Singapore Considers Cooling Down The Property Market

With the local economy started to turn more favorable, the Singapore property market has finally showed signs of life. However amidst all the noises and optimism, Singapore government has declared in November 2009 that it is considering calibrated measures to contain the rise of the real estate market. Market activities have picked up considerably and economists are busy painting a rosy picture on real estate transactions in the coming months.

Perhaps the memory of the sudden boom and bust in the mid nineties is still fresh in the administration’s mind. And this time round, the government is more determined to prevent such a sharp uptake and potentially followed by equally quick reversal of the market.

The government of Singapore has relatively few options that are available and land supply strategy, the tightening of credit and fiscal policy. We go through each of them in detail.

Land Offer decision – This might be the most effective tool in the fight against the red hot demand for all types of real estate in Singapore. As the government to reduce the release of land for new developments, it will certainly slow down the offer for new projects launched in the market, so that unreasonable restrictions on real estate speculation.

Financing – Recently there have been speculations in the market that government may review the guidelines for financial facilities such as private housing loan. Currently the maximum loan amount a lender can approve to a qualified private house buyer is 90 percent. Market players and speculators would be hard hit if this amount is brought back to 80 percent of purchase price.

Taxation Policies – As the government evaluates the options for its intervention in the real estate market, this one would likely feature somewhere in the plan. This capital gain tax has always been a convenient tool to in the past to combat excessive housing appreciation in Singapore. And when it is re-introduced to the market, it would certainly affect the market in a major way.

Raise Property Tax – It could also be a focused approach targeting property investors and speculators. These folks may be subjected to a higher tax than the current 10 percent. In general those owner-occupiers in Singapore currently pay half of this amount.

Double Stamp Duty – Again, this might be for the slowdown in the market speculators as the stamp tax effective would be imposed if he decides to buy or sell a property.

So you have it, a short list of possible measures to combat the threat of overheating property market. However, it is still too early to say whether the government will exercise their options as the market is still directionless at the moment.

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