Chinese buyers splurged more than $85mn on top end properties

Of the 54 units sold to date in 1Q 2011 for top end properties 31% of them were bought by Chinese, the largest among foreign buyers.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, based on caveats lodged with the state, buyers from the Asia-Pacific region continue to dominate the sales in the prime market. Looking at the top ten countries in terms of number of units purchased (excluding Singaporean buyers), Chinese, Indonesian and Malaysian buyers purchased more than 50% of the units sold in the prime market in 1Q11. The largest proportion of sales of prime residential units went to Indonesian buyers (24%), and Chinese buyers have overtaken Malaysians to purchase 16% and 14% of prime residential units, respectively. Indeed, Chinese buyers were second only to Singaporean buyers in terms of total number of units purchased island-wide in 1Q11.

241 units were sold to Chinese buyers, 63% of these were in the mass market, priced between $500,000 and $1.5million.

According to Dr Chua Yang Liang of Jones Lang LaSalle's Research, despite the fall in rental values, yields have remained relatively stable. They think capital values will continue to receive support from foreign buyers especially the Chinese and their regional neighbours. The surge in Chinese buyers in Singapore coincided with the policy tightening in China. While they do not expect a repeat of what is observed this past quarter, they can expect the number of Chinese buyers to continue at a healthy level as seen in previous quarters as the fiscal and monetary policy in China remains conducive to overseas investment by the wealthier Chinese.