Foreigners snap up fewer homes

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Fewer non-PR foreigners picked up private homes in January, as opposed to December when it had spiked, according to preliminary figures.

A DTZ Research caveat analysis revealed that foreign buyers’ share grew from 16 percent in November to 23 percent in December. However, January’s figures fell to merely three percent.

The caveat pool for January though is much smaller with only 131 so far, but more will be streaming in over the coming weeks. Caveats lodged for October, November and December were 2,147, 2,191 and 1,711 respectively.

Despite this, analysts claimed that the sharp drop in foreign share is remarkable.  

According to Chua Chor Hoon, Head of DTZ Asia Pacific Research, the surge in December may have been due to foreigners rushing purchases in anticipation of the government’s additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD).

Peter Ow, Managing Director at SLP International, believes the boost in December may be due to the strong sales by foreigners in November.

“Typically a caveat would be lodged upon exercise of option and this is usually a few weeks after the date of grant of option,” he added.

To illustrate the slide, non-PR foreigners accounted for just five percent of total buyers at Watertown condo in Punggol, which sold 771 units in January. At The Hillier (pictured), non-PR foreigners contributed to only 10 percent of sales.

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