Jul 15, 2012
Buyers expect price rises and cooling measures
It has been reported by Channel News Asia that a recent survey conducted by Credit Suisse revealed that the majority of participants expect a continued rise in property prices in Singapore. Furthermore, six in ten of the home buyers questioned claim that they expect further cooling measures to be administered, with forty percent of that number expecting the measures to be introduced within the next twelve months. 300 respondents were polled in the Credit Suisse proprietary housing survey, 89 percent of them are Singapore citizens, while 10 percent are permanent residents and the rest are foreigners.
53 percent of the 300 people polled said that if any such government introduced measures come to pass, their buying decisions will be influenced. As well as a general expectation of rising property prices, 43 percent of the respondents said that they expect rental rates to increase as well. According to the report, Credit Suisse also found that around 30 percent of home buyers purchased properties for investments, whilst the rest are buying property for occupation or for the occupation of their family members. Around 60 percent said that they would not buy a shoebox apartment.
The survey revealed that only 21 percent of the respondents are considering purchasing a residential property within the next 12 months, with another 40 percent of them saying that they had no plans to buy a property at any point in the near future. Even so, Credit Suisse said that since liquidity remains strong, around 76 percent of households are actually able to afford a property fairly. The survey noted that 47 per cent of the respondents don’t currently have a mortgage, while another 46 percent have just one mortgage. The survey also showed that 30 percent of households have more than SGD100,000 (US$79,120) in cash, which would be sufficient to make a downpayment for the purchase of a property.
