It has been a challenging two years for the Asian art market. But while declining global imports and rising geopolitical tensions have had an impact, the Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025 found that high-net-worth collectors in Asia continued to spend significantly on art and antiques. Activity across the region reflects shifting wealth patterns, a maturing collector base, and the emergence of new art hubs.

While Hong Kong remains Asia’s leading art center, the survey highlighted Singapore and Japan as key growth markets. In 2024, Singapore became the fifth-largest global art importer, with a 74% surge in import values to nearly USD 1.7 billion, while Japan ranked sixth worldwide as its art imports doubled to just over USD 1.1 billion. South Korea is gaining momentum too.

In January, the Hong Kong-based gallerist Catherine Kwai opened her first overseas outpost of Kwai Fung Hin gallery in Singapore, citing the city’s potential. The new space’s inaugural show, ‘Worlds Beyond Reality – Monet’s Legacy II’, has been bringing together the French Impressionist with Asian artists such as Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun, Lalan, and Li Huayi.

Kwai has noticed an influx of wealthy Indonesians, Vietnamese, Mainland Chinese, and Taiwanese settling in Singapore over the past five years, many of whom have established family offices.

The leading Japanese collector Kankuro Ueshima, who has a private museum in Tokyo, is among the recent transplants to the city. He says he has been impressed with developments across Southeast Asia, including Jakarta, where he has acquired work by the Bandung-based artists Nurrachmat Widyasena and Kei Imazu. ‘In Japan, there aren’t many opportunities to see artworks from other parts of Asia, but in Singapore there is more access to the region’s art scene,’ he says, noting that this has influenced his latest acquisitions.

‘There has been a lot more high-profile collecting out of Singapore in recent years,’ says Sandy Ma, International Specialist and Associate Director, Modern and Contemporary Art, Southeast Asia at Phillips, who is based in the city. ‘Oftentimes at global sales, it’s a couple of serious collectors eyeing top-quality works that represent large sums.’

Sotheby’s has also signaled confidence in Singapore as an art hub for Southeast Asia, returning in 2022 to hold sales in the city after a 15-year hiatus. In January, sales totals were up 35% compared with last year, and besides interest in regional works, the auction house recorded growing demand for blue-chip Western artists.

According to the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report 2025, billionaires in Singapore increased their wealth by two thirds to USD 258.8 billion last year, making it the third-largest market in terms of wealth in the Asia-Pacific region, after China and India. Despite this wealth concentration, the pool of serious collectors remains relatively small. Many believe that the recent spike in art imports may in fact be a result of collectors using Singapore’s free port for tax-friendly storage before relocating the works elsewhere.

Kwai likens Singapore to Hong Kong several years ago. ‘[Southeast Asian collectors] have the money but they don’t have the confidence yet,’ she says, noting that they hesitate when it comes to acquiring artworks priced above USD 2 million.

Recently, the Hong Kong gallerist has also turned her attention towards Japan, where she is considering opening an office or even a gallery. ‘I fly to Japan nearly 10 times a year [to meet collectors] and even more lately,’ she says. She attributes the rise in imports to an increasing number of Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese collectors keeping holiday homes in the country.

The art adviser Yuki Terase, a founding partner of Art Intelligence Global, agrees. ‘I don’t think the number of collectors in Japan has increased, but the number of wealthy Asians who have moved to or maintain homes in Japan has doubled or even tripled,’ she says, adding that foreign-exchange volatility continues to have an impact on Japanese buyers as the yen has weakened against the US dollar.

Evelyn Lin, Chairman of Modern and Contemporary Art for Sotheby’s Asia, adds: ‘Japan is on our radar now – the quantity of collectors is small but the quality is impressive. They have a longer history of collecting and a strong private-museum culture, with institutions such as the Pola Museum of Art [in Hakone, which holds the collection of the late Tsuneshi Suzuki]. These institutions help to introduce new collectors into the market.’

Ueshima has noticed a rise in a new generation of successful young entrepreneurs who are starting to collect. ‘There are more opportunities for Japanese to see global contemporary art locally, which may also be affecting the imports,’ he says, citing local art fairs and Pace Gallery’s recent expansion in Tokyo. The annual event Art Week Tokyo has also provided a valuable platform for collectors.

Terase adds that while other Asian cities are gaining prominence as the market expands, Hong Kong remains central. ‘[The tax policy] is a big component of what makes Hong Kong competitive. I can fly in an artwork for a viewing in the morning and by afternoon hang that painting without any extra paperwork.’

Despite these advantages, imports into Hong Kong and Mainland China fell in 2024, with the decline continuing into early 2025. ‘However, in the past six months, conversations have been flowing more easily,’ Ma says. ‘Now people are much more receptive to transactions, whether they be at private sales or auctions.’

Amanda Hon, Managing Director of Ben Brown Fine Arts in Hong Kong, says the gallery recorded strong secondary-market sales last year, a trend that is continuing. ‘We did quite well during Covid in Hong Kong, but now collectors are spending probably three or four times as much,’ she says. The gallery – like many others – has extended exhibition runs to three months as local collectors are spending more time overseas.

Lin underscores the growing global presence of Hong Kong collectors, giving the example of Sotheby’s New York’s sales in November 2025, where Asian collectors accounted for 30% of total bids. The value of Asian bids was double that of November 2024 and the highest it had been in five years.

As collectors have become more mobile, their approach to buying has also shifted, with many becoming more selective. As Terase notes: ‘Before, something that had been painted less than a year ago would sell for multiple times its retail price at auction – those days are over. Buyers are now very level-headed.’ Ma adds that established collectors are refocusing on Asian Modernist works, as well as Impressionist and Surrealist pieces with a proven track record.

Kwai has seen two extremes over the past three years. On the one hand, she sees demand for museum-quality works of up to USD 50 million among veteran collectors, while younger clients in their thirties are acquiring pieces below USD 25,000.

Many of the latter are second-generation Asian collectors who are finding their own voice. ‘Their parents are more mesmerized by historically significant Western blue-chip names, but their kids are looking back to their own roots, particularly in Mainland China,’ Terase says, adding that galleries with strong programs of emerging Chinese artists are likely benefiting from the shift.

One such gallery, the Shanghai-based Antenna Space, is part of a new wave of locations opening in Hong Kong this month. The Beijing-based INKstudio will also open in the heritage-arts destination Tai Kwun, the city’s former Central Police Station compound.

These developments signal the resilience of the city and the region as a whole. Outside Hong Kong, Southeast Asia is gradually assuming a larger role in the regional market, with Jakarta and Bangkok in particular drawing increased attention from both auction houses and private collectors. Lin says Sotheby’s is watching Thailand’s burgeoning art scene closely, citing the recent opening of the private museum Dib Bangkok by the young collector Purat ‘Chang’ Osathanugrah as a notable development.

‘This is a unique moment of excitement for Thailand,’ says Dr. Miwako Tezuka, Director of Dib Bangkok. ‘So many private entities are starting to open their own spaces, such as Bangkok Kunsthalle and Khao Yai Art Forest, and soon deCentral will open – there is organic growth that is building up momentum.’

Confidence is steadily returning to Asia with the development of new art centers and a sophisticated collector base that is increasingly discerning with a global outlook. ‘Since last year, we’ve seen quite an optimism in the market,’ Ma affirms. ‘Before, there was a lot of waiting and seeing, but now it’s go time.’