Forget lifting of cooling measures as a near-term catalyst, warn analysts

Low interest rates should not support property prices.

Investors are better off on value-unlocking deals, according to a report by Maybank Kim Eng.

Low interest rates should not support property prices. This means that a review of cooling measures may not be on the horizon to provide a near-term catalyst.

The sector continues to trade at material discounts to physical assets, and the report notes developers will likely keep seeking new deals to unlock underlying property values.

Further, sales of mature commercial properties are the low-hanging fruits, though opportunities are likely to pop up in the residential market as well.

“Time pressure from looming QC and ABSD deadlines could motivate more developers to pursue bulk sales or structure deals for high-end homes, in our view,” the report states.

“We think CityDev is the best proxy for this, given its AUM target of SGD5b by 2018,” it adds.