RESIDENTIAL MARKET
MAS on Asia govts' moves to cool property markets
Targeted interventions by governments to cool heated property markets across emerging Asia have achieved some degree of success, said Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) managing director Ravi Menon yesterday.
They allowed policymakers some freedom to experiment without relying too much on possibly counterproductive interest rate or exchange rate policies.
But these interventions - such as tightening loan-to-value ratios and stamp duties - need to be put in a more structured context, he said at Citibank's 10th annual Asia-Pacific Investor Conference.
"While these targeted interventions have achieved a measure of success, macroprudential policies in emerging Asia have been deployed in a relatively eclectic and even ad-hoc manner.
"As these countries return to more normal times, there is a need to formalise and institutionalise the modus operandi of these policies, for greater transparency and policy effectiveness."
Mr Menon was giving an overview of the global economy and what can be done to ensure its return to normalcy. While economic prospects this year look brighter, the global economy and financial markets are still fragile and vulnerable to shocks, he said.
Easy global liquidity conditions caused by money-printing central banks in advanced economies have caused asset prices to surge in some Asian countries, Mr Menon noted.
Residential property prices in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, for example, have increased by 35 per cent on average since 2009, while nominal wages have risen by only 13 per cent.
"As long as monetary conditions in the advanced economies remain easy, emerging market economies face the risk of misallocated resources and disruptive capital flows, which in turn can affect both price stability and financial stability," he said.
One policy response is to allow exchange rates to rise. Since mid-2009, most regional currencies in Asia have appreciated by 3 to 10 per cent in nominal effective terms. But allowing exchange rates to appreciate rapidly to contain inflation might attract even more capital inflows, and runs the risk of driving down exports and stalling the economy, he said.
Likewise, interest rates are too blunt a tool to deal with "sector-specific excesses" like in real estate. Hike rates too aggressively to affect credit conditions and asset prices, and there will be a high cost on the rest of the economy, he said.
Here, the MAS does not use interest rates as a tool to combat inflation. It is currently allowing the Singdollar to appreciate gradually.
Asian governments have been trying other ways. Earlier this month, Singapore announced its seventh attempt to cool property prices in the last three years, with higher stamp duties and tougher loan eligibilities. Hong Kong, too, has tightened mortgage lending, imposed a buyer's stamp duty and is boosting land supply.
Meanwhile, Mr Menon also said that other key reforms needed by emerging Asia governments include boosting domestic demand, deepening and broadening its financial markets, and raising efficiency and productivity.
Source: Business Times –31 January 2013
Office rents set for recovery: CCT
Singapore's office rents are set to rebound from their first annual decline in three years as new supply shrinks and more businesses expand, according to the biggest office property trust in Asia outside of Japan.
Rents in the city are reaching a trough and demand may rise as the country positions itself as a regional business hub, said Lynette Leong, chief executive officer of CapitaCommercial Trust (CCT).
Supply for the next three years will be about 0.8 million square feet a year, down from 1.3 million sq ft over the past two decades, she said.
"Rents are poised for a recovery," Ms Leong said in Singapore on Jan 24. It's "a no-brainer that rents are not going to go down very much further so it's more when the rents will turn and to what extent", she said.
Ranked by the World Bank as the easiest place to do business for a seventh year, the country that's smaller than New York City is also emerging as Asia's wealth management centre, driving demand for banking services with an increase of millionaires.
Singapore office rents are the 19th-highest globally, according to CBRE Group Inc, and are cheaper than Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing and New Delhi.
CapitaCommercial estimates new demand accounted for 1.5 million sq ft to 1.8 million sq ft annually in the past three years, Ms Leong said, without giving a forecast for 2013.
Singapore's office rents fell 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, extending the decline in 2012 to 1.3 per cent, the government said on Jan 25. They climbed 8.4 per cent in 2011 and 13 per cent in the previous year, government data showed.
The country's millionaire households expanded 14 per cent in 2011, according to a Boston Consulting study. The proportion of millionaire homes in the city of 5.3 million people was 17 per cent, the highest in the world, followed by Qatar and Kuwait.
Additional office space in the past two years came mainly from the downtown Marina Bay area, with banks including Standard Chartered plc and Barclays plc taking bigger offices. Standard Chartered relocated from 11 buildings across the city to one tower in the new office area, while Barclays moved from six to two in the district.
Average gross rents of prime office space declined 11 per cent in 2012 and could fall 5 per cent to 10 per cent this year, Colliers International said in a Jan 25 report. Leasing rates climbed 14.6 per cent in 2011, the property brokerage said.
New tenants took up 1.9 million sq ft of space last year, a 17 per cent drop from the five-year high of 2.3 million sq ft in 2011, Colliers said.
Singapore's economy expanded 1.2 per cent last year, less than a quarter of the pace in 2011. Growth is expected to range between one per cent and 3 per cent this year, based on official estimates.
The city also became the first in Asia to introduce curbs on industrial properties. The government on Jan 11 imposed as much as 15 per cent in stamp duties on sellers of warehouses and logistics buildings to curb speculation after prices doubled in the past three years and outpaced the increases in rents. - Bloomberg
Source: Business Times –31 January 2013
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