Last Tuesday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore has urged households to be prudent when taking up new debt or committing to property purchase (“Households urged by MAS to stay prudent when taking up debt or buying property”, Channel NewsAsia, December 2, 2020). As of the third quarter of this year, about 36,000 mortgage relief applications from homeowners who couldn’t service their mortgages have been approved. MAS expects resident unemployment to “remain elevated” next year. The authority also sees credit risk for housing loans to increase further if the economic downturn persists and advised households to consolidate “their existing obligations to enhance resilience against unexpected shocks.” For prospective buyers of investment properties, MAS warned that should weakness in rental income continue, “borrowers relying on rental income to meet their mortgage instalments on investment properties could face difficulties in repayment.” So they should “factor in the possibility of further weakness in rental...