United Overseas Bank (UOB) expects mortgage applications in Singapore to drop by between 15 and 20 percent in the second half of the year, said Mr. Wee Ee Cheong, Chief Executive Officer of UOB.
He added that the decline in home loan applications can be largely attributed to the impact of the government’s cooling measures to curb the real estate market.
Additionally, UOB posted last week a 35 percent increase in its net profit to S$706 million in the fourth quarter, beating the S$590 million average forecast of six analysts polled by Reuters.
UOB said the strong results for Q4 were due to higher fee and commission income, as well as lower provisions for bad debt.
Mr. Wee noted that the bank is “confident of delivering robust growth this year”.