Sibor dive triggers fresh battle in mortgage rate cuts

Fixed or floating toss-up comes to the fore, as SGD borrowing benchmark hits new lows on Fed rate cuts

Published Tue, Mar 24, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Singapore

BANKS are revising their home loan offerings by increasing spreads in their floating rate packages while lowering their fixed rates as the Singapore inter-bank offered rate (Sibor) plunged in response to the Fed's two off-cycle rate cuts in March.

Among the banks that have moved include Citibank, HSBC, UOB and OCBC, with more expected to change their rates as interest rates are likely to remain low on the back of a global economic slowdown.

This comes amid weak sentiment with housing loans on a downward trend for more than a year now, given cooling measures put in place to stem a huge surge in housing prices on cheap debt.

Clive Chng, associate director of Redbrick Mortgage Advisory told The Business Times that banks are adjusting rates to stay competitive, but at …