Singapore developers turn to overseas as curbs bite

Singapore developers struggling to sell apartments in their home market are buying property overseas, turning the island state into the largest foreign investor from the region this year.

Companies including City Developments and Keppel Land pumped US$2.32 billion into overseas markets in the nine months to September, a threefold increase from the same period last year and the most in at least eight years, according to data from Real Capital Analytics.

The developers are looking abroad as government measures to rein in property values have caused residential prices to fall for four consecutive quarters, the longest period of declines since 2009.

"Many Asian countries such as Singapore are facing property cooling measures at home, so they are venturing to Western markets where they can find returns and are seeing a strong recovery," said Terence Tang, the managing director of capital markets and investment services for Asia at Colliers International.

City Developments, Singapore's second-largest developer by market value, said in September it invested in a plot of land in Tokyo valued at S$356 million (HK$2.11 billion).

Keppel Land, Singapore's third-biggest developer, said in July it made its maiden investment in the United States with a prime residential development in New York.