Overseas Property

Singapore, known for its dense population density, limited land area, and property cooling measures on local residential properties, has seen a growing trend of Singaporeans looking beyond its borders to invest in overseas properties. Whether it's for diversifying their investment portfolio, taking advantage of more affordable property prices, seeking a vacation home, a home for children while studying...

For those investing for inter-generational wealth transfer, the abundance of overseas properties with freehold tenure is a big draw. The spread of overseas property investment options is staggering. Locations range from Sydney to London to New York and many cities in between. The array of property types include the familiar segments such as residential, office and retail shops, and the somewhat exotic...

Singapore investors have spent in total US$4.6 billion (S$6.3 billion) on cross-border real estate transactions in the 12 months through to the second quarter of this year. According to a report released by Real Capital Analytics (RCA), a real estate and market intelligence provider, it ranked Singapore investors as the second most active in Asia-Pacific during the reported period. One of the top...

Two recent charges against local real estate firms promoting overseas residential investments have put the spotlight back on such risky purchases. A financial penalty was imposed on property agency Square Yards last month after it failed to to provide a written note to an investor telling him about the risks involved in a foreign purchase, according to a media release by the Council for Estate Agencies...

Singapore-based investors put in at least S$3.8 billion in overseas real estate markets despite a weaker global economy in Q3, according to data compiled by DTZ (SEA) Research. Of this, more than S$1.8 billion was invested in Australia and S$1.2 billion in the UK. In Singapore, private investment in office space also rose to S$828 million in Q3 2015 from S$465 million in Q2. Offices accounted for...

From mid-August, enhanced guidelines on advertisements for property investment advertisements will take effect. The new guidelines for all media platforms aim to eliminate advertising claims that are speculative, misleading, or cannot be substantiated, said Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore. Singaporeans are one of the top real estate buyers in Asia, according to the Consumers Association...

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has warned about the potential risks of property oversupply overseas. Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong said this in Parliament on Monday (May 11) in response to a question by MP Lee Bee Wah on how many Singaporeans are individual owners of properties in Iskandar Malaysia. Mr Wong was speaking on behalf of Deputy Prime Minister Mr...

Some were lured into buying an overseas property with promises of high returns but have since lost contact with the property investment company. One buyer had believed that his property was sited in a prime area but found out later this was not true. In the light of some consumers losing more than S$100,000, the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) is urging the authorities to review how foreign...

Investing in an unfamiliar foreign market holds high risks, such as foreign currency fluctuations, property market trends, sovereign risks and interest rate risks, warned the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) in a media release on Monday (May 4). The association said that it received 13 complaints from consumers regarding their investment in foreign properties 2013 and 2014. It stated that most...

Overseas investments by Singapore-based property investors rose to US$11.9 billion last year from US$9.4 billion in 2013, according to estimates by CBRE, making the city-state Asia's largest source of outbound real estate investments for a second year. CBRE, a real estate services firm, also said Asian outbound real estate investment had a record year in 2014 - reaching US$40 billion, an increase of 23...