http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_389364.html
Foreigners eye S'pore homes
Most are regional buyers hunting for bargain-price units below $1m in resale market
By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent
FOREIGN buyers are back to snap up homes here after bolting for the exits during the financial turmoil late last year.
The number of foreign private home purchases in April and May is already up on the first quarter but no one is claiming a significant turnaround is under way, although sales numbers hint at 'green shoots'.
The mix of buyers has also changed from the boom of 2007 and early last year. Then, Koreans, Americans, Russians, and people from the Middle East and elsewhere joined regional buyers to invest at the high end of the market, often with the aim of flipping the property to other investors.
Now buyers from Malaysia, Indonesia and China are dominating, and they are mostly picking up bargain-price units under $1 million for their own use or investment, according to property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle. Its analysis of non-landed private home caveats lodged in April and May found that foreigners bought 202 properties, up 15 per cent from the 175 bought in the first quarter and the 156 deals done in the last three months of last year.
They are taking advantage of bargains in the weak market and low interest rates, said Jones Lang LaSalle associate director of research Desmond Sim.
In the first five months this year, about 57 per cent of the foreign buyer caveats were in the $500,000 to $1 million price category. This is slightly more than for the same periods in 2004 and 2005.
Unlike the rising market in 2004 and 2005 when foreigners bought mostly new launches, buyers now are largely going for resale homes.
'During that period (2004-2005), Singapore prime residential prices were in the region of US$7,745 (S$11,200) per sq m compared to our 'cousin' Hong Kong at US$20,500 per sq m,' said Mr Sim.
Most foreign buyers then came from within Asia and saw cheaper homes here as good investments, he said. Many at the time made use of the deferred payment scheme to earn quick capital gains through flipping the units in the sub-sale market, he added.
Resale homes became popular in 2006 and 2007 as more foreigners - who came mainly as the banking and financial industries grew - chose to buy instead of paying sky-high rents.
Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times
Foreigners eye S'pore homes
Most are regional buyers hunting for bargain-price units below $1m in resale market
By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent
FOREIGN buyers are back to snap up homes here after bolting for the exits during the financial turmoil late last year.
The number of foreign private home purchases in April and May is already up on the first quarter but no one is claiming a significant turnaround is under way, although sales numbers hint at 'green shoots'.
The mix of buyers has also changed from the boom of 2007 and early last year. Then, Koreans, Americans, Russians, and people from the Middle East and elsewhere joined regional buyers to invest at the high end of the market, often with the aim of flipping the property to other investors.
Now buyers from Malaysia, Indonesia and China are dominating, and they are mostly picking up bargain-price units under $1 million for their own use or investment, according to property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle. Its analysis of non-landed private home caveats lodged in April and May found that foreigners bought 202 properties, up 15 per cent from the 175 bought in the first quarter and the 156 deals done in the last three months of last year.
They are taking advantage of bargains in the weak market and low interest rates, said Jones Lang LaSalle associate director of research Desmond Sim.
In the first five months this year, about 57 per cent of the foreign buyer caveats were in the $500,000 to $1 million price category. This is slightly more than for the same periods in 2004 and 2005.
Unlike the rising market in 2004 and 2005 when foreigners bought mostly new launches, buyers now are largely going for resale homes.
'During that period (2004-2005), Singapore prime residential prices were in the region of US$7,745 (S$11,200) per sq m compared to our 'cousin' Hong Kong at US$20,500 per sq m,' said Mr Sim.
Most foreign buyers then came from within Asia and saw cheaper homes here as good investments, he said. Many at the time made use of the deferred payment scheme to earn quick capital gains through flipping the units in the sub-sale market, he added.
Resale homes became popular in 2006 and 2007 as more foreigners - who came mainly as the banking and financial industries grew - chose to buy instead of paying sky-high rents.
Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times
