Even when borrowing costs subsequently rose as the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates in quick succession from 2022 to 2023 to try to tame runaway inflation, property prices kept climbing, albeit at a slower pace.
Singaporeans’ love for real estate is legendary. When Covid-19 hit the city-state and triggered an unprecedented lockdown in 2020, talk was rife that prices and transactions would nosedive and crash the property market. Yet, while unemployment surged that year and the economy sank into its worst recession since independence, home prices held firm.
What unfolded the following year was even more astounding. Driven by pent-up demand and low interest rates, private home prices soared 10.6% while prices of resale HDB flats surged 12.7%.
