Housing loans extend drop in May but overall lending rises on business loans: MAS data

Singapore

UNSURPRISINGLY, housing loans in Singapore shrank for the fifth straight month in May. At S$202.54 billion, this is a 13-month low as cooling measures continue to work their way through the property market. Preliminary data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) released on Friday shows that mortgages booked in May were 0.1 per cent and 0.3 per cent lower month-on-month and year-on-year respectively. The local property market has seen demand and sentiment tempered by the cooling measures put in place last July.

And there may be no respite soon as MAS managing director Ravi Menon said on Thursday that the curbs will not be lifted in the near future, because "there seems to be a good balance that is holding up the market in a good place".