Singapore ranks first for luxury home-price gains

Despite a slew of cooling measures to tame the property market, Singapore has nudged out Hong Kong and ranked first for luxury home-price gains. According to Knight Frank LLP’s Prime Global Cities Index, luxury home-prices in Singapore rose 13% in the quarter ended 30 September from a year earlier, which was driven by the limited availability of high-end properties. Meanwhile, Hong Kong fell to 14th place with third quarter year-on-year price gains of just 5.5%.

According to Rubix Navigation's monthly bulletin August 2018, from 6 July 2018 in Singapore, the additional buyer’s stamp duty applied for residential property purchases by foreigners has increased to 20% from the current 15%, while Singaporeans should only pay extra charges for their second homes. Meanwhile, for entities buying any residential properties for development, this duty has risen by 10 per cent points to 25%, with a further 5 per cent points imposed for developers.

Loan-to-value limits have been also tightened by 5 per cent points for all housing loans granted by financial institutions. These measures which come amid increases in private residential and public housing resale prices are expected to cool the market and keep such prices in line with economic fundamentals of this country.