During the five years after the global financial crisis of 2008, Singapore’s property prices surged more than 60 per cent. With interest rates at close to zero, it took 10 rounds of periodic property cooling measures stretching from 2009 to 2013 before prices finally stabilised.

After the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, property prices once again started to climb. Since the first quarter of last year, HDB resale prices have soared 15 per cent, while private property prices have risen about 9 per cent. Such increases have been out of sync with the growth of either the economy or family incomes. This was the backdrop to the Government’s decision to introduce property cooling measures on Dec 16.