Singapore’s December private home sales fell to the lowest in two years after the government imposed new taxes on house purchases, reported Bloomberg.
Private home sales fell to 632 units in December, the lowest since December 2009, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Total sales for the year declined 24% to 12,656 units from a year, the data showed.
The introduction of additional taxes on foreigners buying homes will probably cause a further drop in demand as they made up 36% of transactions in the prime market last year, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., the world’s second-biggest publicly traded commercial-property broker, said.
Foreigners and corporate entities will have to pay an additional 10% stamp duty, the government said on Dec. 7. The extra levy will be 3% for permanent residents purchasing a second home and for citizens buying their third residential property. The government earlier imposed a 1%t duty on the first $180,000 of the property price, 2%on the next $180,000 and 3% for the remainder.
Sales in the quarter fell to 3,726 units, the lowest in three quarters, government data showed.
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