Singapore: Singapore will release a larger supply and wider variety of land for developers in the second half of this year, the latest in a series of measures by the government to cool the property market.
The government will consider making the sites available on its so-called reserve list, which are properties that will only be offered for sale when there is sufficient interest in the land, minister for national development Mah Bow Tan said in parliament yesterday. That is a departure from an earlier policy where land from the list only would be put up for sale when an offering bid meets its government's minimum price, his ministry said in a statement on its website.
"A site is deemed to have received sufficient market interest if more than one unrelated party submit minimum prices that are close to the government's reserve price for the site within a reasonable period," according to the statement.
"With this improvement, a site on the reserve list can be released for sale by public tender even if the application prices are below the government's reserve price."
Singapore has barred interest-only mortgages for uncompleted homes and stopped allowing developers to absorb interest payments for apartments under construction to deter speculative purchases. This month, it levied a seller's stamp duty on residential properties and land sold within one year after purchase as part of measures to prevent excessive price swings.
The government's reserve price is set at 85 per cent of the estimated market value of the site. The deposit that successful applicants for the sites on the reserve list will have to pay will be reduced to 3 per cent of the minimum price it offered, from 5 per cent previously.
"The reduced deposit will help lower upfront cost and the cash flow burden of the successful applicants when they trigger sites on the reserve list," the government said in the statement yesterday.
