The number of home buyers paying more than $5 million for a residential property in Singapore is skyrocketing, a new report has found.

Property consultancy Savills Singapore said that last year, 503 sales were done for homes costing more than $5 million - an ‘astounding’ 228.8 per cent jump over 2005. About 60 per cent of these high-end homes were bought by Singaporeans.

And already in the first quarter of this year, the 157 deals made have surpassed the 153 total for all of 2005. Foreigners accounted for a growing proportion - 55 per cent - of the buyers. In 2005, Singaporeans accounted for about 85 per cent of these deals.

The jump in buyers paying big prices corresponds, not surprisingly, with a surge in the prices of high-end homes, particularly in the past two years.

In the first quarter of this year, the average price of super luxury homes has shot up to $2,747 per sq ft (psf), from less than $2,400 psf in the fourth quarter.

However, luxury homes in Singapore are still considered a bargain compared with other major gateway cities around the world, said Savills.

In London, the world’s most expensive city in the high-end market, the average price of high-end homes hovers around $8,900 psf, it said.

In New York, such homes cost about $4,500 psf on average. And apartments in Roppongi Hills in Tokyo cost about $3,400 psf on average.

Source: The Straits Times, 25 April 2007