Economy
Credit, jobs and business confidence shape demand for property before a project is marketed.
Research on markets and real estate
Country research for property markets.
Country research, real estate, investment intelligence and the GRIP Library.
The GRIP perspective
A building sits inside a larger market.
It is attached to an economy, a legal system, a labour market and a way of living. GRIP starts there.
Employment, the commute and the title matter more than the kitchen.
Infrastructure
Ports, rail, power and digital capacity reprice streets over a decade.
Migration
Who is arriving, leaving or staying changes demand.
Tourism
Visitor economies support some markets and overheat others. The difference matters.
Regulation
Tenure, tax, foreign-ownership rules and planning are part of the asset.
Lifestyle
Schools, safety, climate and daily ease decide whether a place is holdable.
Business activity
Where firms cluster, space, housing and services tend to follow.
Demographics
Age, household size and urbanisation shape what gets built and who can buy it.
Capital flows
Domestic savings, foreign capital and currency belong in the same picture.
Country research
Country research hubs
The current directory of markets, with more destinations to follow.
Southeast AsiaKuala Lumpur, Johor and Penang
Malaysia
A bilingual commercial hub with a mixed urban fabric and a long history of regional capital passing through.
Southeast AsiaBangkok, then the coasts
Thailand
A working capital, and coastal cities with their own calendars.
Southeast AsiaMetro Manila and regional centres
Philippines
A young population, with English widely used at work, across an archipelago. Urban demand sits in a few cities. Distance is the constraint everywhere else.
Southeast AsiaCity-state
Singapore
A clear, expensive reference market. Limited land, and prices that show it.
South AsiaColombo and southern coasts
Sri Lanka
An Indian Ocean island: Colombo and the south coast are different markets, and both sit closer to the state’s finances than the ASEAN cities do.
Europe & EurasiaTbilisi and Batumi
Georgia
A compact capital on a historic crossing, with relatively open property access and a smaller, less liquid market.
Europe & EurasiaLondon, then the other cities
United Kingdom
A deep, documented market, with London attached and with tax and planning rules that are written down.
Middle EastCairo, the new cities, Alexandria, the Red Sea
Egypt
A large domestic economy on the Nile, with a canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
Middle EastDubai and Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
International capital, a large expatriate population, and two cities that should not be treated as one product.
Real estate research
Property can play more than one role.
How a holding is read: use, tenure, and the market it sits in.
Income
Some assets are held for rent. That role depends on occupancy, tenure, management and local law.
Capital preservation
Long-duration property can play a capital-preservation role when location, condition and liquidity support it.
Diversification
A second country, currency or city changes the exposure only when the drivers differ.
Lifestyle
A home, a base, or a place to work from. Use has a value of its own. The brief names which one.
Legacy
Property is often held across generations. Who inherits, and on what title, is part of the holding.
Beyond property
Startup ecosystems, investment, and the systems around a building.
Firms, infrastructure and the right to live somewhere sit beside the property file.
Economy
Growth, inflation, rates and trade shape what a building can earn and what it costs to hold.
Startup Ecosystems
Startups, headquarters and industrial clusters pull people and then housing.
Infrastructure
What gets built around a city often matters more than what gets marketed inside it.
Migration and residency
The right to live somewhere is separate from the right to own there.
Tourism
Short-stay demand can support a market. It can also crowd it.
Global Investment
Time, currency, rates and where capital sits. Research on the forces, not a security.
Global mobility
Work, family and second-home patterns are more cross-border than they were.
GRIP Library
Research from the GRIP Library.
Longer notes on property, markets, investment and startups, filed beside the country hubs.
Global economy and macro
Currency risk when investing across borders
A foreign building is also a position in the currency of its rent, its debt and the owner’s spending. The bricks do not cancel the exchange rate.
Research note23 September 20263 min read
Startup investing
Why most startups are high-risk investments
The risk is not a mood about founders. It is illiquidity, a real chance of losing the whole amount, and a return that depends on an exit which may never be arranged.
Research note22 September 20262 min read
Global economy and macro
How interest rates flow through to real estate
A policy rate reaches a building through lenders, incomes and the amount of stock. Streets do not all reprice on the day the rate is announced.
Research note21 September 20263 min read
Startup investing
How to read a startup before thinking about valuation
A valuation is a price for a particular claim. The claim is unreadable until the customer, the cash and the terms are named.
Research note19 September 20262 min read
Framework
A consistent framework for comparing markets.
Designed for structured comparison across very different markets.
01
Access and operations
Visas, flights, language, and whether a buyer can find a lawyer, a bank and a manager.
02
Value
Price against local incomes, the cost of building again, and the cities a buyer would actually compare.
03
Jobs and public money
Where employment, private investment and the public finances are heading.
04
Infrastructure
Transport, power, water, schools, hospitals and the network a weekday actually uses.
05
The letting market
Whether someone will occupy the building, and how the law treats landlords and tenants.
06
Daily life
Climate, safety, culture, green space and healthcare, judged on an ordinary week.
07
Title, tax and rules
How clear the title is, who may buy, how property is taxed, and whether institutions do what the statute says.
08
What may still matter
Location, demography, openness and governance: the traits that can outlast a single cycle.
Geography
Markets by region
Four regions to begin with. More countries and cities can be added without changing the map.
Southeast Asia
Singapore is the usual price reference. Malaysia is three urban economies. Thailand is a capital beside visitor coasts. In the Philippines the city matters more than a national average.
South Asia
Sri Lanka is the file open here: an Indian Ocean island whose capital and coast are different markets, and whose property question follows the state’s finances.
Europe & Eurasia
Britain is a deep, taxed, documented market. Georgia is a smaller capital where apartments have been easier to buy and harder to exit.
Middle East
Dubai and Abu Dhabi are an international freehold market with two tempos. Egypt is a domestic economy on the Nile and the canal, with a different ownership system from the Gulf.
Where next
Continue with a market, or with a question.
A country hub, a city brief, or a note in the library.