by Ernie B. Calucag
Rising property prices remain one of the foremost concerns of buyers in Singapore, despite government measures to make homes more affordable, said a survey by iProperty group released Tuesday.
The Asia Property Market Sentiment Report 2012 revealed that 85.6 per cent of some 1,600 respondents in Singapore considered affordability and rising property prices as the top two issues they are most concerned with.
According to the survey, 74.5 per cent of Singaporean respondents considered HDB pricing policy to be very important. When asked if government efforts were enough to meet their housing needs, 50.5 per cent agreed the efforts were sufficient while 34.9 per cent thought otherwise.
On other concern, 58.3 per cent of those surveyed said there is a need for government intervention to control Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) on flats, and 61.4 per cent were apprehensive over the increased competition with the income ceiling raise on HDB flats.
COV refers to the cash premium paid by home buyers over the market value of an HDB flat. Recently, it has showed signs of stabilisation as the majority of flats across the island saw a decline in COVs during last year’s final quarter.
Another 42.2 per cent of Singaporean respondents showed interest in overseas property, a significantly larger percentage than in the other countries surveyed.
“Considering Singapore’s limited landbank, combined with the unique situation created by the HDB’s successful public housing programme, the strong interest in overseas property is hardly unexpected,” said the report.
Conducted from 29 November 2011 to 17 January 2012, the survey gathered a total of 8,499 respondents from across the region including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong.
