Money-laundering bust sends chill through Singapore’s luxury home space

A CHILL wind is blowing over the luxury residential market as foreign buyers face a triple whammy of higher interest rates, a recent hike in the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) and increased scrutiny following Singapore’s largest money-laundering crackdown.

Transaction volumes are slowing across prime condominiums, conservation shophouses and even landed homes, as indicated by lawyers, property agents and consultants interviewed by The Business Times. 

Over July and August, Mabel Tan, a senior partner at law firm Joseph Tan Jude Benny, encountered two buyers of mainland Chinese origin who engaged her firm for conveyancing services, but were unable to exercise their option to purchase after failing to obtain a housing loan from banks.