Finance & Mortgage

Singapore housing market in steady decline since 2002

For the seventh consecutive quarter, the home prices in Singapore again dropped, as mortgage tightening policies held back demand in the island-state's housing market. In a report from Bloomberg.com, Asia's second most expensive housing market is undergoing its longest negative streak in its history.

In a report from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, an index that tracks prices of private residential properties, again fell by 0.9 percent for the second quarter of 2015. This is the longest period of decline for the market as the previous stretch was for eight consecutive quarters starting September of 2000.

The decline was attributed to the policy of curbing residential property activity back in 2009 due to low interest rates and high foreign investment participation had led to fears of a property bubble in the market. Other measures included a ceiling on debt repayment costs to just 60 percent of the creditor's monthly income, higher stamp fees for home purchases as well as a hike on taxes for real estate.

According to one market expert, namely Colliers International Director of Research and Advisory Chia Siew Chuin, in an interview with the businesstimes.com.sg, said, "With the most recent quarterly decrease in 2Q 2015 represents the seventh consecutive quarter of downward price adjustments, the overall private residential price correction from the peak is still fairly moderate at a total of 6.7 percent over the course of 21 months. As such, the overall easing of prices in the private residential market can be considered very much, a soft landing towards the runway of sustainability, without the turbulence of price volatility."

"While the pace of quarterly price declines is apparent for non-landed private residential properties in all market segments, there are some initial signs that price falls might be tapering off for the Core Central Region (CCR) and Rest of Central Region (RCR).", the expert added.

The price drop is lower than expected levels, according to a report from the straitstimes.com. In the first quarter of 2015, the decline was at 1.0 percent and compared to 2014, the overall decrease is at 3.7 percent. 


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