By Nikki De Guzman:
The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) macroprudential measures are said to have achieved “some degree of success” in cooling the property market and will be tweaked depending on market conditions.
At a dinner organised on Tuesday by the Asian Bureau of Financial and Economics Research, Ravi Menon, Managing Director for MAS, said these measures boost monetary and financial supervisory policies to help achieve financial stability and sustainable prices.
However, he noted that MAS faces major challenges ahead when implementing such policies.
Externally, these include low interest rates and a “wall of money” that could create a property bubble. This in turn could impact Singapore’s financial stability and consumer price affordability.
Nonetheless, “property prices finally appear to be stabilising” because of the central bank’s measures, with residential prices slipping below two percent in Q2 2013 compared to the previous quarter.
“Singapore’s fundamentals remain sound. Fiscal prudence, financial discipline, minimising debt and living within our means will provide us policy space and buffer to weather whatever comes ahead. This is an advantage most countries do not have,” added Menon.
Nikki De Guzman, Junior Reporter at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email nikki@propertyguru.com.sg
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