Chart of the Day: Property curbs hit Chinese and Indian condo purchases in Q3

Home buys by Indian nationals nearly halved to 61 units.

This chart from Edmund Tie & Company (ETCo) shows that the cooling measures in July has mostly taken its toll on Indian purchasers amongst the four major foreign nationalities that buy condo units in Singapore. According to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), condo purchases by Indian nationals plummeted 49.2% QoQ to 61 units.

Meanwhile, acquisitions by mainland Chinese nationals dropped 37.6% to 291 units. For Malaysian buyers, condo purchasers fell 28.1% to 197 units.

Also read: Real estate investment sales crash 34.5% in Q3

ET&Co also observed that the cooling measures have affected the price-consciousness of foreign buyers, noting that there was an increase in proportion of purchases made by the Malaysian and Indian buyers that were priced below $1.5m, from 72.8% and 62.8% in Q2 to 81.7% and 70.5% in Q3 respectively.

“Despite the curbs by the Government, the local residential market remains attractive to foreigners as Singapore continues to be a gateway to the ASEAN region, attracting foreign companies to relocate or set up their operations here,” the firm commented.