The recent ministerial remarks have intensified the talk on property cooling measures and it is believed that the government is now keeping a close check on the real estate market. It has become a matter of debate right since the Urban Redevelopment Authority estimates show a 2.1% rise in the price of private homes for the fourth quarter. This is believed to be the steepest quarterly increase after the second quarter of the year 2018 when a jump of 3.4% was recorded due to cooling measures that were applied in the month of July that year.
All this is happening despite the slow return of Singapore’s economy on track after the 6% shrink due to pandemic in the year 2020. In this phase, unemployment hit by 3.6% during the third quarter which is quite high as compared to the 2.3% of the previous year.
The strong sales of property at Normanton Park – one of the largest new condo launches of the year is also considered as another important factor for these cooling measures. Note that almost 1862 units were sold out of this park recently and they all were locked at a great price.