Malaysians, Mainland Chinese still keen on Singapore homes even as currencies tumble

They bought almost 2,000 condos in 2015.

Foreign buying interest in Singapore remained resilient despite persistent weakness in regional currencies, revealed a report by DTZ.

In particular, Mainland Chinese and Malaysian buyers continued to dominate home-buying by foreigners in 2015, forming 54% of all foreign condo purchases last year.

Mainland Chinese buyers snapped up 998 units last year, down by a mere 3.8% compared to 2014 figures. Meanwhile, Malaysian home purchases remained largely flat at 954 units.

"The devaluation of the Chinese yuan in August 2015 meant that Mainland Chinese nationals found their purchasing power clipped, as their national currency weakened against the
Singapore dollar. For Chinese PRs, however, the determinants of behaviour were localised factors at work in Singapore. Singapore’s political stability, transparent real estate policies and strict rule of the law positions the city-state ahead of many other countries as a place where investors enjoy a high level of certainly on returns. Many Mainland Chinese also bought homes for their children studying in Singapore," the report noted 

Compared to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, Mainland Chinese and Malaysian home buyers still posted healthy purchases in 2015. In 2008, Mainland Chinese only purchased 362 private homes while Malaysians bought 626.

On the contrary, the number of Indonesian home purchases fell by 33.6% to 279 units, lower than the 618 homes bought in 2008