Malaysians made up 27 per cent of the total number of foreign buyers in the second quarter. -myp
Malaysians have replaced the Chinese as the largest group of foreign private-property buyers in Singapore, the latest data showed as foreign home purchases saw a strong 73 per cent rebound of 611 units in the second quarter of this year from the previous quarter.
However, a report released by property firm DTZ yesterday said the number of transactions is still at a low, due to the imposition of the 10 per cent additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) by the Government.
Foreign buying made up only about 7 per cent of the total private sales in the second quarter, up slightly from 5 per cent recorded in the first three months of this year.
Malaysians made up 27 per cent of the total number of foreign buyers in the second quarter, purchasing 520 units.
The number of transactions by Malaysian buyers rose by about 30 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
Home purchases by Chinese buyers, comparatively, rose by only 18 per cent to 369 units. The proportion of Chinese buyers also fell for a second consecutive quarter to make up just 19 per cent of the total number of foreign buyers - the lowest since the third quarter of 2010.
"Going forward, we expect Malaysians to dominate again as Chinese buyers retreat due to the economic slowdown in their country, the termination of the Financial Investor Scheme, and restrictions against foreigners buying strata landed homes," said DTZ.
As a whole, private-home buyers were observed to have turned more to the resale and sub-sale markets for value buys in the second quarter, instead of going for new properties.
Property transactions in the two secondary private markets jumped a strong 66 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 4,409 units, DTZ noted in its report.
This is due to fewer new project launches in the outer parts of the core central region of Singapore in the second quarter.
Prices of many such new developments, such as Sky Habitat and Katong Regency, also hit new benchmarks. It led to a widening of the property price difference in the primary and secondary markets, resulting in resale and sub-sale units gaining more popularity.
An increase in buying activity was also observed among foreign nationals such as Americans, Filipinos and Japanese.
The Americans, for example, purchased some 58 private units in the second quarter, almost three times more, compared to the previous quarter.
It was also higher than the quarterly average of 32 homes they purchased last year.
DTZ said that the higher number of transactions by the Americans could be due to them having the same ABSD treatment as Singaporeans, while enjoying the same incentives given by developers.
Developers have turned to giving out rental guarantees and furniture vouchers in recent months to attract more buyers.
This could result in foreign buyers paying less, compared to pre-ABSD days, DTZ noted.
Mr Lee Sze Teck, senior manager for training, research and consultancy at real-estate firm Denis Wee Group, agreed that American buyers appeared to have benefited from the exemption from paying ABSD.
"But this level of buying interest is from far off the record 140 transactions in Q2 2007," he said.
"The number of transactions by citizens from Switzerland has returned to pre-ABSD levels. Purchases from the other three countries (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) exempted from ABSD were insignificant.
"Singapore is still one of the best places in the region to invest in property because of its clarity in ownership of properties, low-tax environment, absence of capital-gain tax, low interest rate and stable government," Mr Lee said.
reicow@sph.com.sg
Reico Wong
Wed, Aug 29, 2012
my paper
Wed, Aug 29, 2012
my paper
Source: AsiaOne