Monetary Authority of Singapore announced regulations concerning residential property loan tenure and loan-to-value guidelines with effect from 6 Oct 2012:

1. Loan tenure cap at maximum of 35 years including refinancing.

2. For individual borrowers, if
   a) loan tenure exceeds 30 years; or
   b) loan period extends beyond the retirement age of 65 years,
      The Loan-to-value ratio is 60% for borrowers with no outstanding mortgage and 40% for borrowers
      with an outstanding mortgage.

3. For non-individual borrowers, the LTV ratio is 40%.

The MAS's move is an aspect of the bigger objective of pre-empting an asset bubble and promoting stability in the property market.

The private property price index remains positive which is up 76% since 2006, despite rounds of cooling measures. This shows that our government strive to establish a sustainable growth in the real estate market. The recently increase in HDB flat supply announced in September also indicate that there are a ready pool of genuine buyers in the market, and they are unlikely to be affected by the new measure.

8 Oct 2012