Chinese demand boosts Singapore luxury apartment sales

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 20): Singapore apartments worth at least S$10 million (RM30 million) are proving to be very popular with Chinese nationals.

A Reuters report stated that that sales of such homes have hit an 11-year high, driven by “increased demand from Chinese millionaires seeking safe-haven assets”, according to property consultants OrangeTee & Tie.

The report revealed that in the first eight months of this year, 68 units in the city “were sold for S$10 million and more, the highest tally since the corresponding period of 2008”.

This meant these numbers exceeded that of “each full year from 2011 to 2018”, according to analysis from OrangeTee & Tie.

The property consultant also told Reuters that these buyers “may have sought an alternative” to Hong Kong which is currently plagued by social and political unrest while “others may have shifted funds from China” as the yuan was “devalued in a trade war with the US”.

“This may explain why we have observed more foreign buyers, especially mainland Chinese, coming into Singapore lately,” OrangeTee & Tie head of research and consultancy Christine Sun said in the same report.

Chinese nationals are biggest group of foreign buyers of luxury homes in the island republic.

Singapore authorities prohibit foreigners from buying landed homes, except those on Sentosa island, a popular resort area.

In Malaysia, the government is mulling attracting more foreigners to buy homes to fire up the local property market.

Earlier this week, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the proposed Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) for foreigners through the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme is meant to resolve the issue of unsold luxury houses which is part of efforts to restore the country's economy.

She said with the sale of the unsold houses, it would provide more opportunities for developers to build more affordable homes in the country.

Meanwhile, it was reported today that the Johor government is considering lowering the current RM1 million price threshold for foreigners to buy properties in the state.

The move is expected to help with the sale of properties priced at RM600,000 and above that make up between 60% and 70% of unsold properties in the state.