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Luxury investments: Why these Singaporeans collect art, watches and wine

These three categories are the top investments of passion here, a recent report shows

Corinne Kerk

Published Thu, Mar 7, 2024 · 06:00 PM
    • Linda Neo started collecting art as a means of sharing a common interest with her husband, Albert Lim.
    • Neo and Lim travel frequently to soak in all that the art world has to offer. They are pictured here by a Jeff Koons artwork at the Glenstone Museum in Maryland, USA.
    • Neo and her husband opened the private Primz Gallery in 2014 to accommodate their burgeoning art collection.
    • Jane Lee's mirrored installation, Nowhere, belongs to Neo and Lim.
    • Gerald Lum started collecting watches 13 years ago.
    • Lum says the IWC Schaffhausen Pilot Chronograph is his first "real" watch.
    • Over the years, Sharad Desai has grown his collection of wine to some 50,000 bottles.
    • Desai in the Austrian wine region of Wachau. The vineyards pictured here are planted with Gruner Veltliner, the white grape that is most famous in the country.
    • Desai at the top-tier Weingut Prager in Austria, with the winemaker and his son.
    • Desai in Macon, Burgundy, in front of the limestone escarpment Roche de Solutre.
    • Linda Neo started collecting art as a means of sharing a common interest with her husband, Albert Lim. PHOTO: LINDA NEO/ALBERT LIM
    • Neo and Lim travel frequently to soak in all that the art world has to offer. They are pictured here by a Jeff Koons artwork at the Glenstone Museum in Maryland, USA. PHOTO: LINDA NEO/ALBERT LIM
    • Neo and her husband opened the private Primz Gallery in 2014 to accommodate their burgeoning art collection. PHOTO: PRIMZ GALLERY
    • Jane Lee's mirrored installation, Nowhere, belongs to Neo and Lim. PHOTO: PRIMZ GALLERY
    • Gerald Lum started collecting watches 13 years ago. PHOTO: GERALD LUM
    • Lum says the IWC Schaffhausen Pilot Chronograph is his first "real" watch. PHOTO: IWC
    • Over the years, Sharad Desai has grown his collection of wine to some 50,000 bottles. PHOTO: SHARAD DESAI
    • Desai in the Austrian wine region of Wachau. The vineyards pictured here are planted with Gruner Veltliner, the white grape that is most famous in the country. PHOTO: SHARAD DESAI
    • Desai at the top-tier Weingut Prager in Austria, with the winemaker and his son. PHOTO: SHARAD DESAI
    • Desai in Macon, Burgundy, in front of the limestone escarpment Roche de Solutre. PHOTO: SHARAD DESAI

    LAST year, despite major auction houses achieving record-breaking sales, luxury investments dipped into negative territory as froth came off markets. This is based on the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFLII), which was released last week as part of the real estate consultancy’s annual Wealth Report.

    The index, which tracks the performance of 10 popular passion investments, shows that art was the best-performing luxury asset class, with prices rising 11 per cent in 2023.

    It was also the only one of Knight Frank’s 10 index constituents to hit double-digit growth last year, with the KFLII down 1 per cent on average.

    LifestyleLifestyle featuresluxuryLuxury assetsArt investingArtworkArt museumsArt historyArts & DesignWatchesCollectiblesWine

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