Are the recent measures by the government to cool the property market appropriate and effective?
Pauline Goh
Managing Director
CB Richard Ellis Singapore
THE measures are aimed at cooling the market by lowering demand and increasing supply. On the demand side, the removal of the special payment schemes will effectively encourage homebuyers to reassess their cashflow position carefully before they make purchase commitments. Those who have sufficient funds only for the upfront 20 per cent downpayment and are relying on the future sale of their existing homes to help finance their new purchases may now be encouraged to hold back on newly launched projects and possibly look instead to the secondary market including projects that are close to TOP.
On the supply side, the re-introduction of the confirmed list back into the government land sales programme will provide better visibility to the market on the pipeline of future supply.
These measures should help to moderate, to more sustainable levels, the current sales momentum which has escalated since March and looks set to easily exceed the record volume of 14,811 units in 2007.
Laura Deal
Executive Director
The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore
THE American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore just conducted its eighth annual Business Outlook Survey of US businesses across Asean. As part of this survey, companies rate their satisfaction level with aspects of the business environment of the country in which they operate. Continue reading
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