mr funny
21-02-11, 15:50
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/news/story/0,4574,426812-1298145540,00.html?
Published February 19, 2011
Home loan applications down 20% in January at OCBC
HOME loan applications fell by a fifth at OCBC Bank in January, the bank said yesterday.
Though it isn't clear yet how much of that was triggered by the latest government measures to cool the property market announced on Jan 13, tighter financing and ownership rules since late August last year are likely to have curbed demand for new home loans, particularly for cheaper properties.
"The speculative interest has pretty much been taken out of the market; that we can clearly see when we talk to our business partners", said OCBC head of global consumer financial services Ching Wei Hong at the bank's results briefing yesterday.
The number of applications for new home loans fell by about 20 per cent in January compared to December, he said.
But "it's a little hard to say at present" what the full impact of the latest rules have had because the monthly loan application numbers are also affected by seasonal factors, OCBC chief executive David Conner said. "Coming into Chinese New Year, you wouldn't expect a whole lot of business."
Last week, DBS Group chief executive Piyush Gupta said that the recent government measures seemed to have hurt demand for cheaper homes more badly than for expensive homes at the top end of the property market.
OCBC's home loans expanded 4.5 per cent over the fourth quarter to $27.1 billion at Dec 31. About $21 billion of those are Singapore home loans, Mr Ching said.
The bank's mortgage portfolio isn't expected to shrink, despite the most recent cooling measures, Mr Conner said. "We have a lot of loans that were booked over the last 12-18 months that are being progressively drawn down, so we don't expect the loan book to shrink; it should continue to grow."
And there is still "latent demand" for Singapore residential properties from wealthy foreigners and residents here who are looking to upgrade to bigger homes, which should help sustain new home-loan volumes through the year, Mr Ching said.
Published February 19, 2011
Home loan applications down 20% in January at OCBC
HOME loan applications fell by a fifth at OCBC Bank in January, the bank said yesterday.
Though it isn't clear yet how much of that was triggered by the latest government measures to cool the property market announced on Jan 13, tighter financing and ownership rules since late August last year are likely to have curbed demand for new home loans, particularly for cheaper properties.
"The speculative interest has pretty much been taken out of the market; that we can clearly see when we talk to our business partners", said OCBC head of global consumer financial services Ching Wei Hong at the bank's results briefing yesterday.
The number of applications for new home loans fell by about 20 per cent in January compared to December, he said.
But "it's a little hard to say at present" what the full impact of the latest rules have had because the monthly loan application numbers are also affected by seasonal factors, OCBC chief executive David Conner said. "Coming into Chinese New Year, you wouldn't expect a whole lot of business."
Last week, DBS Group chief executive Piyush Gupta said that the recent government measures seemed to have hurt demand for cheaper homes more badly than for expensive homes at the top end of the property market.
OCBC's home loans expanded 4.5 per cent over the fourth quarter to $27.1 billion at Dec 31. About $21 billion of those are Singapore home loans, Mr Ching said.
The bank's mortgage portfolio isn't expected to shrink, despite the most recent cooling measures, Mr Conner said. "We have a lot of loans that were booked over the last 12-18 months that are being progressively drawn down, so we don't expect the loan book to shrink; it should continue to grow."
And there is still "latent demand" for Singapore residential properties from wealthy foreigners and residents here who are looking to upgrade to bigger homes, which should help sustain new home-loan volumes through the year, Mr Ching said.