Friday, October 26, 2007

Deferred Payment Schemes For Property Purchases Withdrawn

Source : The Straits Times, Oct 26, 2007











THE Government has withdrawn deferred payment schemes for all property purchases with immediate effect.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said in a statement that this is 'in view of the strong economic and property market conditions'.

Such schemes - first approved in Oct 1997 - previously allowed buyers of uncompleted private homes and offices the option to defer part of the progress payments, after forking out an initial 20 per cent downpayment.

This move was introduced 'at a time when the property market was lacklustre and the economy was in recession.'

But since the market has now recovered and is 'buoyant', the URA added, the Government has decided to withdraw the scheme with regard to the sale of all uncompleted properties with effect from 26 Oct.

The URA added that this removal will 'encourage greater financial prudence, as buyers will have to ensure that they have sufficient funds or are able to secure adequate loans from banks before they commit to buying a property.'

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