Investors, foreigners, en bloc hopefuls to bear brunt of new property cooling measures

HIGHER upfront costs and tighter financing conditions from Singapore's latest cooling measures are expected to significantly shrink investor appetite in the property market, especially for sales of high-end homes.

Foreign buyers, en bloc candidates and developers could also feel the pain keenly, analysts said. Meanwhile, first-time Singaporean and permanent resident (PR) homebuyers are the least affected.

A round of property curbs kicked in on Thursday (Dec 16) to temper the exuberance in the private residential and Housing Board (HDB) resale markets. They include higher additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) rates - up by 5 to 15 percentage points - for all individuals and entities except Singapore citizens and PRs buying their first residential property. The total debt servicing ratio threshold and the loan-to-value limits for HDB loans were also tightened.