Source: CNA – More property cooling measures announced
Notable Excerpts:
“The Singapore government on Friday announced additional measures to cool the property market.
The measures, which will take effect on January 12, include higher buyer’s stamp duty, tighter loan-to-value limits, higher minimum cash downpayment for second and subsequent housing loans, as well as an introduction of seller’s stamp duty for industrial properties.
The package of measures is the seventh round of property cooling measures introduced since 2009.”
“Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said it is the most significant set of measures undertaken by the government so far.”
“The government said previous measures had helped to dampen speculative buying, but demand for residential property remained firm and prices have continued to rise.”
“He added: “I would say prices are running away from the fundamentals. Had we not intervened previously, I think we would be in serious trouble now, we would be in a real bubble now.”
“But what we are seeing is a continued gradual rise in prices and we don’t intend that to continue because it will only mean that you get a more serious fall further down the road.”
“To discourage over-borrowing, financing conditions for housing have also been tightened.”
“Finance Minister Tharman said authorities are not trying to engineer a market crash. The measures are designed to calm the market, so some of the temporary cyclical ones will be reviewed if things turn around.“
livinginabubbleblog 