Chart of the day: See how much new home sales have crashed since the TDSR was first imposed

Sales volume was halved in 2014.

The total debt servicing ration (TDSR) almost single-handedly managed to cool Singapore’s once-overheated property market.

According to CBRE, the TDSR framework is the most impactful of the government’s cooling measures because it curbed speculative buying among homebuyers.

Sales volume has fallen by half since the TDSR framework was rolled out in June 2013. In 2014, only around 7,500 new homes were sold, which is about half of the 14,948 new homes sold in 2013.

It is also the lowest volume since 2008 when only 4,464 homes were sold due to the US-led sub-prime mortgage crisis.

“This is not entirely negative as the measure has helped to ensure that those who bought homes in the past 18 months have a stronger financial standing and will be able to weather an impending rise in interest rates,” stated Desmond Sim, Head, CBRE Research, South East Asia.