Home prices may drop 15% this year: DBS CEO
SINGAPORE — Singapore home prices may fall by 10-15 per cent this year as government cooling measures and tougher limits on borrowing continue to dampen the property market, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said today (Feb 14).
The MAS has relaxed some conditions under the Total Debt Servicing Ratio framework for owner-occupied homes. It recognised that owners might find themselves trapped in situations not of their doing due to the framework. TODAY File Photo
SINGAPORE — Singapore home prices may fall by 10-15 per cent this year as government cooling measures and tougher limits on borrowing continue to dampen the property market, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said today (Feb 14).
“The top-end of the market is likely to be 15 per cent, the lower-end more likely 10 per cent. The quantum and extent of correction will obviously be equally a function of the government and MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) tweaking the macroprudential policies,” he said at a briefing on DBS’s results for the fourth quarter of 2013.
Mr Gupta’s views were more bearish than that of most property analysts, who see home prices declining by 5-10 per cent.
But DBS, which reported on Friday a six per cent rise in fourth quarter profits, is not overly concerned about a sharp correction in residential property prices.
According to Mr Gupta, stress tests carried out by DBS showed that it can easily withstand a 30 per cent reduction in Singapore home prices.
Singapore private home prices fell 0.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the last three months of 2013 — the first decline in almost two years as the government’s mortgage curbs took effect.
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