Chinese nationals still buying Singapore homes for their kids

Mainland Chinese and Malaysian buyers formed 54 percent of foreign home purchases in 2015.

Despite facing weaker currencies and slowing economies, mainland Chinese and Malaysians remain the top foreign buyers of Singapore property, revealed DTZ.

Together, they bought 1,952 private homes in 2015, or 54 percent of total foreign purchases.

Specifically, sales to Chinese nationals fell slightly by 3.8 percent to 998 units, while Malaysian home purchases remained largely unchanged at 954 units.

“The devaluation of the Chinese yuan in August 2015 meant that mainland Chinese nationals found their purchasing power clipped, as their national currency weakened against the Singapore dollar,” said DTZ.

Still, both groups of foreign buyers posted healthy purchases last year compared to 2008, during the Global Financial Crisis, when mainland Chinese only purchased 362 private homes, while Malaysians bought 626 units.

“Singapore’s political stability, transparent real estate policies and strict rule of law positions the city-state ahead of many other countries as a place where investors enjoy a high level of certainty on returns. Many mainland Chinese also bought homes for their children studying in Singapore,” added DTZ.

Meanwhile, the number of Indonesian home purchases fell by 33.6 percent to 279 units, lower than the 618 homes bought in 2008.

Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg

More from PropertyGuru:
Katong bungalow put up for mortgagee sale
HLH launches phase two of Cambodian project
Traditional stores to remain popular despite rise of e-commerce
Offer shared offices to tackle oversupply in 2016: analyst