Authorities are 'highly attentive' to property price increases, but say the market is not overheated

According to TODAY, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said that it is "highly vigilant" about the continuing rise in property prices and will intervene before they get too hot.

Ravi Menon, MAS Managing Director, stated that MAS and MND (Ministry of National Development), as well as URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority), remain vigilant to the danger of a sustained rise in prices relative to income trends.

He pointed out that although economic growth has yet to recover fully from the COVID-19-related pandemic, the prices of property have increased significantly above pre-pandemic levels.

In particular, the nominal gross domestic product (GDP), shrank 8.2% last yet while residential property prices index rose 1.6%

The nominal GDP remained at 4% in the first quarter 2021, while the private price index was 5.6% higher than its pre-pandemic level.

Menon stated that a long-term divergence in income and housing prices is not sustainable.

The MAS chief said that he doesn't believe the property market has entered an "overheating" stage and if MAS will introduce cooling measures to reduce property price rises.

"If the market is overheated, it means that we have not done our job properly." According to TODAY, he stated that the Government's approach is to stop the market from heating up.

He stated that MAS would "never know in advance" if it will implement cooling measures, as this would be counterproductive to the purpose of curbs.

He said, "So keep watching and watch. We hope that the market will remain stable and that there are no moves."

"Our goal is not to let the property market get ahead of the underlying economic fundamentals...we'll continue to monitor how the market moves from now onwards before making any judgments."

In a way, such statistics will entice buyers to continue buying at Normanton Park as its $1800 psf price seems to be attractive in relative to other new launches. Close to 50% of its total units have been sold off.