of revitalising their battered tourism industries.
Back home, Singapore has launched a new Tech Pass in January to attract top-tier foreign professionals and experts. The republic has otherwise tightened foreign worker measures and is incentivising firms to hire locals through its slew of government initiatives.
