THE last thing the Government expected to do in this recession year was tackle a budding housing bubble, the second to appear in three years. But on Tuesday, four state bodies – the Ministries of National Development, Finance and Law, as well as the Monetary Authority of Singapore – came together to do just that.
They unveiled measures to cool the downturn-defying ‘exuberance’ of the property market, revealing in the process how much the Government has learned about pricking property bubbles since the epic housing bubble of 1996.
What stood out about Tuesday’s announcement was that it was timely and generally light-handed. Some measures were even widely anticipated, such as the reinstatement of regular, scheduled sales of state land through the confirmed list.
Back in 1996, the Government acted only after home prices had been rising for 10 straight years, including the surges of 1993 and 1994. And just two years ago, when the Government removed the deferred payment scheme in October 2007 to deter speculation, the move came only after private home prices had jumped 23per cent in first nine months of 2007, on top of a 10per cent rise in 2006.
This time, the anti-speculation steps were announced just as the bubble was forming. Indeed, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said the measures were designed to ‘pre-empt any speculative bubble’. Continue reading
Lush Dream Home 