The housing loan rate seems to be increasing(2nd article) ; I think it's probably due to the increase in bank deposit rates(particular FD) this year.
However, the central banks all over the world are trying to cut rates, and even the SSB rates are quite "pathetic" in the recent issues.
Why the difference ? "Risk on" mode for banks -> try to increase deposits but at the same time refuse to cut down loan book ?
Disappointed to know that HDB flats cannot qualify for home equity loans(3rd article)
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Singapore’s worrying trend of homeowners defaulting on mortgages
Published: 7:30am, 7 Oct, 2019
Housing agent Shirley Lim took an excited couple to a recent condominium launch in Singapore. The married pair, an accountant and an engineer, snapped up a new 732 sq ft apartment in the city fringe for S$1.46 million (US$1.05 million).
The couple, both 36, whose monthly household income totals S$17,000, are what is known in Singapore as “HDB [Housing & Development Board] upgraders”. They are selling their public housing flat to move into a two-bedroom apartment in a private condominium.
They were among the thousands of people who had flocked to showrooms in the city state recently to view and buy new flats......
Yet, not all is rosy in the housing market. The number of homeowners in the Lion City defaulting on their mortgages is on the rise.
Data from the Credit Bureau Singapore – which gets information from banks on real-estate loan defaults by individuals – shows 79 such cases this year as of July. Last year, there were 156 mortgage defaults in total, compared with 112 in 2017 – more than double the 65 cases seen in 2015......
But Song, from Colliers, said while mortgagee listings had increased, the reserve prices of these listings were not at “fire sale” levels.
“That means the market and banks are generally not too pessimistic. Based on the developer take-up of 9,000 units per year, these 35,000 units can be absorbed in under four years,” she said......
Read more :
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics...-mortgages
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Another increase in housing loan rate and life update
10.06.2019
....There will be another slight increase in our housing loan interest rate from next month Nov 2019 onwards. Not as big as the one back in Mar 2019. .....
Read more :
http://financesmiths.com/index.php/2019/...fe-update/
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Home equity loans can help get you out of a tight situation
June 15, 2019
.....There are plenty of advantages: when your house is the collateral, the bank feels a lot more secure; they know you can’t exactly pack up your house and run away with it. Because there’s something they can foreclose on, banks consider home equity loans to be low-risk, secured loans. That means they charge a super-low interest rate, seldom above 1.3 per cent per annum. For reference, that’s less than a third of your CPF Ordinary Account rate (up to 3.5 per cent per annum), and about 1/6th of a personal loan rate (about six per cent per annum)........
Read more :
https://www.icompareloan.com/resources/h...ity-loans/