Updated: 07/03/2012 00:00

Home affordability in Singapore has risen to the highest in a decade

Looking for your dream home in Singapore? According to Bloomberg, it is now the best time in ten yea...

Looking for your dream home in Singapore? According to Bloomberg, it is now the best time in ten years to buy a house in Singapore with the historically low interest rates and flexible payment options available to buyers.

Image courtesy of Terence Ong.
Mortgage rates are at an all-time low in the city state, even as property prices are almost at a record high. Demand for homes in Singapore has prompted the government to introduce five rounds of measures since 2009 to rein in property prices. The latest in December, imposed additional taxes on private residential property purchases by foreigners and existing homeowners.

However, citing Sanjay Jain, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG, Bloomberg reported that mortgage rates in Singapore are the lowest in Asia, followed by Hong Kong. Mortgage rates in Singapore are currently about 1%, as compared to 7.4% in China and 8-10% in Indonesia. In fact, the three-month Sibor is at an all-time low at just under 0.4 percent, compared with a peak 3.56 percent in 2006, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

Citing Shivram Anantharaman, a private banker at ICICI Bank Ltd, Bloomberg reported that the monthly installments toward repayment of housing loans in Singapore are lower than housing rental, due to the current low interest rate climate. This makes Singapore one of the few countries in the world where such a situation is possible.

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