The share of private home purchases by Singaporeans increased to 74 percent in Q2 2014, according to a DTZ report, after falling for three consecutive quarters.
Q1 2014 saw their share of private home purchases fell to 70 percent, the lowest ratio since Q4 2011. “As the share of private home purchases by Singaporeans increased in Q2, the share of private home purchases by Singaporean Permanent Residents (PRs) and foreigners decreased correspondingly,” said DTZ.
Malaysian and mainland Chinese buyers each made up 30 percent of private home sales, while Indonesian and Indian buyers were tied as the third largest group of non-Singaporean buyers in Q2 as each group made up 11 percent.
For the Indian buyers, this was the largest number of transactions seen since the implementation of the TDSR in June 2013.
The 11 percent share was the lowest proportion accounted for by Indonesian buyers since data was first collected in 1995. Their share of private home purchases has fallen consistently from 20 percent since the beginning of 2013 when the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates were raised across the board for Singaporeans, PRs and foreigners.
Unlike the other three nationalities, the bulk of purchases by Indonesians have been by those with foreign residential status, hence these buyers would have been affected by increased ABSD rates in January 2013.
DTZ added, “Another possible reason for the loss in the share of Indonesian buyers could be due to the recent uptick in the Indonesian property market.” Similar to last quarter, Indonesians’ buying patterns are shifting away from their historically favoured districts of 9, 10 and 11. In Q2, they bought only 28 units in those areas.
The majority of buyers from mainland China, Malaysia and India, on the other hand, hold PR status in Singapore. In H1 2014, 92 percent of the purchases by Indian buyers are PRs. For mainland Chinese and Malaysians, the respective proportions of buyers with PR status were 58 percent and 82 percent in H1.
Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email muneerah@propertyguru.com.sg