Amidst global headwinds, Southeast Asia is consistently recognised as one of the most dynamic regions for real asset investments, promising attractive opportunities to deliver enhanced risk-adjusted returns for investors. Despite a tepid global economic outlook, the region’s GDP is expected to expand by 4.6 percent and 4.7 percent in 2024 and 2025, respectively, up from 4.1 percent in 2023, according to April 2024 forecasts by the Asian Development Bank.

With demographic factors playing a key role in Southeast Asia’s resilient growth, we focus on the five main economies accentuating these trends — Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam (SEA-5). Just these five economies alone account for a good majority of Southeast Asia’s total GDP (83 percent in 2023), with the subregion one of a rare few to see sustained increases in its market share of global growth contributions over the next decade.