A leading developers’ group in Singapore has challenged the government’s latest round of property market-cooling measures, saying that there is no rationale for the steps, as the market is only in the early stages of a recovery, the Straits Times reported, citing a statement from the group.
The market started to pick up only last year and the volume of transactions is within expectations, the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore said in the statement, according to the report.
The group described the measures as tough and said that the market should be allowed time to find its own course.
The wealthy Southeast Asian city-state has a history of stepping into the property market to restrain demand and prices, and announced the measures late on Thursday, just hours before they came into effect.
The tightened rules, which were rolled out a day after the central bank noted “euphoria” in the market, raised buyers’ stamp duties for entities such as developers and tightened borrowing limits for individuals taking their first housing loan.
Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index on Friday dropped 2 percent as property developers and banks led declines, with City Developments Ltd (城市發展) and UOL Group Ltd (華業集團) sliding more than 13 percent each.
As major property markets from New York to Sydney show signs of cooling, Singapore and Hong Kong prices are on a tear, causing unease among local policy makers.
In Singapore, a sudden rebound in speculative demand, stoked by record land bids and redevelopment deals, threatened to undo years of carefully implemented curbs that gave the city-state an edge over Hong Kong in quality of living.
“This is a pre-emptive move by the government to cool down the market before it gets too hot,” DBS Group Holdings Ltd economist Irvin Seah (謝光威) said.
For foreign purchases of residential property, the additional buyer’s stamp duty has been raised to 20 percent from 15 percent, while for Singaporeans the extra charges apply only from their second home purchase, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Singaporean Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Finance said in a joint statement on Thursday.
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