If you’re going to invest in property overseas, the first question isn’t “how“, it’s “where“. Here’s the reasoning that led a Singaporean couple to invest in the United States.
For a lot of Singaporean investors, the maths on a second local property has quietly stopped working. A citizen now pays 20% Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty on a second residential property and 30% on the third and beyond; rental yields sit around 2–3% gross; and entry prices routinely cross seven figures.
So it’s natural to look abroad. But “abroad” is a big place. Malaysia is the first that comes to mind, followed probably by Thailand, Australia, Japan and UK, each getting pitched as the next great property play. When Alvin spoke with Weihan from Byte Sized Investments, the Singaporean engineer who has built a portfolio of 27 rental homes with his wife Tracy, what struck us wasn’t that he landed on the US. It was how systematically he ruled out everywhere else first.
Here’s the case, as he makes it.
Start with the filter, not the destination
Before comparing countries, Han applies a filter. A market is only worth considering if it can generate positive rental cashflow, has a proper rule of law that treats landlords fairly, genuine respect for ownership rights, low barriers to entry for foreigners like financing, real rental demand, and reasonable disaster risk (i.e. earthquakes, flooding).
That filter alone quietly eliminates most of the world. What’s left is a short list, and the US sits at the top of it for reasons that stack up across four areas: the numbers, the financing, the legal and tax treatment, and the sheer depth of the market.
1. The financial case
US homes are simply cheaper and yield more than Singapore’s. Han screens with the well-known “1% rule”. Monthly rent of at least 1% of the purchase price, which works out to roughly 12% gross rental yield a year. That’s a gross figure, before expenses, and it varies property to property; the point isn’t the exact number but the margin. At those levels, rent can cover the mortgage, taxes and operating costs and still leave positive cash flow each month, rather than the negative-carry many Singaporeans accept on a local investment property.
On top of the cash flow, there’s appreciation. In several cashflowing cities in the US, median home prices have trended up at roughly 4% a year historically. The combination of income and growth is what makes the model compound.
2. Financing you can’t get at home
This is the part most Singaporeans underestimate, and it may be the single biggest structural advantage.
– 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. The US is one of very few countries where you can lock in your largest cost for three decades. In Singapore, fixed rates typically run only a handful of years. If US rates later fall, you refinance lower; if they rise, your existing loan is untouched. It’s those “heads I win, tails you lose” situation.
– No margin calls. If a property’s value drops, the lender can’t demand you top up collateral. As long as you keep paying your mortgage, they don’t foreclose.
– DSCR loans, no personal income required. Foreigners can borrow based on a property’s Debt Service Coverage Ratio which is its ability to generate rent, rather than personal income, employment or a US credit history.
– No age limits. US lenders can’t decline you simply for being “too old,” unlike markets such as the UK where mortgage age caps of 65-70 years old are common. In the US, you can take a 30-year fixed rate loan regardless of your age.
Put together, these let a foreign investor build a portfolio in a way that’s structurally difficult almost anywhere else.
3. A foreigner-friendly legal and tax framework
In the US, foreigners buy and sell on the same footing as locals. The same ownership rights with no special class of restricted property.
The tax contrast with Singapore is stark. There’s no ABSD-style stamp duty, no matter how many properties you own, compared with Singapore’s 20% on a second home, 30% on a third, and 60% for foreigners. You can set up a US LLC and a business bank account entirely remotely, without a local partner. And the tax code is built to reward property investors: depreciation can shelter rental income even as the property appreciates, capital gains can be deferred through a 1031 exchange, and heirs can reset the cost basis via a “step-up.” (None of this is tax advice. It’s worth proper professional guidance, but it’s part of why after-tax returns can look attractive.)
4. A deep, stable, diverse market
Around 35–45% of the US population rents, and that ratio has held steady for over 30 years, a structural source of demand rather than a passing trend. Most US homes are freehold, so you and your heirs can hold the land and structure indefinitely, with no lease expiry counting down.
And because the US market is so fragmented, you can choose your strategy by geography: high-appreciation coastal markets, high-cash-flow Midwest markets, or the occasional hybrid that offers both cashflow and appreciation. That choice simply doesn’t exist in a single-city market like Singapore.
So why not Malaysia, Australia, Japan, Europe or UK?
This is where Han’s reasoning gets interesting, because the case for the US is really a case made by elimination.
He started from the countries with the highest rental demand. Because demand is what drives rent growth, appreciation and low vacancies, and worked through them:
– Switzerland, Germany, France, Canada have very low rent-to-price ratios. Lovely places to tour; poor places to generate positive cash flow.
– Japan has historically seen weak appreciation, and financing is much harder for non-residents. A foreigner generally can’t borrow as easily or set up a business locally without friction.
– Australia places tighter restrictions on what foreign buyers can purchase and sell, which limits the strategy before you start.
– Thailand doesn’t allow foreigners to own land at all.
– Last but not least, Malaysia, where oversupply created stagnant growth and suppressed rents. In addition, ownership policies limit foreign buyers to purchase only higher-end properties, excluding foreign buyers from purchasing mass-market homes to sell or lease to everyday people.
That narrows the real contest to the UK versus the US, and there are genuinely good cash-flowing deals in the UK too. Han chose the US for four reasons: it’s a far bigger market by size and population, so there are many more cities to diversify across; the US dollar is the world’s reserve currency, which adds stability; US loans have no age limits, while the UK’s often do; and the US charges no stamp duty regardless of how many properties you buy, while the UK does.
None of this makes the UK a bad choice. It makes the US, in Han’s framing, the highest-probability choice for a remote investor trying to build scale.
Compare Singapore and US rent growth charts. Because of the strong rental demand in the US, rent prices are forced up, versus being relatively stagnant in Singapore.
A necessary caveat
If this all sounds too clean, it’s because we’ve focused on the opportunity. The reality has sharp edges: bad neighbourhoods that look great on a spreadsheet, weak property managers, tenant-friendly eviction laws, surprise repairs, middlemen who prey on remote buyers, and the fact that you can’t use CPF for any of it. The opportunity is real, but it rewards people who treat it like a business.
We cover those risks honestly, and how Han mitigates each, in our next article: US Rental Property Looks Like a Cheat Code. Here’s How Singaporeans Actually Lose Money. Read both before you decide anything.
Want the full picture?
Han (Weihan) and Tracy from Byte Sized Investments are running a free online preview for the Dr Wealth community, walking through how they evaluate markets, finance deals as foreigners, and manage everything remotely from Singapore.
📅 Thursday, 16 July · 7:30pm (SGT) · Online 👉 Register free
