Daily Briefing: More weak signs for Singapore GDP; New HDB flats now more affordable

And here’s why you should consider home loans without a lock-in period.

Singapore’s industrial production dropped 0.5 percent in March from a year earlier, a further sign of weakness in the city-state’s economy. Output has dropped in 13 of the past 14 months, according to the Singapore Economic Development Board. The data points to a possible revision to the preliminary figures for first-quarter gross domestic product, which were released earlier this month and showed flat growth on an annualized basis compared with the previous three months. Read more here.

HDB flats have become more affordable since 2013. Paying off the monthly instalments of HDB loans for Build-To-Order (BTO) flats has become easier in the past three years, even though the maximum tenure of these mortgages was reduced from 30 years to 25 years in 2013, reported TODAYonline. According to the Housing Board, the debt servicing ratio (DSR), or the proportion of a household’s monthly income that’s used to repay the loan instalment, declined from 24 percent in 2013 to 19 percent last year. Find out more here.

We would imagine that those of you in Singapore who are tied down with mortgages to pay off may be rather antsy if you have taken on SOR or SIBOR home loan, given the uncertainties stemming from the fluctuations in the United States Federal Reserve funds rate. Yup, the US Fed funds rate has a direct impact on both SOR rates and SIBOR rates in Singapore. Read more here.