Curbs hit Singapore, HK luxury home markets
The
Business Times | 14 May 2013
RECENT policies by the
Singapore and Hong Kong governments to cool the growth of property prices in
the first quarter of the year appear to have taken a toll on their luxury home
markets, two separate reports noted yesterday.
RECENT
policies by the Singapore and Hong Kong governments to cool the growth of
property prices in the first quarter of the year appear to have taken a toll on
their luxury home markets, two separate reports noted yesterday.
A
Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) report yesterday on the luxury residential market in
the Asia Pacific for Q1 of 2013 showed that out of nine markets that it
monitors, only Singapore and Hong Kong saw prices fall from the previous
quarter.
Average
capital values for Singapore high-end homes fell 0.6 per cent while those for
Hong Kong fell 1.1 per cent. This compares with the 8.7 per cent gain by
similar Jakarta properties and the 6 per cent growth for Kuala Lumpur luxury
homes.
The
declines were attributed to measures put in place to curb strong price growth.
Hong
Kong imposed higher stamp duties and home loan curbs on property transactions
in February. In Singapore, a seventh round of cooling measures since September
2009 was introduced in January that included higher additional buyer stamp duty
rates and a tighter loan-to-value ratio.
Chua
Yang Liang, head of research for Singapore and South East Asia at JLL, said of
the Singapore market: "Policy (effects) coupled with slower population and
economic growth are likely to continue to add downside pressure to capital
values albeit moderately."
While
a separate report from CBRE has the Singapore and Hong Kong luxury residences
market doing slightly better, it made similar points about the impact of
tighter regulations.
Transaction
volumes fell in both markets after the latest curbs, despite a gain in prices,
CBRE noted.
In
its report, prices for Singapore luxury homes grew 1.8 per cent in Q1 from the
previous quarter to about US$2,297 per square foot (psf), while for Hong Kong,
prices edged up 0.9 per cent to some US$2,924 psf.
Singapore
and Hong Kong were among nine of the 13 major markets that CBRE track for its
Asia Luxury Residential Price Index to see price increases in that period.
Both
real estate consultancies believe that South-east Asia economies will continue
to outperform over the rest of the year, but noted an overhang of new or
sustained policy restrictions for some of the markets in Asia, including China,
on prices.
"Demand
from end-users and long-term investors is expected to remain firm in the coming
months but the cooling measures currently in place in many markets are already
gradually dampening buyer sentiment," CBRE said, expecting overall prices
to hold steady or ease over the next few quarters in Asia.
JLL's
head of research for Asia Pacific, Jane Murray, said: "We expect high-end
capital values in Hong Kong to fall by five to 10 per cent over the remainder
of the year, and to decline by up to 5 per cent in Singapore."
Martin Koh | 86666
944 | R020968Z
Sherry Tang |
9844 4400 | R020241C
Senior Sales
Director
DTZ Property
Network Pte Ltd (L3007960A)
Email: marshe_inc@yahoo.com.sg
