The Singapore government may take a wait-and-see approach before implementing any further property cooling measures after the Ministry of National Development (MND) unveiled major changes to new sales of executive condominiums (ECs) on May 8, says an OCBC analyst.
“Whenever a fresh round of cooling measures comes out, the government typically allows the market to digest and observe the impact before making further decisions,” says Andy Wong, senior equity research analyst at OCBC. “This round [of cooling measures] is relatively new, so a wait-and-see approach is likely.”
Speaking on a panel at the Investing with Greater Clarity in a Fragmented World forum hosted by The Edge Singapore and OCBC Securities on May 16, Wong says policymakers monitor home price growth relative to Singapore’s GDP growth. “If home price appreciation outpaces Singapore’s GDP growth, that could be more of a concern, and we saw that from 2022 to 2023. That was the period when home price growth far exceeded Singapore's GDP growth, and it was also when the [government introduced] the 60% additional buyers’ stamp duty on foreigners.”
In 2022, Singapore’s private residential Property Price Index (PPI) rose by 8.6%, lower than the 10.6% growth recorded in 2021. During the same year, Singapore’s GDP grew by 3.8%, a moderation from the 8.9% expansion in 2021.
In 2025, the PPI increased by 3.3% while Singapore’s GDP grew by 5%.
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Still, Wong says Singapore’s residential property market “has been very resilient”. Private residential property prices in Singapore rose 0.9% q-o-q in 1Q2026 after rising 3.3% in 2025 and 3.9% in 2024.
Household net worth has risen above pre-pandemic levels, notes Wong, using 4Q2019 as a benchmark. This reflects both rising property values and healthier financial positions among households, he adds.
“To put things into perspective, if you look at the household net worth today, which is basically taking into account your household assets less your household liabilities — which is your debt — the current net worth of Singapore households is actually more than 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels,” says Wong.
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“So basically, household net worth has really increased very significantly, and of course, [coupled with] the fact that property prices have also been on the uptrend,” he adds.
Should prices rise too quickly, Wong expects that increasing land supply via the government land sales (GLS) programme will be the first lever. “If there is anything [that] I think [could be] more draconian, then tweaks to your loan-to-value or seller’s stamp duty could be something the government may look at. But we don’t think that is [likely] in the near term for now.”
Photo: Albert Chua/The Edge Singapore
