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Private home buyers undaunted by rise in unemployment rate last year

Nisha Ramchandani
Published Tue, Jan 19, 2021 · 05:50 AM

Singapore

HIGHER unemployment is a symptom of Singapore's worst recession since its independence - but all those dour numbers have not deterred home buyers here.

Besides signalling the lure of cheap debt, the exuberance in the property market today speaks to the uneven impact Covid-19 has had on different sectors, and on expats versus residents.

Improving sentiment amid the availability of vaccines and the re-opening of the economy could keep private home sales firm heading into Q1 2021, Lee Nai Jia, deputy director of NUS' Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies (IREUS) told The Business Times.

Data compiled by IREUS showed that the unemployment rate rose to 3.6 per cent in Q3 2020 versus 2.8 per cent in Q2 2020 and 2.3 per cent in Q3 2019, surpassing the peaks seen during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the Asian Financial…

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