PRIVATE NON-LANDED PROPERTIES IN THE CCR: IMPACT OF ANTI-SPECULATION MEASURES ON UNIT SIZE

Abstract

Anti-Speculation measures have been the buzz word ever since the first policies were implemented in 3Q2009. Over the years, numerous research has been done to evaluate the effectiveness of these measures on the residential market in hope of predicting the optimal time for the government to lift these measures.

Limited research however was done to address specifically the high-end luxury residential market as compared to the mass market residential market. Speculative demand arises when investors and speculators recognize an arbitrage in the property market and leverage on the market inefficiency to generate profits by buying and selling. Thus, private properties in the prime central region tend to command higher value due to their locational prime premium and serves as good sources of investments as well. In particular, this study seeks to establish the extent to which the non-landed private properties in the CCR were affected by the anti-speculation policies and on a deeper level, to investigate if there is a correlation between unit size and resistency to anti-speculation measures.

Seven rounds of anti-speculation measures were taken into consideration as the remaining 3 were not directly related to the private residential market. The findings conclude that these policies had minimal impact on the CCR as average unit prices continued to remain on the high side albeit transaction volumes decreasing significantly. In addition, there appears to be no significant impact on differing unit sizes.