
Mortage loans growth falls sharply as property measures bite
Housing loans growth falls sharply to just 1% in February, but could start contracting, warns DBS.
DBS believes that banks have yet to feel the impact of the recent property measures. From previous experience in Aug-10 when property cooling measures were stepped up, banks faced a 20-30% decline in mortgage loan applications. But as the draw down pipeline remained strong, mortgage loan growth was not affected. Similar trends are expected this time around. There is still sufficient mortgage loan draw downs to ensure mortgage loans remain fairly strong although they believe the momentum achieved in 2010 may not be repeated (mortgage loan growth in 2010 was 23%).