Singapore announces stricter guidelines to tackle ‘excessive development of shoebox units’

Singapore has announced stricter guidelines on the maximum number of units in new blocks of private flats and condominiums in a move to tackle what authorities have called “excessive development of shoebox units” in the island-state.

The new rules reduce “developers’ leeway to prop up profit margins by launching smaller units,” said Christine Li, head of Singapore research at consultancy Cushman and Wakefield.

The guidelines apply to applications for developments outside the city’s central area received on or after Jan. 17 next year. They tighten rules first introduced in 2012.

Singapore this year unveiled its strongest property cooling measures in five years, including extra taxes on developers that had been paying record sums to buy land for residential use.

Reuters