Why Hong Kong property tax may help end Singapore housing slump

Singapore house prices are approaching their trough.

A report from Bloomberg said Cushman & Wakefield Inc. expects the slide in the city-state’s home prices to end this year as foreign investors turned off by Hong Kong’s move to increase the stamp duty for overseas buyers look to Singapore instead. Desmond Sim, head of research for Singapore and Southeast Asia at CBRE Ltd., said Singapore house prices are approaching their trough, with a forecast price move of flat to minus 2 percent.

“The fallout from the stamp duty could be beneficial for Singapore,” said Sigrid Zialcita, managing director for Asia Pacific research at Cushman & Wakefield. “Singapore is always seen as a place where you can preserve capital and we are expecting interest from foreign nationals to come back.” Hong Kong’s November increase in stamp duty to 30 percent for foreigners makes Singapore’s 18 percent rate more attractive to overseas buyers, particularly mainland Chinese who are seeking investments abroad to help shield them from a further weakening of the yuan.

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