Singapore — If you’re looking to buy property this year, be prepared to shell out more.

Despite the price increase for the past two years, and even when the government has taken steps to slow the market down, real estate agents and industry analysts predict that property prices will continue to go up this year. 

The head of research at real estate agency Knight Frank Singapore told CNBC that private residential prices may increase between one and three per cent this year. 

Ong Teck Hui, the senior Director of Research and Consultancy at JLL Singapore, had a slightly higher estimate of around two to four per cent.

On the upside, these rates are still sizably lower than in 2021, when the prices of private homes rose by over ten per cent.

As for public housing flats on the resale market, the Housing and Development Board said that their prices rose by a considerable 12.7 per cent, CNBC reported on Sunday, Feb 6.

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Prior to this, “Resale HDB prices stayed quite low for a pretty long period of time, all the way until the circuit breaker period,” said Edgeprop CEO Bernard Tong last month.

New measures were launched at the end of 2021 in an effort to slow down the increase in prices in the private and public residential property market, including an increase in taxes on second and subsequent properties, as well as stricter limits when it came to loans.

CNBC says that these measures proved to be a stronger deterrent for foreign buyers, and not so much for Singaporeans and permanent residents.

Foreign buyers now also have to contend with an increase in the additional buyer’s stamp duty, which went up from 20 per cent to 30 per cent. The ABSD is based on the residency status, citizenship, and the number of residential properties of the prospective buyer.

Property developers now have to pay 35 per cent ABSD, according to the new measures.

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Rental rates have also been high over the past few years, as the demand for rental properties grew higher for a number of reasons, including young couples wishing to embark on their own but not quite ready to buy their first property yet.

And with the construction sector hampered for the third straight year due to the pandemic, 2022 may still be a “landlord’s market.”

Additionally, with travel restrictions lifting more and more, the demand for rentals may even be on the increase as the year goes on.

“We could see rents rising by five per cent to seven per cent this year,” Ong Teck Hui of JLL Singapore told CNBC.

But if you do want to buy property this year, the next few months is the best time to act, Lee Sze Teck, the senior director of research of Huttons Asia, said on Jan 22. /TISG

Read also: Property prices are showing signs of slowing down: Property Guru

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https://theindependent.sg/property-prices-are-showing-signs-of-slowing-down-propertyguru/