Several major banks have welcomed the latest move by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to make it easier for borrowers to refinance their loans for owner-occupied properties. This is if the property was bought before the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) was introduced on 29 June 2013. The framework prevents home buyers from taking a loan if their monthly debt obligations exceed 60 per cent...
Finance
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will relax its home financing rules for homebuyers who had committed to residential property purchases before the rules were announced last year. This applies to buyers of private property who had signed an option to purchase the property before June 29, 2013. If they are the occupiers of the property, they will be exempt from the Total Debt Servicing Ratio...
Following the announcement of new property loan curbs in June, Singapore banks DBS and OCBC said new housing loan applications have fallen 30 per cent in the third quarter. Still, both banks expect to continue to see positive loans growth, as previously contracted commitments are still in the loans pipeline. However, OCBC said this momentum could taper off in the second half of next year. The bank...
More potential home-buyers are coming forward to get in-principle approval for loans, even before committing to property purchases. Industry players say this has been the trend since the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework was introduced in June this year. Banks are now doing more to help ease the demands on potential home buyers and give them peace of mind during their house hunt. For...
Interest rates in the US and in turn, Singapore, are likely to pick up over the next one to two years, said DBS CEO Piyush Gupta. This means now could be a particularly good time for borrowers to lock in loans at current interest rates. Borrowers can look at switching from floating to fixed rate loans, added Mr Gupta. But that is a hard appeal to make to Asian investors, who prefer not to fix...
If you are looking to take a loan to buy some real estate or a new car, you may want to do it sooner rather than later. That's because some analysts expect interest rates to start rising as soon as September. Singapore's interest rates are closely tied to those in the United States. And the Federal Reserve has made it clear that if the US economy continues its upward trend, quantitative easing...
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Sunday said that the latest home loan rules are not another round of property cooling measures, and that the market is showing signs of stabilising. Mr Tharman said the new Total Debt Servicing Ratio Framework is a long-term rule to get banks to start practising prudence when it comes to total debt. Under the new framework, banks...
Property analysts said the new property loan curbs could cause housing demand to drop by up to 15 per cent over the next few months. On Friday evening, Singapore's central bank introduced a Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework and tighter Loan-to-Value (LTV) limits on housing loans. Analysts said these new rules, which take effect on Saturday, will hit property investors the...
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has set new home loan rules which discourage lenders from making property loans that result in individual borrowers using more than 60 per cent of their monthly incomes to service debt. The central bank said in a statement on Friday that the new rules will take effect from Saturday. "The TDSR (total debt servicing ratio) will apply to loans for the purchase...
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Monday that property-related exposures accounted for 28 per cent of Singapore banks’ total outstanding non-bank loans. He said this in a written answer to a parliamentary question filed by Mr Gan Thiam Poh (MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol) on the exposure of financial institutions to housing and real estate development financing. Mr...