Surprised by the strength in September new private home sales, some market watchers were hard pressed to explain the size of the rebound, especially after having blamed the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework introduced in June for the housing sector’s woes over the past few months. They did find one plausible explanation for the 65-per-cent jump from August to 1,246 units sold last month,...
Expert Corner
Judging by the regularity with which property analysts have blamed the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework for the recent less-than-bullish property sales, it appears that we finally have a cooling measure that actually works — notwithstanding the fact that it was never framed as one in the first place. Do we? Although the developers’ sales volume for August of 742 units was 54 per cent...
Details of new Housing and Development Board (HDB) schemes to help lower- and lower-middle-income Singaporean families own their homes were unveiled on Aug 27, following the broad measures announced at the National Day Rally. The schemes include additional grants for first-time buyers for up to four-room flats and a step-up grant for those upgrading from two-room to three-room flats. It is heartening to...
The Government first introduced a Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) in February 2010 on all residential properties to cool the housing market that was rebounding on the back of the economic recovery from the global financial crisis in 2009. The SSD was subsequently revised twice — in August 2010 and January 2011 — to serve as additional deterrence against short-term speculation. Sellers are slapped with a...