They bought 640 homes in the second quarter, up 26% from 527 units in the first three months of the year, according to a new report from DTZ.
The proportion of acquisitions made by non Singaporeans in the second quarter was similar to the 16% recorded in the previous quarter.
In absolute terms, foreign purchases were 1,327 in the second quarter, below the record high of 1,741 foreign purchases in the same period in 2007. With the exception of one landed home in Sentosa Cove, the rest of the transactions by foreigners were for non landed homes, the DTZ report shows.
It also found that buyers from other Asian countries bought more units than in the previous quarter and Malaysians were the second-biggest group of non Singaporean buyers. They bought 496 homes, 66 more units in the second quarter as compared with the 430 homes recorded earlier this year.
Private residential purchases by Indonesians also moved up from 320 to 408 units in the second quarter. Vietnamese buyers more than doubled their property deals, from 17 to 40 units.
Another small but growing market segment is landed properties bought by PRs, which came in at 33 homes, up from 28 last quarter. But while foreigners and PRs have been more active, the report found that Singaporeans still easily dominate buying, making up 68% of sales. The other 2% of private home sales were bought by companies.
Singapore private home sales jumped 17% in July from the previous month, to 1,386 units, the latest figures from the Urban Redevelopment Authority show.
Suburban area sales accounted for 754 units, or 54% of the total sold. The city fringe accounted for 510 units, or 37%, while nine per cent of those sold were central area units.
