Who have been the main buyers of Singapore’s non-landed properties over time?
Are they Singaporeans, Singapore permanent residents, or foreigners?
Ask around, and chances are that you will hear a common gripe about purchases by permanent residents and foreigners being the main cause of rising property prices over the years.
In this article, I seek to put some numbers on who has been the main group of buyers of non-landed condominiums in Singapore.
The history of data available dates back to 1995, and because it is a substantial period of time, I have broadly broken the analysis into 3 periods for easier understanding.
- Pre-2001, which encompasses the boom before the Asian Financial Crisis, the Asian financial crisis in 199,7 and the dot-com boom and bust in 2001
- 2001 to 2008, which encompasses the post-dot-com period, SARS in 2003, the strong market growth after SARS, and the global financial crisis in 2007 and 2008
- 2009 to 2025 which encompasses the post-global financial crisis period, strong growth ,and many rounds of property market cooling measures by the government
Summary
- Purchases by Singaporeans have been the most among all groups. It has been stable between 60% and 80% over the years
- Purchases by Singapore permanent residents have increased consistently over the years
- Purchases by companies and foreigners have virtually disappeared due to onerous and hefty taxes
Proportion of non-landed property purchases (new, resale, sub-sale) from 2001 to 2025, broken into 3 periods of pre-2001, 2001 to 2008, and 2009 to 2025
Pre-2001
- Singaporean: 75% (most, first)
- Singapore PR: 8% (third)
- Foreigner: 9% (second)
- Company: 5% (fourth)
- N.A: 3% (least, fifth)
During the pre-2001 period, there were very few restrictions on the purchase of non-landed properties by permanent residents and foreigners.
The proportion of Singaporeans buying properties was stable between 70% and 80%.
When the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997, the proportion of buying by permanent residents and foreigners began to dip, which was understandable given their loss of jobs and their having to return to their home country.
Purchases by companies were negligible.
2001 to 2008
- Singaporean: 72% (most, first)
- Singapore PR: 13% (second)
- Foreigner: 11% (third)
- Company: 4% (fourth)
- N.A: <1% (least, fifth)
During the period after the Asian financial crisis and dot-com boom and bust, the proportion of Singaporean purchases began a long downtrend to around 2008.
This was because, as Singapore’s economy started to hum, foreigners started coming back to the country and more permanent residencies were granted (as part of the government’s more open policy to support GDP growth by increasing the population).
Interest rates in the US, and accordingly Singapore, during this period of time, were also on a downtrend.
As a result, the proportion of buyers who were permanent residents, foreigners, and companies began to increase.
When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, the same story as the Asian financial crisis repeated itself.
Foreign and permanent resident buyers began to leave, resulting in more purchases attributable to Singaporeans.
This can be seen at the right side of the chart, where the proportion of Singapore buyers started rising from about 60% at the start of 2008 to 70% at the end of 2008.
The proportion of purchases by companies was negligible.
2009 to today
- Singaporean: 75% (most, first)
- Singapore PR: 17% (second)
- Foreigner: 7% (third)
- Company: <1% (tied last, fourth)
- N.A.: <1% (tied last, fourth)
Finally, looking at the last period of time, between 2009 and 2025, there is a clear trend that is the reverse of what happened between 2001 and 2008.
The market began to be dominated by Singaporeans and Singaporean permanent resident buyers.
Purchases by foreigners and companies virtually fell out of the picture and in totality amounted to less than 1%. This was due to onerous and hefty taxes imposed on these classes of buyers.
Of course, hiding within the statistics are the types of Singaporeans – did these buyers grow up in Singapore, or are they so-called “new citizens” who were from other countries but became Singapore citizens, and if so, was it recently or many years back that they converted their residency status?
Purchases by companies were negligible.
Conclusion
There are a number of implications of the trends outlined above.
Properties in the core central region that have traditionally been bought by foreigners are now increasingly being bought by Singaporeans or Singaporean permanent residents.
Whilst data is not available, these “Singaporeans” are likely those who converted to holding citizenship from their previous status as Singapore permanent residents.
This is understandable because the very definition of a Singaporean is changing as the country is a cosmopolitan society and a melting pot that comprises people from many different societies and origins.
The increasing number of Singaporeans or Singapore permanent residents buying in the core central regions (as opposed to mainly foreigners) is potentially a good thing.
This is because prices are likely to be more stable as they will be less susceptible to inflows and outflows of hot money that are characteristic of foreign buyers.
Potentially, however, the flip side to the coin, where there is a decreasing proportion of foreigners, is the implication that the property market, or possibly the country by extension, is becoming less open to those who do not have long-term roots in the country.
This could mean various things economically, but speaking to property investors specifically, it may be prudent to rethink any reliance of their investment on foreigners.
If you bought a property with the intention of renting it out or selling it to foreigners, the market may not be as deep as before.
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