S'poreans Expect Lower Property Prices In Next 6 Months: Survey

SINGAPORE, Feb 20 (Bernama) -- PropertyGuru, Singapore’s leading property site, Monday revealed its fourth quarter 2011 survey results on the property market sentiment in Singapore. The survey indicates that home buyers and investors expect the new government measures to lower the cost of property, compared to 3Q11. Largely due to the impact of ABSD (Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty), 52 per cent believe that property prices will decrease in the next six months. The government has imposed an ABSD for private property of between three and 10 per cent for Singaporeans, Permanent Residents and foreigners to moderate investment demand for private residential property and promote a more stable and sustainable market since Dec 8, 2011. PropertyGuru’s 4Q11 survey featured over 3,314 respondents, almost double from 3Q11’s 1,737. Diagnostics for 4Q11 indicated that the rise of seven points in the affordability sentiment index was driven almost exclusively by a growing belief that property prices in the next six months will fall. PropertyGuru said 48 per cent of repondents in 4Q11 (38 per cent in 3Q11) expected prices of Housing Development Board (HDB) homes to drop, while 57 per cent of respondents (46 per cent in 3Q11) expected prices of private homes to drop and 60 per cent of respondents are expecting COV (Cash over Valuation) to drop (52 per cent in 3Q11). Rentals were also expected to fall in the same period as a reaction to the availability of future supply. PropertyGuru Group chief executive officer Steve Melhuish said: "We expect to see property prices continue to soften during 2012. "Consumers are adopting a wait-and-see approach to property purchase and inve stments and they are not convinced that the Government is doing enough to ease rising property prices,” he said when commenting on the survey here today. According to the survey, intention to purchase also fell as most buyers are waiting for prices to decline. The largest drop was for public housing (four per cent), where 22 per cent indicated in 4Q11 that they would purchase a property in Singapore. Nearly half (49 per cent) of respondents surveyed for 4Q11 said they were not satisfied with Singapore’s real estate climate, which was the same as 3Q11. They cited prices (39 per cent) and negative government policies (18 per cent) as their main concerns. Meanwhile, Black Box Research managing director David Black said the ABSD has obviously had some immediate impact on sentiment, with more Singaporeans now feeling property prices will soften this year. "This is not yet translating into demand, however. There’s a fair bit of ‘wait and see’ out there,” he added. PropertyGuru is now Asia’s leading online property portal group, with a presence in 10 countries, including offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and partnerships with leading property websites in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Macau, Vietnam and China. -- BERNAMA