Chart of the Day: Here's how home sales in core central region collapsed post-ABSD

Upto 10% price dip in high-end segment seen next year.

Over 2011-2012 to date, Singapore property market is seeing low sales volumes in the high- end segment, which has been exacerbated by the impact of a 10% Additional Buyer Stamp Duty imposed in Dec 2011 on foreigners andnon-individuals buying residential property in Singapore, said OCBC.

In the period over 2009-2010, OCBC reports that new home sales volume in the Core Central Region (CCR) averaged at 323 units per month; this fell to 141 units per month in the period from 2011 to date.

Price appreciation for the CCR also trailed other regions throughout the year, with the CCR price index up only 0.15% year to date, versus 2.63% and 0.54% for Outside Central Region (OCR) and RCR (Rest of Central Region) price indices.

"We believe the muted price performance in the high-end segment would continue and forecast for high-end prices to dip 0%-10% in 2013, driven
by the impact of recent cooling measures, in particular the additional buyer stamp duties imposed in Dec 2011," it said.