Singapore Buys More Australian Real Estate Than China
Spending almost $20 billion in two years.
By Terry Christodoulou
Thu, Aug 26, 2021 6:48pm
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Although a small city-state, Singapore is weighing in on Australia’s real estate market.
In the two years to July 2020, Singaporean investors spent $19.3 billion on Australian property, according to the latest Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) data.
That’s $6.1 billion more over the same period than China.
Another view is that Singapore makes up 17 cents of every foreign dollar spent on local property, versus China’s 13 cents – despite Singapore’s economy being approximately 44 times smaller.
Singapore is now the second-largest investor in Australian real estate, behind only the United States.
These figures come as foreign investment into Australian real estate has doubled in the last here years – largely at the hands of institutional investors and large scale projects.
Geographically – and in times of unrestricted borders – the tie between Australia and Singapore makes sense, with Perth, amongst other Australian capitals, a short flying distance away for Singaporeans.
This enormous figure also boosts Singapore’s standing across all industries, now representing the third-biggest source of foreign investment for Australia – behind only the U.S. and Japan.
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The imposing stone structures, with towers, turrets and a hot tub room, lord over the landscape near the mountain resort town of Sandpoint.
By Liz Lucking
Mon, Jul 13, 2026 2 min
2 min
Idaho is not a place that’s often associated with Medieval castles, but a pair have just hit the market for $6.25 million.
The imposing stone structures have towers, turrets, ramparts, arrow-slit windows and even a drawbridge, and might just be the most authentic-looking castles this side of the Atlantic.
“Who expects to see a castle like this in Idaho?” said listing agent Brenda Burk of Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty, who brought the property to the market last week. They are, she said, “extremely unusual.”
Schweitzer Castle and Château de Melusine, as they’re known, stand within Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the Selkirk Mountains and overlook the nearby mountain resort town of Sandpoint. They take in panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest lake.
The pair of ski-in/ski-out homes each have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and three stories, Burk explained. They are “so authentic,” she said. “Every single stone was handlaid.”
Schweitzer Castle, she said, wasn’t built for “functionality,” but has been modernized and adapted and now has everything a 21st-century residence requires, along with a dungeon, which for some buyers may also be a requisite.
The chateau, meanwhile, has a hot tub room with mountain views, as well as a garage.
The property is being sold furnished, and will come complete with the hand-carved statues, armor, mounted swords, stained-glass windows and a host of antiques dating to the 15th and 16th centuries.
The owner, an antique collector who couldn’t be reached for comment, “is always looking for that hidden jewel and he found that here,” Burk said.
The next custodian is likely to stem from a varied pool of buyers, Burk said, that would include “the trophy-home buyer, someone who can say ‘I own a castle.’”
The property could also appeal to someone looking for a vacation home, or a multi-generational estate, and beyond that “there’s the dreamers,” she said. “We definitely try to market to people who like Medieval history or maybe do Renaissance fairs.”
The seller “really wants it to go to someone with the same passion.”
