It’s the season for rate hikes. This Wednesday (July 27) the Federal Reserve raised another 0.75 basis point for second consecutive month. It vowed to go for more rate hikes to fight the battle against inflation. Taking hints from the Fed, Singapore banks are likely to follow suit to raise rates like the previous round. After all, this was how the three local banks drove the 3-year fixed-rate mortgage rate up to 3.08 percent end of last month.

Developers facing rate hikes

The NUS Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies (IREUS) conducted their latest survey on property players. Nearly 97 percent of the respondents flagged rising inflation or rate hikes as the top potential risk in the next half of the year. Furthermore, eight in ten indicated “a decline in the global economy” and “tightening of financing and liquidity in the debt market” as the next top potential risks....