Luxury home prices down 15% from last year

Prices of luxury residential properties in Singapore were the worst performing among the 35 global cities tracked by Knight Frank in its latest Prime Global Cities Index.

Over the last 12 months till June 2015, prime home prices in the city-state have plummeted 15.2 percent, making it the weakest-performing luxury residential market for the sixth consecutive quarter, said the report.

The cooling measures, particularly the Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD), have severely impacted Singapore's high-end market which used to attract foreign buyers, but they now have to pay an ABSD rate of 15 percent.

At this year's Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS) Lunar New Year celebration lunch, the organisation's President Augustine Tan called on the government to ease the ABSD on the prime residential market.

Not many Singaporeans are buying into this segment, and prices have indeed come down substantially. The imposition of ABSD on this segment runs counter to the Governments efforts to encourage foreign investment flows into the country, to activate the economy, grow investments and create jobs for Singaporeans, he stated.

Meanwhile, Vancouver, Miami and Sydney occupy the top three rankings with annual price growths of 15 percent, 13.9 percent and 12.5 percent respectively, noted the consultancy.

According to Knight Frank, prime property corresponds to the top five percent of the wider housing market in each city.

Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg

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