Govt Policies and the property market

As in most countries, the property market in Singapore is greatly affected by government policies. You can imagine this to be so since the majority of Singaporeans stay in HDBs and HDBs are governed by policies. HDBs aside, private apartments and landed housing are also governed by policies.

I remember during the run up in the late 90s, a capital gains tax was implemented to curb the hot market and that quick action probably 'killed' the market for many years. The Singapore property market was in doldrums from 2001-2005. 

The government introduced a new policy yesterday to prevent shoebox units from mushrooming into the suburbs area. Let's take a look at the various government policies that are implemented to stop the property market from forming a bubble from 2008 onwards. 

As you can see, new measures were introduced whenever it fails to cool the market. You can be assured that more will be coming if the price continues to rocket.

Let's take a look at the rise of shoe box sales and you can see that it is on the rising trend.

The reason why shoe box units are popular is because the 'capital outlay' in terms of actual quantum is not too high. As such, it is more affordable. The developers see profits to be made by having more shoebox units because they can achieve a higher selling psf for its  project. The report also has a chart to show that the majority of the buyers of shoe box unit has a HDB address. Not sure exactly the implication behind this statement but perhaps this article can shed some light.  

I guess the irony is that Capitaland CEO said the shoebox units is inhuman but the company continues have them in their project. You just can't ignore the market forces. The shoebox policy will not come as a surprise since the Minister has given his warnings a few months back.

Anyway, I have not visited a shoe box showflat befoew before but i can imagine how it can look like because there is always a 'show flat' at IKEA showing you all the space saving ideas! :)

Do you currently own a shoebox?  Do share with us where and why you bought a shoebox unit. Is it for rental or for capital gains? 

Happy Shoeboxing? :)