The Wallace family, initially reluctant to relocate from Hong Kong to Singapore, soon embraced the advantages of their new city, including investment in a spacious family home.
The family, from Britain, moved to Singapore in October 2005 after 14 years in Hong Kong, following the relocation of Rosemarie Wallace's employer's regional headquarters. Ian Wallace ran his software firm in Hong Kong which he sold in 2001 and since then has focused on other interests - including property investment. The Wallaces have three children and own three properties in Phuket, Thailand, a ski house in Canada and a ski house in Hokkaido, Japan.
'We had a lovely house in Stanley, overlooking the sea and near to the beach and would happily have stayed there. However, now that we are settled we enjoy Singapore. I certainly don't miss the traffic jams on the road to Stanley and there are great educational opportunities here,' Mr Wallace says.
Having lived in rented accommodation in Hong Kong for so long he regretted not buying there years ago, when property was more affordable and was determined not to make that mistake in Singapore.
Despite his regrets, he feels that there are advantages to investing in Singapore over Hong Kong. 'The market in Singapore is not as volatile and there is less uncertainty than Hong Kong. Also, you can get more for your money and what you can afford to buy here is more attractive. In Hong Kong it would be very difficult to buy anything you would actually like to live in.'
Having recently sold a home in London, he did not need finance and was able to move ahead quickly in the Singapore property market, describing the process as 'very straightforward and transparent'.
'We basically wanted to hedge our bets about staying here long-term. We wanted somewhere that we felt we could live in comfortably as a family but that would be easily rentable if, for any reason, we were not living in it. We therefore wanted somewhere quite central, which was within easy reach of international schools and the central business district. We also wanted somewhere that would provide us with good capital returns, perhaps a place that might be bought 'en bloc' by a developer.'