SG, 12 Nov 2020 Undeterred by the economic slump and rising unemployment, thousands of locals are snapping up property in Singapore and taking a share of the market not seen in a decade as travel curbs thwart foreign investors. This broad-based buying spree, which has pushed prices and sales to multi-year highs, has some parallels with a housing market boom seen in late 2009 as Singapore emerged from the global financial crisis. That forced the government to initiate several rounds of cooling measures to cap surging prices.
Property prices in the city-state rose 0.8% in the third quarter to their highest level since 2013, while sales volumes jumped to a two-year peak, the latest data showed. Singaporeans bought nearly 81% of all private apartments sold in the third quarter, the highest proportion since early 2009, according to an analysis by property agency OrangeTee and Tie.