More Chinese enter Singapore property market, eyeing ‘politically stable’ and ‘well regulated’ environment for investments
- Wealthy Chinese buyers are looking to park their cash in luxury properties, and their Singapore purchases have risen despite mostly virtual tours during the pandemic
- Singapore’s reputation as a Chinese ‘gateway’ city to other countries adds appeal, even as access to its property market comes at a much higher price for foreigners
Chinese nationals made up the largest number of non-resident homebuyers in Singapore in the second quarter of the year, as many found the Southeast Asian country to be more stable than its regional peers and worth the hefty tax on foreigners owning property.
Mainland Chinese bought 391 condominiums in Singapore last quarter, according to data compiled by Singapore-based real estate agency platform OrangeTee & Tie, up from 281 in the first quarter.
Purchases by Chinese citizens had hit a record of 467 in the second quarter of last year, followed by two more quarters over 400, before falling as the Omicron variant squelched inbound travel.
More high-net-worth Chinese are shopping for investment property, often newer luxury condominiums, according to Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie’s senior vice-president of research and analytics.
“Right now, what we are seeing is a lot of Chinese buyers are looking for luxury properties to park their money,” Sun said on Wednesday.
The country is “politically stable” and free of natural disasters, she added, with some Chinese already living there to study and do business.
Around a third of the city state’s nearly 6 million residents also speak Mandarin, while Chinese expatriates make up Singapore’s second-largest group, at 426,000 people, after Malaysians.