Singapore property firms' balance sheets healthy: MAS

THE balance sheets of Singapore property firms remain healthy despite the moderation in residential property prices and transactions, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in its annual Financial Stability Review on Thursday.

According to the report by the central bank's Macroeconomic Surveillance Department, median return on assets for property firms, excluding S-Reits, fell from 5.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2013 to 3.9 per cent in Q2 2014, even as their debt-to-equity ratio rose from 55 per cent to 65 per cent.

But it noted the higher leverage of property firms was mitigated in part by their improving debt profile. The median short-term debt to total debt ratio for property firms fell from 31 per cent in Q2 2013 to 22 per cent in Q2 2014.

"The median current ratio of property firms stood at a healthy 2.5 times, indicating that property firms hold liquidity buffers above the average across corporates,'' MAS said.