Singapore's MAS Says Property Cooling Measures Still 'Necessary'

[cyclone]

Singapore's MAS Says Property Cooling Measures Still 'Necessary'

By Melissa Cheok  and Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
June 29, 2017, 12:30 PM GMT+8 June 29, 2017, 2:08 PM GMT+8

Singapore’s central bank said it’s not yet time to ease property curbs and the adjustments made by the government in March don’t signal an unwinding of the measures.

While the property market has stabilized, “it is, however, not time yet to ease the cooling measures. They remain necessary,” Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, told reporters on Thursday at the release of the bank’s annual report. Mortgage rates are very low and “the risk of a renewed unsustainable surge in property prices is not trivial,” he said.

The city state’s government imposed a number of restrictions beginning in 2009 to cool a red hot market, causing prices to decline for more than three years. It relaxed some measures in March, but left most of the restrictions in place.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...y-j4hxlgof

[Behappyalways]

Singapore Property Is Missing Something
https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/article...-something

[choya]

Singapore Property Is Missing Something
https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/article...-something

"So what's missing from this pretty picture? A one-word answer: wages.The average monthly household income from work for condominium and apartment dwellers was S$20,213 last year, a small decline from 2015. Divide that income by the median sale price of newly built homes, and the effective wage in terms of housing units works out to 1.6 square meters per month. That's one-sixth lower than the average for the past 16 years."

Average monthly household income could be higher (and the buyer pool smaller) if they factor in the fact that many HDB owners may not be interested and therefore not in the condo buyer category.

[corydorus]

Every year there is saving. Singaporeans are nation of high savers. This accumulate to support the initial cash needs and shorter term loans. Thus, overcoming TDSR.