New Cooling Measures Announced

Singapore's property market got a shock when the Government unexpectedly introduced yet another round of cooling measures with immediate effect from 5th July 2018.

The latest cooling measures essentially targeted 2 areas, raising Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates and tightening loan-to-value (LTV) limits on residential property purchases.

This latest cooling measure was probably a reaction to the various ongoing en-bloc exercises, as well as to the official data showing that private home prices had risen to its highest point in four years in the April to June quarter, with analysts predicting that prices could soon recover to 2013 peak levels.

In a knee-jerk reaction to this unexpected announcement, many developers were forced to bring forward new launches at lowered price in order to close the sales before the deadline. Property buyers reacted swiftly as well as over 1,000 condominium units were sold in over just one night.

The main concern I have as a Financial Adviser is that for many of these buyers whom have rushed to make the 11th hour purchase, they might not have done up their loan assessment prior or have their personal financial numbers on hand. If they had rushed into the purchase without proper planning, it might lead to some issues down the road.