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Making sense of home loans

Posted on 24 Sep 2009 | Comments Off

We survey what’s on offer by major banks and discuss key features of the packages. By FELDA CHAY and SIOW LI SEN

WITH the recent home buying spree, one pertinent issue is how to pick the best home loan from among the dozens on the market. What with all the different plans and reams of fine print to go through, the search for the right home loan can often be a headache. Here, online websites can be a boon by making comparison of features easier. Check out smartloans.sg which has details of home loan packages from eight banks – HSBC, Standard Chartered, Rashid Hussein Bank (RHB), Maybank, UOB, OCBC, POSB and DBS.

The fixed rate package from Stanchart and floating rate package from HSBC are currently the most popular among users of the website. And it is constantly trying to add new banks to the list, with talks now ongoing with Citibank Singapore. Smartloans.sg’s chief executive Vinod Nair says he expects the bank’s packages to be listed on the website soon.

While the large variety of loan schemes available may leave many house buyers confused, Mr Nair says that there are a few things to keep in mind. ‘It depends on why you are buying the property. If you are buying it for investment purposes, you should take the floating packages because there are usually no lock-ins for floating rate packages. Also, they are usually pegged to rates like Singapore Interbank Offered Rate (Sibor), which should remain fairly low in the next one to two years,’ he says. Continue reading →

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Posted in Loan / Mortgage / Finance

Tagged Home Loans, Housing Loans, Property Loans, Singapore Property Loan

Bank lending dips 0.1% in July to $272b

Posted on 1 Sep 2009 | Comments Off

Consumer loans rise despite drag from building and construction loans

BANK lending eased in July, reversing a modest increase in the previous two months, as a drop in building and construction loans ate into a continued rise in consumer housing loans.

But economists say that the drop in loans for construction is more likely a blip than the start of a worrying trend.

The total amount of Singapore-dollar loans held by banks here dipped 0.1 per cent over the month to $271.8 billion at end-July, estimates from the Monetary Authority of Singapore show. This followed an expansion in overall bank lending of 0.5 per cent in June and 0.3 per cent in May, which fuelled optimism that credit demand and supply could be recovering.

Compared with a year earlier, total loan volume at end-July was still 2.3 per cent higher.

Loans to businesses fell for a ninth straight month, to $151.8 billion at end-July, 1.1 per cent lower than at end-June.

The drop in business loans to the building and construction sector was the main reason for the fall. Outstanding loans to the sector shrank by $1.3 billion, or 2.6 per cent, over the month to $48.8 billion at end-July – the lowest level since end-September last year. Continue reading →