Singapore says will take more steps on property if needed

Singapore will introduce additional steps to cool its private housing market if necessary, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said on Monday.   

He also described measures introduced on Jan 13 as pre-emptive and said it was too soon to assess the impact.

Singapore last month introduced new measures to cool home prices that have continued to rise despite earlier efforts to put a lid on a red-hot property market.

The measures included a stamp duty on those who buy and sell residential properties within four years, up from the previous requirement of three years.

Individual buyers who are still servicing an existing loan can only borrow up to 60% of the new property's value, down from 70%. For corporate investors, the loan-to-value limit was cut to 50%.

Singapore private home prices rose 17.6% last year.