Over the weekend, the government rolled out new measures to curb excessive borrowings by property investors. The new ruling requires lenders to take into consider of the debtor's other existing loans when granting property loans. The aim is to strengthen credit practices by financial institutes and encourage financial prudence among borrowers. The central bank will also refine rules related to the application of the existing Loan-to-Value (LTV) limits on housing loans. These refinements seek to ensure the effectiveness of the LTV limits that were put in place to cool investment demand in the housing market. In particular, they aim to prevent circumvention of the tighter LTV limits on second and subsequent housing loans.
The question at the back of investors' mind will be whether the new measure will be the ultimate needle to burst the housing bubble. My take is that this new measure will not have any significant effect ......