(Ecns.cn)--The proportion of luxury residential property bought by Chinese in Singapore accounted for 30% of the country's market during the past 15 months, up from 19% in 2010, according to statistics released by CB Richard Ellis, a London-based real estate services firm.
This means that Chinese money is moving away from the overheated domestic market to overseas countries like Singapore due to policies restricting purchases at home, said Ye Dan, general manager of Gaohong Real Estate.
"Since Singapore is culturally friendly to native Chinese speakers, many rich Chinese are flocking to the country as luxury homebuyers," Ye was quoted as saying Friday on Chinanews.com. Loose immigration and an easy credit policy also seem to be attracting wealthy Chinese, she added.
They are particularly interested in permanent housing, said Chen Guanjun, head of Gaohong Real Estate. Since Singapore hasn't set any guidelines about the nationalities of its luxury homebuyers, more Chinese are likely to be motivated to spend money there. Unlike in China, Singapore houses are sold by gross size rather containing no sharing sizes, which attracts Chinese to great extent.
Though the real estate market has been undergoing a slow recovery since 2008, prices have yet to reach the peak achieved in 2007, according to Chen Jindao of CB Richard Ellis. He concluded that it's still prime time to invest in property in Singapore.
Many Singapore developers have launched ambitious marketing plans targeting Chinese buyers. So far, Far East International, Kidde and Gaohong have all traveled into China to solicit luxury homes, especially in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
