Singapore Announces Surprise Property Curbs to Cool Market
- Steep stock declines on Friday as higher taxes take effect
- Long-term impact less clear; en-bloc developers under pressure
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Singapore’s renewed clampdown on speculative property demand sent real estate stocks reeling on Friday, as analysts predicted the end of a nascent home price rebound and the deflation of a buoyant market for collective sales.
The tightened rules, rolled out a day after the central bank noted “euphoria” in the property market, sharply increase buyers’ stamp duties for entities such as developers. Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index dropped 2 percent Friday as property developers and banks led declines, with City Developments Ltd. and UOL Group Ltd. sliding more than 13 percent each.