Amid a rough economic climate, cooling measures may halt the strong run-up in Singapore home prices

BARELY nine months after a round of property cooling measures that kicked in late 2021, the government unveiled measures that take effect on Sep 30, 2022 to promote sustainable conditions in the property market by ensuring prudent borrowing and moderating demand.

The latest measures are likely to hit demand for and prices of homes. Firstly, the buying power of potential home buyers has been crimped via limiting the amount that buyers can gear up.

A 0.5 percentage point higher medium-term interest rate floor is used to compute the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) and Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) for property loans granted by private financial institutions. A floor of a 4 per cent per annum interest rate, up from 3.5 per cent previously, will be used to compute TDSR and MSR for home loans.