PROPERTY MARKET
COOLS, BUT WORRIES REMAIN: KHAW
Despite the encouraging signs brought about by the
government’s property cooling measures, concerns still remain with regards to
soaring mass market home prices and shoebox units, said Khaw Boon Wan, Minister
for National Development.
As of Q1 2012, there are 2,500 completed shoebox apartments
accounting for 1.2 percent of the 210,000 non-landed units in the private
housing stock. By 2015, the supply is expected to rise to 9,700.
Mr Khaw said that many of the new shoebox homes will be
located in the heartlands where their appeal among tenants is still untested as
80 percent are located in the central region.
As for mass market properties in the OCR
(Outside Central Region), prices have continued growing although it’s
stabilising in the central region.
“We will continue to monitor these developments closely and
will not hesitate to take action, if necessary, to ensure that the housing
market remains stable and sustainable,” Mr Khaw said.
Recent policies, which included five rounds of cooling
measures, have helped to eliminate much of the speculative demand and ramped up
the supply of private and public housing.
In fact, private home prices declined marginally in Q1 2012
following nine consecutive quarters of moderate price increases. In addition,
the proportion of sub-sales in the market fell sharply to around four percent.
The ABSD (additional buyer’s stamp duty) also helped dilute
foreign buying in the residential market to just seven percent.
“In the public housing market, most first-timers now have a
chance to select a BTO (Build-to-Order) flat if they apply for one. HDB resale
prices have also moderated, increasing by 0.6 percent in Q1 2012. This is the
smallest price growth in recent years,” noted Mr Khaw.
He added that starting 18 May, developers will be required
to provide more information on scaled unit floor plans as well as a breakdown
of the unit floor area.
The Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act will also
be amended to require developers to faithfully represent their actual units in
their showflats. Once passed in Parliament, the changes will be implemented
within the second quarter of this year.
Info courtesy -
PropertyGuru.com.sg
