Singaporeans' confidence to own a home in 10 years lag emerging affluent peers

The most confident ones are actually from developing markets.

Singaporeans are optimist the economy will grow in the next year with most of them expect a pay rise, a recent study by Standard Chartered show. Furthermore, amidst favorable market expectation, property ownership is amongst their priorities.

Compared to emerging affluent peers however, Singaporeans appeared second least confident in owning a home in 10 years, only next to Hong Kong.

The study of 7,000 emerging affluent consumers across seven of Standard Chartered’s markets – Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria and Singapore –- offers new insights into the confidence levels, income expectations, saving plans, short and medium-term spending priorities, and long-term aspirations of people with rising incomes living in large cities.

A key finding in the study is a high level of confidence among the emerging affluent when it comes to the 10-year wealth goal. Respondents in six of the markets – Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Singapore – say buying property is their top long-term financial aspiration, while launching their own business is the number one goal for the emerging affluent Kenyans.

Whether the 10-year wealth aspiration is to buy property or launch a business, on average as many as 87% of the emerging affluent believe they will achieve it. The figure is considerably higher in the developing markets, with 100% of Nigerians and at least nine in 10 Kenyans, Indians, Indonesians and Chinese saying they are confident about achieving their long-term financial goal.