SINGAPORE - Singapore was the most expensive place to purchase a brand new BMW 7 Series sedan - at about US$430,000 (S$586,774) - due to import duties and regulatory taxes, a report by private Swiss bank Julius Baer released on Tuesday (Oct 4) showed.

Shanghai was a distant second, where the car cost about US$300,000, while Jakarta was the cheapest overall (about US$158,000), the report said.

Singapore was among the hardest-hit cities when it came to high-end residential property, the report said. The others were Mumbai and Tokyo.

The report said Singapore property prices remained soft, as previously imposed stamp duties and property loan restrictions deterred non-resident investors and dampened speculative activity.

"However, we are starting to see signs of a bottoming of activity particularly in the prime districts where sales volumes have increased sharply in the first half of 2016 due to the various incentives and discounts offered by developers."