More than half of Singaporeans wary of cooling measures' success

58.4% of survey respondents are undecided whether the measures will succeed in cooling Singapore's red-hot property market.

According to iProperty.com Singapore's survey, 59.2% of survey respondents say that they are affected by the cooling measures, and are either modifying their property buying/selling/renting decisions accordingly, or are halting plans to buy/sell their properties at this current moment.

Over 470 respondents comprising mostly Singaporeans, PRs and expatriates took part in the online survey from 27 December 2010 to 25 February 2011. The majority of survey respondents fall between the age group of 25 to 54 years, with 71.5% earning an annual household income of S$140,000 and below. Most of them are currently living in HDB flats, private apartments and landed property, of which more than half currently have plans to purchase/rent their next property.

In addition, in light of recent debates on housing policies around the General Elections, a quick online poll was conducted over a one-week period from 28 April 2011 to gauge public response. Over 50% of the 104 respondents indicated their hopes for more affordable housing by way of lowered prices for new flats and re-evaluation of asset enhancement policies.

Speaking on the results of the survey, Shaun Di Gregorio, Chief Executive Officer, The iProperty.com Group, “Housing policies and other property-related issues are arguably one of the key buzz topics of the upcoming General Elections. From this survey, there are indications that Singapore home buyers are looking forward to additional measures to bring about significant changes in the policies governing the local property market, so as to further cement their decision-making process.”