Tag Archives: Interest Absorption Scheme

Ready to welcome the crowds again

Posted on 19 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on Ready to welcome the crowds again

Hungry Ghost Festival is over and buyers are set to return, say analysts

DESPITE Monday’s announcement by the Government to cool the hot property market, observers expect private property showrooms to continue to be packed with eager homebuyers and investors this weekend.

Some property agents whom Weekend Today spoke to said that enquiries over the past week have been brisk, with some asking about early bird discounts and some even booking units without viewing the showflat.

“Since this weekend is the first weekend after Hungry Ghost Festival, enquiries about a few developments have increased, my confirmed appointments for showroom-viewing this weekend alone is about eight to nine customers.

“During the Hungry Ghost Festival, I saw only about three to four customers during the weekends,” said property agent Melinda Koh.

Market watchers also said developers or marketing agents do not need to resort to any unusual gimmicks to draw visitors to showrooms.

“Gimmicks will only be used in a down market. For now, the volume of the market is still alright,” said ERA’s associate director of Asia-Pacific Eugene Lim. Continue reading →

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Posted in Property Market / Real Estate

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Banks also hit by property clampdown

Posted on 17 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on Banks also hit by property clampdown

So far the market seems to have taken in its stride the removal of the interest absorption scheme (IAS) for properties. The knee-jerk decline of 43 points by the STI on Monday was followed by a sharp rebound on Wednesday as broader economic recovery factors continue to dominate. But there is an impending overbuilding of residential property in Singapore. According to Leong Wai Ho,director and senior regional economist at Barclays Capital, some 62,000 units are in the pipeline between now and 2013. In the first eight months of this year, almost 12,000 units were taken up compared to just over 4,000 units for the whole of last year.

However sales were already slowing month on month even before the government’s latest measures. What is the impact of this inventory on corporate Singapore?

The initial impact could well be felt by the banks. Mortgages represented the only area of loan growth for the banks this year, up 6% year to date, versus a contraction of 0.1% for total loans. According to Trevor Kalcic, regional banking analyst at RBS Securities, it will reduce the sector’s future growth by around 0.5%, through a negative impact on both volumes and margins. Continue reading →

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Posted in Loan / Mortgage / Finance

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