Buying by Chinese, Malaysians, Indonesians, Indians down 40%

MAINLAND Chinese, Malaysians, Indonesians and Indians continued to remain the top four nationalities among the combined pool of foreigners and Singapore permanent residents who bought private homes in the first nine months of this year. Together they accounted for 81.3 per cent of the 4,028 private homes purchased by PRs and foreigners in Jan-Sept 2013, similar to their 80.9 per cent share of the 7,717 private homes that PRs and foreigners picked up in 2012, shows a caveats analysis by property consulting group DTZ.

In the third quarter of this year, the number of units bagged by mainland Chinese, Malaysians and Indonesians each dropped around 43 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 238, 240 and 149 respectively. Indians acquired 36 per cent fewer private homes over the same period, at 71 units in Q3.

In comparison, US buyers, while having a small share, saw their number of private home purchases holding steady at 44 units in Q3, unchanged from Q2.