By Sharen Kaur
Published in NST Property on March 24, 2021
Cross-border property buying is evolving rapidly among Malaysians and they are dumping Australia for Singapore as they gain wealth, says Juwai IQI.
The firm's co-founder and chief executive officer Kashif Ansari said that Singapore has become the preferred destination for home buying as compared to Australia in the past.
Kashif believes that this could be due to the Covid-19 pandemic which shook up property buyers and changed their preferences.
He said the border closures and travel restrictions have made Singapore a more-popular destination because of its proximity and stability.
Official data from Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority reveals that Malaysians are the second most-active foreign buyers of non-landed private homes in Singapore.
Non-landed private home purchases by Malaysians climbed quickly in the second half of 2020.
Malaysians bought 175 non-landed private homes in the third quarter (Q3) of 2020, and it was up 11 per cent to 194 units in Q4 2020, higher than the pre-pandemic periods in 2019.
Foreigners can only buy condominiums and apartments as Singapore imposes foreign ownership restrictions on landed residential properties.
Kashif said that Malaysians like Singapore as a vacation and retirement destination, for work and for education.
"They are also looking for safe investments and asset diversification. Singapore offers several advantages compared to other destinations in Asia such as strong political leadership, sound economic fundamentals, and global status as a commercial hub," he said in a statement.
Kashif said Singapore is also extremely accessible and is fast-becoming Southeast Asia's primary hub for second-home ownership.
Ranking based on page view data for Malaysian users of Juwai IQI's Asian property portals shows that Singapore is more popular when it comes to buying real estate.
Malaysian buyers pushed Singapore from third to first place in 2020, and they changed the ranking of other destinations among the 10 most popular destinations.
Kashif pointed out that Australia dropped from first to second place with Malaysian buyers, and the United States dropped from the second rank to third.
Hong Kong and the Philippines dropped entirely out of the top-10, while Japan moved from ninth to eighth place.
The United Kingdom, which has always been popular among Malaysian investors moved from eighth to seventh spot.
Indonesia moved from tenth to ninth, New Zealand moved into the top ten at sixth place, and the UAE joined the top-10 ranking in tenth place.
Kashif said even though Australia dropped one place in the rankings, real estate there still appeals to investors due to familiarity, sentiment, and the market's resilience as well as strong capital growth.
Australia is also a popular education destination for many Malaysians.
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