For years, Indonesians and Malaysians were the dominant foreign property buyers in Singapore, a rich Southeast Asian city-state that is widely regarded as one of the safest places in Asia to park capital, thanks to its stable political environment and predictable laws.

Over the past year or so, though, Chinese investors have leapfrogged those and other buyers to become the biggest foreign source of property sales, accounting for 32% of foreign buyers in the first half of 2011, up from just 8% in 2007. Some of the latest residential sales exceeded five million Singapore dollars (US$3.8 million), according to agents, including what local media reports say was the S$36 million purchase of a 15,000-square-foot bungalow plot in the city's posh Sentosa Cove.

Sales of private homes in Singapore in October were down 15% from September. And the rate of price increases is slowing, to 1.3% quarter-to-quarter for July-September, from 2% in April-June, according to government data.

The increase in Chinese buyers is mirrored to varying degrees elsewhere in Asia and even in North America. That partly reflects their growing disposable income after years of rapid economic growth, but agents and some buyers say it also reflects a rising desire by upper-class Chinese to diversify their assets—or get out of China entirely—at a time of rising uncertainties there.

The push for overseas properties has intensified over the past year, as Chinese authorities—fearing a domestic price bubble—have tightened controls on local property sales. It's unclear whether those policies, which include higher minimum down payments, will be continued next year.

But that hasn't stopped Chinese buyers from coming, leading analysts to predict the country's private condominium market will become more popular over the long term as Chinese investors look for more ways to diversify their investments.

Please contact us in case of Copyright Infringement of the photo sourced from the internet, we will remove it within 24 hours.