2017 will become the housing policy changes quietly start the year behind the scenes.
On the stage, however, few fireworks are expected.
In an interview in October, Minister of State Huang Za-hua highlighted some changes.
The most important of these is the introduction of new apartments for young couples with shorter waiting times as part of a national strategy to help Singaporeans settle down and have children.
Mr Wong said he hoped to shorten the waiting time from two to three years from the current three years to four years.
They are likely to be launched in 2018.
Therefore, next year will be the time of preparation: the Housing Bureau will “plan and prepare several new sites for these BTO units” this month.
“These units will not be ready next year, but I hope we can start offering them in 2018,” he added.
Another pressing change is how to help the elderly, especially in their public housing units. ”
He did not provide further details, except that it would be delivered during his tenure.
While these changes are penetrating, there may be little action on the market.
Beyond any surprises, the biggest event of the year may just be business as usual: quarterly BTO launches, a total of 17,000 new apartments are sold.
The first, in February, will see about 4,100 units available at Clementi, Punggol, Tampines and Woodlands.
As for the resale market, Chris International Director Chris summed up the consensus of experts in the coming year: “I do not think we will see a lot of changes, we have seen price consolidation.
Over the past two years, the resale market has remained flat.
According to official data, the first quarter of this year, HDB resale prices fell 0.1%, the next two quarters completely stable.
If long-term cooling measures do not loosen, experts predict that this stability will continue until 2017, because of global uncertainty and economic weakness to resale demand weak.
Guo Weiyong, chief executive of International Real Estate Consultants, said: “Young families will be more careful to make a commitment.
Nicholas Mak, director of international real estate advisory research at SLP, said the situation could be different if economic growth and employment prospects improve, as this could lead to modest price increases of between 1% and 1.5% in the second half.
“In the absence of such a recovery, I think we may see prices around 0%,” he added.
The exception is apartments located in or around the city, where he believes that the transaction volume exceeds $ 1 million – for example Pinnacle @ Duxton’s high-end project unit will continue.
The resale transaction is expected to increase as the seller adjusts to lower price standards.
For trapped real estate agents, more deals would be good news.
In addition to the slow market, the agency faces competition from its own online portal, allowing buyers and sellers to bypass the middlemen.
“The real estate agency industry needs to transform to stay relevant in 2017,” said Li Guangrong, executive director of the Real Estate Agency Industry Committee.
Some agencies have created trust for their agents to create mobile applications, and even online consumer rating agencies, he noted.
janiceh@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on December 28, 2016.
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