REDAS calls on Govt to ease stamp duties on high-end properties

In its latest call for the Government to scale back on property cooling measures, the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (REDAS) took aim at the imposition of the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duties (ABSD) on the high-end real estate market, saying it “runs counter to the Government’s efforts to encourage foreign investment flows into the country”.

Speaking at its Chinese New Year celebration lunch yesterday, REDAS president Augustine Tan said the high-end market was “not a segment the Government needs to safeguard”.

“Not many Singaporeans are buying into this segment, and prices have indeed come down substantially. The imposition of the ABSD on this segment runs counter to the Government’s efforts to encourage foreign investment flows into the country, to activate the economy, grow investments and create jobs for Singaporeans,” he said.

“Some high-net-worth foreign investors, who create jobs for Singaporeans and who have many choices on where they want to be in the world, now feel that they are not welcome in Singapore,” he added.

Turning to vacancy rates, Mr Tan said the estimated supply of more than 75,000 completed private residential homes from this year to 2019 will bring the rate to a record high. This will lead to a further slip in home rentals and prices, he said, impacting home owners and investors.

Official figures put the vacancy rate of completed private residential units, excluding executive condominiums, in the last quarter of 2014 at 7.8 per cent, up from 7.1 per cent in the third quarter.

Channel NewsAsia