Further home price spikes may spell risk of renewed cooling measures

Singapore

SEVERAL more quarters of private home price increases of the magnitude seen in the first quarter could leave the property market here staring at the possibility of fresh cooling measures, industry players say.

While the immediate risk of that is low, the surprise 3.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) jump in Q1 private home prices has led some in property circles to contemplate how policymakers would respond if the uptrend of similar or even bigger price spikes continues in the next two quarters.

"Looking historically, I think the authorities will start to do something when they see double-digit growth in the price index," said Dr Lee Nai Jia, research head at Edmund…