Half of Singaporeans willing to buy homes despite low affordability

49% say still they want to buy property despite dissatisfaction.

Despite pessimism towards affordability of housing, Singaporean consumers are still looking to purchase homes in the next six months, PropertyGuru revealed.

According to its Regional Consumer Sentiment Survey, 49% of Singaporean respondents expressed the intention to buy a property in the next six months.

Participants are also more open to the idea of both new and resale homes, compared to counterparts in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand which prefer new property.

Property affordability score remained the same at 29 compared to the H2 results in 2016. The score is the lowest amongst countries surveyed.

According to PropertyGuru Group chief executive officer Hari V Krishnan, "In Singapore, we see that intent to purchase homes remain strong, but consumers continue to express concern about their ability to afford homes. Even as the Singapore real estate market looks to recover in 2018, concerns with affordability are likely to continue to hobble the absorption of supply."

Singapore is also the most dissatisfied with the real estate climate after satisfaction rate only reached 34%.

Indonesia's satisfaction rate reached 63%, whilst those of Thailand and Malaysia hit 57% and 36%.

PropertyGuru cited high property prices as the main driver for dissatisfaction amongst all markets.

About 32% of Singaporeans also cited unfavourable government policies as a result of dissatisfaction.

PropertyGuru's survey for 1H2017 gathered responses for over 3,100 respondents across four countries.