No plans to ease curbs on foreign buying of landed homes: Govt

No plans to ease curbs on foreign buying of landed homes: Govt 
IN RESPONSE to a recent report by Goldman Sachs suggesting a review of the Residential Property Act to relax restrictions on foreigners buying landed property, the Ministry of Law said that there were ‘no plans to liberalise the existing system’.
‘In land scarce Singapore, landed properties have to be treated as a special category where purchases by foreigners are subject to special approval,’ said the Ministry of Law in a statement on Wednesday.

Goldman Sachs’ report had suggested that Singapore’s increasing popularity with foreigners could signal that it is time to relax restrictions on overseas ownership of landed properties.

The giant investment bank said in a research note that if curbs are relaxed across the board, it could spur further foreign buying of private properties.

It could also boost the residential property market by having ‘positive spillover from rising landed property prices to condominiums and apartments’.

Under the Residential Property Act, foreigners and permanent residents are forbidden from buying landed property without Government approval.

And a foreigner who does win approval can own only one landed property at a time and they must occupy the home, not rent it out.

If the rules are relaxed, developers with land banks for landed projects would benefit, the bank said.

Responding to media queries on the Government’s position on Goldman Sach’s proposal, a Ministry of Law spokesman said on Wednesday that ‘there are no plans to liberalise the existing system’.
 
Source: The Straits Times, 27 June 2007

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