No crash for Singapore property market: Tharman

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam (left), who is also Finance Minister, at the annual DBS Asian Insights conference. -- PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO 
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam (left), who is also Finance Minister, at the annual DBS Asian Insights conference. -- PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO 

SINGAPORE - The local property market is unlikely to crash, as the Government had stepped in early with cooling measures, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Friday.

Speaking in a dialogue session with DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta at the annual DBS Asian Insights conference, he said the Government had taken each step to temper over-exuberance in the real estate market knowing that what it did might not be enough, but also knowing that if it did too much, it might engineer a crash in the property market.

"But we started early and we avoided a huge bubble in the market. That's why we won't see a crash," said Mr Tharman, who is also Finance Minister.

"But I think a further correction will not be unexpected."

When asked where he felt the property market cycle was at this point in time, he said: "I don't think the cycle is over but the market determines the cycle. The Government has put in place rules, stamp duties and restrictions... but market players will determine where the cycle goes."

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