Analysts: Rules will rein in HDB market. Private home-owners and speculators effectively shut out. The red-hot public housing market is set to cool significantly now that private home-owners including speculators have been effectively shut out of the market. Market watchers say recent rapid growth in HDB resale prices will moderate as the pool of potential buyers grows smaller, and more flats are put on sale. The new rules, unveiled yesterday, 'will have great ramifications' on the market, said property agency PropNex's chief executive Mohamed Ismail, as they will 'reduce speculation and short-term investment'. He predicts that HDB resale transactions will fall in the second half of the year by 10 per cent from the same period last year. Median values of cash upfront paid by buyers - known as cash-over-valuation - which hit a record $30,000 in the second quarter, may dip 10 per cent by year's end and by 20 per cent next year, he said. HDB resale flat prices shot up 4.1 per cent in the second quarter, smashing records for the eighth straight quarter, prompting concerns that prices were beyond the reach of Singaporeans.
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