Category Archives: Cooling Measures

Impact of cooling measures still unclear

Posted on 29 May 2013 | Comments Off on Impact of cooling measures still unclear

It remains unclear whether the government’s seventh round of cooling measures have achieved its desired result of mitigating home price inflation, said a report from the National University of Singapore’s Institute of Real Estate Studies.

This is based on its latest Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) which monitors prices of completed non-landed private homes, excluding executive condominiums (ECs).

Resale prices of such homes rose 1.9 percent in April from March, building on the 1.1 percent gain seen in the previous month.

Meanwhile, prices increased across Singapore, with the non-central region recording the highest growth of 2.4 percent, a reversal of the 0.2 percent dip in March. Home prices in the central region also climbed 1.3 percent, extending the 2.8 percent gain the month before. Prices of small units (under 506 sq ft) rose 1.8 percent compared to the previous uptick of 0.8 percent.

“As with earlier policy measures, the latest cooling package announced in January apparently had only a temporary effect on the trajectory of housing prices,” the report said.

“Transaction volume and prices fell in February but have recovered since then, with the overall SRPI buoyed by the strength of the housing market in the non-central region … It is unclear that the seventh instalment of the cooling measures, described as the most comprehensive to date, has had the desired impact of mitigating house price inflation.”

Source – PRopGuru – 29 May 2013

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Posted in Cooling Measures, Property Market / Real Estate

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Weak demand for resale property to continue

Posted on 22 May 2013 | Comments Off on Weak demand for resale property to continue

Singapore saw a sharp decline in residential resale volumes across all segments in the first quarter of 2013, according to a DTZ report.

The quarterly and year-on-year drop is a “stark contrast” to 2012, when resale deals rebounded following the introduction of the additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD).

“The recovery in resale volume last year was due to buyers finding better value in the resale market after some projects in the primary market set benchmark prices. In comparison, developers were more competitive in their pricing strategies this year and the latest round of cooling measures in January 2013 were more comprehensive than that in December 2011. The mismatch in the expectations between buyers and sellers could also have contributed to the weak resale volume,” said DTZ.

In terms of buyer profiles, foreigners accounted for 9.9 percent of all transactions in Q1 this year, up from an average of 6.4 percent in 2012.

However, demand from local buyers fell as they are now required to pay ABSD for their second and subsequent properties.

“Buying behaviour varied among non-Singaporean groups in the resale market. Firstly, purchases by USA nationals remained resilient, especially so in the high-end segment, as they are not subject to the 15 percent ABSD for foreigners. Transactions by Indonesian buyers in the high-end segment however fell. In comparison, demand from mainland Chinese buyers held up well across most price segments, except for those costing below S$1 million.”

Moving forward, DTZ expects the resale market to underperform as there are no discounts being offered unlike in the primary market. Buyer activity is also expected to be lower due to higher stamp duties, weaker rental growth and stricter financing regulations.

Source – PropGuru – 22 May 2013

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