The new property cooling measures announced on Thursday came as a surprise, arriving just as developers have loaded up their land banks over the past 18 months in anticipation of blockbuster sales this year and beyond.
Private property home prices have risen only 9.1 per cent over four quarters since the start of the recovery in the third quarter of last year. This pales in comparison with the recovery in the previous cycle, when values rose by 38.2 per cent from the third quarter of 2009 to the second quarter of 2010. The Government is perhaps of the view that the best way to safeguard the health of the property market and prevent it from overheating is to nip the exuberance in the bud.
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