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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/singapore-real-e...

Singapore property stocks fell Friday after the government announced new cooling measures to curb housing prices, surprising a market already facing economic uncertainty.

The measures, announced Thursday, include higher seller stamp duty rates for residential properties, while the holding period which would result in a seller's stamp duty was extended from three to four years.

The measures target at non-genuine home-buyers or speculators, a trend that has gained momentum over past few years and could accelerate as mortgage rates fall.

According to the ministries and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, there has been a sharp increase in the number of properties sold after a short period of ownership. The statement also noted a particularly steep rise in the sub-sale of incomplete units.

The new measures will reduce speculative activity and help curb price spikes driven by a small group of short-term investors, said Marcus Chu, chief executive of real-estate agency ERA Singapore.

"It is not designed to crack down on the market," Chu said.

Property owners who buy homes for their own use are unlikely to be affected, as they tend to remain in the same place for a long time, Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at Realion said.

Jeff

"The measures, announced Thursday, include higher seller stamp duty rates for residential properties, while the holding period which would result in a seller's stamp duty was extended from three to four years.

The measures target at non-genuine home-buyers or speculators, a trend that has gained momentum over past few years and could accelerate as mortgage rates fall."

In America, a residency requirement would help the affordable housing shortage. In my area,
houses are bought in order to be placed in the VRBO pool, which shrinks the # of units
available for people who actually live here. Seems like it would be pretty easy to enact
some type of requirement of residency, to tamp down the investors who gobble up the potential
family homes. But, I know I know, this is 'Murica, don't try telling me what to do, lol.

My home has probably went up in "value" 250% since I bought it a decade+ or so ago. And of
course, property taxes and home insurance, as well as home improvement materials have
also risen up in price. I'd rather see home prices stay lower, and stable, but I don't
control it, so I'm glad I bought during or right after the GFC. I have no idea how
a blue collar paycheck, even 2 of them, can afford to buy a house at these price levels. And
while this is an expensive area in comparison to the rest of the State ( not THE most expensive)it is nothing like some of the truly high priced expensive areas of the Country. So lucky for me that the area is really nice, as the expensive areas of the Country are totally out of financial reach.

The measures, announced Thursday, include higher seller stamp duty rates for residential properties, while the holding period which would result in a seller's stamp duty was extended from three to four years.

I can see the value of this, but I can also see potential downside.

We lived next door to a guy for 20 years. During most of that time his home was well kept; he mowed the yard, spread the mulch, and took care of whatever needed to be tended to, including hiring tree companies to take down branches that overhung his roof, etc.

But during the last 5 years his wife divorced him, he spiraled into alcohol abuse, and the children were far away and the house depreciated significantly. Inside it was a wreck, outside the back porch became rickety and needed to be rebuilt, the grounds deteriorated, etc. He eventually died, falling down a flight of stairs in a drunken stupor.

The house was sold to one of those “WE BUY HOUSES, ANY CONDITION!” guys, who promptly set up a huge dumpster in the driveway (and filled and emptied it four times), who rebuilt the porch, replaced a couple windows, replanted the lawn, replaced the outdated kitchen cabinets, repainted the entire interior, etc. Within a year the home was back to 100% and he flipped it.

I’m wondering how a law such as the one quoted upthread would affect this sort of thing. Trying to sell the house in its terrible condition would only have attracted someone with not enough money to do the repairs in the first place, or let it sit, unsold for months, maybe years, deteriorating further.

I was glad for the flipper. It helped my property values.

I can see the value of this, but I can also see potential downside.
...
I was glad for the flipper. It helped my property values.

The Singapore residential housing market is quite a bit different than the USA residential market. The main difference is that in Singapore, the VAST majority of residential properties are condos in large apartment buildings. So, because it's a condo, the maintenance of the structure itself is done collectively, not individually. So, at worst, only the inside of the apartment can be "trashed" enough to require full rehab before a sale ("flip"). So, while flips can very often be beneficial to the neighbors in the USA (as you described above), they aren't as beneficial to the neighbors in Singapore.

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