Hong Kong investors reject Singapore for cheaper property markets

Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan are luring investors.

Singapore’s housing market isn’t turning out to be the beneficiary many may have thought from Hong Kong’s increasingly fraught protests as investors turn to cheaper property markets like Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan.

In Malaysia, for instance, “a property in central Kuala Lumpur could cost 1,500 ringgit ($358) per square foot,” said Alan Cheong, a Singapore-based executive director of research and consultancy at Savills. “An apartment in a similar area of Singapore would be $1,500 ($1,080) or more.”

Also read: 88% of Singaporeans unhappy about property market due to prices

Buying a property in Singapore is particularly expensive when extra costs, like additional buyer’s stamp duty, are factored in. Foreigners buying residential property in the city-state since July 2018 pay additional stamp duty of 20%, up from 15% before the government cooling measures were introduced.

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