A new set of cooling measures is upon us, and as has been typical for the past few – it was announced at a time close to midnight so that no one has any time to react.

So the big news. ABSD rates have increased again, a move that’s not entirely unexpected given the still soaring home prices. What’s unusual this time is the specific targeting of foreign buyers – while ABSD for Singaporeans buying a second home rose by just three per cent, the ABSD for foreigners has doubled. And given that it only just increased to 30 per cent in the December 2021 cooling measures, this new figure of 60 per cent may appear as something that would be a strong deterrent for rich foreigners. We spoke to some realtors on the ground, who were caught off-guard by this specific rate increase: