by Esther Teo
PEOPLE who own a home overseas will still have to comply with
the tough new rules on property ownership if they want to buy a HDB
resale flat.
The clarification on Wednesday came amid uncertainty over who
might or might not be exempt from the rules announced on Monday.
The new regulations state that if you buy a HDB resale flat you
must dispose of any additional private property within six months
of the HDB purchase.
That rule also applies to people who own homes offshore,
according to the HDB on Wednesday. This means an overseas property
must be sold within six months of buying a HDB resale flat. And an
owner of a non-subsidised HDB flat who has yet to meet his minimum
occupation period of (MOP) of five years will also not be allowed
to buy a private property locally or abroad.
How new financing rules affect owners of homes offshore was also
made clearer on Wednesday. Under the revised regulations, a buyer
with a mortgage on a local property must stump up a downpayment of
30 per cent when buying an additional property. This is up from 20
per cent previously.
And at least 10 per cent of this deposit must be in cash - up
from 5 per cent before - with the rest coming from his Central
Provident Fund (CPF) accounts.
But the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said that a buyer
with a home loan for an overseas property will not be subject to
these financing rules if buying an additional property here.
However, the MAS said it 'expect(s) financial institutions to take
into account the borrower's outstanding loans when making their
credit assessment'.
