According to an excerpt which was posted on the Facebook page of National Development Minister Mr Khaw Boon Wan, it was stated that Mr Khaw has no doubts about the property market cooling measures which were recently introduced to restore greater parity between property buyers.
He claimed that although it is not possible for the government to eradicate the cycle of the property market, it is however, able to regulate and diminish the chances of a property bubble occurring.
Bringing to attention an article published on The New York Times pertaining to the boom and downfall of the property market in Ireland, he elaborated that the occurrence of a property bubble in a nation will indeed bring about gloom and hardship to its citizens.
Hence, he assured that the government has a key role in protecting its citizens from such unfortunate occurrences through the introduction of such cooling measures, regardless of the sentiments which developers and home sellers bear. He opined that it is certainly the “right thing to do”.
Meanwhile, market experts have observed that the recent cooling measures have proved effective in restraining prices of property in Singapore.
One expert shared that if not for the implementation of the cooling measures, property prices would have rose at a much faster rate.
It is possible that the market will see even higher prices on a per annum basis.
Thus, as a result of the consistent introduction of cooling measures by the government in the past 3-4 years, the rise in property prices have been well-regulated.
Another expert shared that if Singapore’s property market becomes more stable in the coming months and years, the government could perhaps begin to review and relax some of its current measures, in particular the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) and Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) rulings.
After all, the Singapore economy is still progressing and it is not viable to constantly lower property prices.