Snap Insight: New Singapore property cooling measures do not address pain point of high rent

HOUSING AFFORDABILITY STILL A CONCERN

Whether the additional taxes will cool the market is uncertain. Property players have already posted on social media urging investors to quickly purchase residential properties, before ABSD rates are adjusted even higher in future.

It is worth noting that the April cooling measures did not address one major pain point for the residential segment: Persistently high rents, which affect not only people who have called Singapore home for years, but Singaporeans waiting for their new homes to be completed.

The MAS macroeconomic review said home rental pressures may ease in the coming months as a significant supply of new housing units – almost 40,000 – will be completed across public and private housing markets in 2023.

But until high rents are tamed, foreigners and Singaporeans alike will be griping about housing affordability and the lack of options. How the situation will unfold in a fragile economic environment would be interesting to observe.

Ku Swee Yong is a director of real estate consulting firm International Property Advisor Pte Ltd and a researcher with the Singapore University of Social Sciences focused on autonomous vehicles and urban planning.