(ST, Apr 27) “Based on 2022 data, the increases (ABSD) will affect about 10 per cent of residential property transactions.
“This is the third round of cooling measures in the past 16 months. The Government said that while the earlier two rounds of measures in December 2021 and September 2022 have had a moderating effect on the market, property prices showed “renewed signs of acceleration amid resilient demand” in the first quarter of 2023.
According to flash estimates from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, private home prices gained 3.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 0.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Year-on-year, prices rose by 11.3 per cent last quarter.
The Government said ABSD rates for citizens and PRs purchasing their first residential property – which constitute about 90 per cent of residential property transactions – will remain at 0 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.”
Comment:
The above estimates that only about 10% of transactions may be affected by ABSD, in the first place
We need to examine what may be arguably, some of
the root contributing factors:
Record HDB BTO & Resale prices
– suggestion – Do not allow PRs to buy, gradually reduce the land cost component in the prices of BTO flats
Record jobs growth last year, of which 88.5% were foreigners (not counting PRs who are also foreigners) – driving up rentals, yields and property prices
– suggestion – Stop the issuance of new S-Passes
Hospital beds crunch that crops up often, whilst medical fees keep rising
– suggestion – from a cashflow perspective, spend more on healthcare, including adding hospital beds
– Healthcare: From a cashflow perspective, may still not be spending any money on Healthcare (excluding Covid-19 related expenditure)?
Medical expenses withdrawals as % of Balances: 1.2% 2006, 0.9% 2020
From a cashflow perspective, does “annual Medisave contributions ($14+b est.) + Medisave accounts’ % ($5.0+b (4+% on $125.1b total balances 2022 Q4))”, exceed/almost equal to “Government healthcare expenditure ($15.2b 2020) + Healthcare withdrawals $5.0b”?(Note: Includes expenditure from endowment funds and excludes government transfers)
https://www.cpf.gov.sg/…/government-health-expenditure…
Amount Withdrawn for Direct Medical Expenses ($445m), as a % of Total Medisave balance, was 1.2% in 2006 & 0.9% in 2020 ($1.007b divided by $110.1b)
https://www.moh.gov.sg/…/government-health-expenditure…
Ever increasing public transport fares, with the fares formula changing
– suggestion – utilise some of the transport revenue ($9b a year estimate), to reduce the burden of ever increasing public transport fares
