Singapore shoe-box rule may cheer home buyers, not home builders

(Oct 24): Putting an end to “shoe-box sized” apartments in Singapore may be reason for residents to cheer but for developers, it could prove a double whammy.

Already hit in July by cooling measures that make it more expensive to buy and redevelop older apartment blocks, home builders have now been told there’s a cap on the number of units allowed in any one project. While the move is aimed at stopping ever-smaller dwellings, for developers it may necessitate a pricing rethink that could dent profitability.

“The July curbs put the handbrake on en-bloc transactions,” said Nicholas Mak, head of research at real estate consultancy ZACD Group. New rulings on unit sizes “could actually have a higher impact.”

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