SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - Not many 24-year-old university students live in a $1.2 million penthouse, kitted out with a Herman Miller Aeron office chair and Lelit espresso machine. Especially not in Singapore, one of the world's most expensive property markets.
Shawn, whose loft-style apartment in Singapore's leafy central Bukit Timah region was paid for entirely by his mother, is one of a lucky few. But his ranks are growing as families seek to work around cooling measures, including raised stamp duties on second and third homes, by buying properties for their children.
Data is scant but property agents say they have seen a noticeable uptick in apartments being bought by wealthy families for their children since the property cooling measures came into effect on July 2018. Additional buyer's stamp duty, or ABSD, is now levied at 12 per cent for second homes and 15 per cent for third and subsequent properties.
Adapted from The Straits Times 1 Aug 2019