Can Singapore tame its property market with new rules?
‘Draconian’ measures have been put in place to cool off private home prices that have risen more than 9 per cent over the past year as officials hope to nip a potential housing bubble in the bud
It is 11 on a Thursday night, and a private condominium show suite in Singapore’s Hougang district – a populous area in the northeastern side of the island – is unusually packed.
Snaking queues stretch beyond the Riverfront Residences showroom, while cars are double-parked. Inside, bright lights and shouting flood the space.
Wild-eyed property agents scramble frantically looking for clients lost in the crowd, while sweaty bankers with rolled-up sleeves hand out stacks of forms to whoever is keen on taking them.
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As one property buyer Edward Lim, 42, drily recalls: “It was like a wet market, except that the goods on sale were not fish but S$1 million [US$734,680] condos.”
The mad frenzy came just before a fresh round of property curbs were implemented by the Singapore government, in yet another attempt to cool one of the world’s hottest real estate markets.
But like other top-tier Asian markets such as Tokyo and Hong Kong, demand for Singapore’s property remains feverish, and any bitter medicine that the government dishes out is only likely to subdue the market temporarily.
FRENZY AND FURORE
Among other things, the curbs see higher stamp duties for foreigners as well as Singaporeans buying their second and subsequent properties.
