Foreigners have been buying Singapore property in a big way in the recent few years. This has come about because of Singapore’s status as an open, free and well-governed country.
Furthermore, cooling measures in Hong Kong and Australia have driven some cross-border investors into Singapore in search for good purchases.
This post will be a little more ‘meaty’ and heavy with multiple charts, but I will strip it down and make it as simple and relevant as possible.
As much as I can, I will put in “this suggests…”, “this implies…” to make it relevant and down-to-earth for readers who may be potential sellers, buyers, investors and participants in the property market.
Pick up in sales of developer’s units
Developer sales refer to units that are launched by developers. These are first hand, new, unbuilt units.
In the bar, the orange column is higher than most of the other bars, indicating that sales in 2017 are higher than in the past 3 years.
Imply: Residential market appears to be picking up based on sales volume
New EC units sold by developers picking up
Same as the previous chart, the orange column which is higher indicates that sales in 2017 is higher than in the past 3 years, implying some form of recovery in the EC segment.
Pick up in 2017 sales for all private residential properties (private and EC)
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Combining the earlier 2 charts, the red column which is higher than the rest indicates that sales in 2017 are robust. This suggests a pick up in the property market.
More PRs and foreigners purchasing
Going into the PR and foreigner segment, there has also been a pick up in purchasers by this group of people.
Increasing blue column = rising number of purchases by PRs
Increasing orange column = rising number of purchasers by foreigners
This implies that PRs and foreigners have a good view of Singapore, thereby putting their money in the country. With these 2 groups of people buying, it could suggest that Singaporeans as a category of buyers could begin coming into the market.
Uptrend in purchases by foreigners
The 3 columns on the most right hand side, being taller than the others, indicate that purchases in 1H2017 by foreigners are on the uptrend.
More sales in the Core Central Region
Similarly, the columns on the right side are higher than the rest, indicating that 1H2017 sales figures are recovering in the Core Central Region segment (district 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 11).
In the Rest of Central Region too
Same story in the Rest of Central Region (districts 3, 5 ,13, 14, 15) where columns on the right side of the chart are significantly higher than the rest.
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Foreigner purchasers not picking up so much in the Outside Central Region
In the Outside Central Region (districts 16, 18, 19, 22, 23, 27), foreigner purchase levels has been fairly constant (all bars roughly same height).
This indicates that demand here is probably less speculative, less for investment and more for owner occupation. This shows up in the stability of the sales from 1H2015.
District 10 still most popular
D10 (Bukit Timah, Holland, Balmoral) on the left side of the chart continues to be the most popular district for foreigners. This is followed by district 3 (Alexandra, Commonwealth) and district 15 (Joo Chiat, Marine Parade, Katong).
Chinese, Malaysians, Indians and IndonesianS most active
Foreign Asian buyers are the most active in the Singapore property market in 1H2017. This has always been the case.
Left side bars are higher than the rest, showing the top nationalities being Chinese, Malaysians, Indians and Indonesians.
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If you’re more interested in the equity market and REITs, check out what we have to say about Cromwell REIT before their IPO at the end of Sept. If you’re on the lookout for a property purchase, consider these 3 units where prices are below S$1m.
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