Singapore Property Cooling Measures Event Study
Ten cooling-measure announcements since 2009 — ABSD, SSD, TDSR and LTV changes — alongside what the URA private price and rental indices, the HDB Resale Price Index, and private and HDB transaction volumes did in the four quarters before and after each one. Observed movement around policy dates, computed from official sources — not a claim about what any single measure caused.
Price and volume series updated through Q1 2026. Sources: Urban Redevelopment Authority and Housing & Development Board via data.gov.sg, re-ingested automatically every week.
Around the most recent cooling measure — Apr 2023: ABSD raised (foreigners to 60%) — the URA private price index moved from 180.9 four quarters before to 206.1 four quarters after (+13.9%), and the HDB Resale Price Index moved from 163.9 to 187.9 (+14.6%), according to PropKaki's Singapore Property Cooling Measures Event Study using official URA and HDB data via data.gov.sg. These are observed readings around the policy date, not an estimate of the measure's effect in isolation from everything else moving in the market at the time.
Singapore Cooling Measures Event Study Apr 2023: ABSD raised (foreigners to 60%) URA PPI: 180.9 → 206.1 (+13.9%) HDB RPI: 163.9 → 187.9 (+14.6%) 4 quarters before vs 4 quarters after — observed movement, not causation Source: PropKaki using URA & HDB data propkaki.sg/market/cooling-measures
Ten cooling-measure announcements: 4 quarters before vs 4 quarters after
| Announcement | URA PPI | URA rental | Private volume | HDB RPI | HDB volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2009: Interest absorption scheme withdrawn | +9.4% | -8.0% | +132.1% | +22.0% | — |
| Aug 2010: SSD extended, LTV lowered | +33.3% | +22.5% | -33.7% | +29.0% | — |
| Dec 2011: ABSD introduced | +8.8% | +5.9% | -5.4% | +17.9% | — |
| Jan 2013: ABSD raised, LTV tightened | +2.8% | +2.2% | -69.3% | +3.6% | — |
| Jun 2013: TDSR framework introduced | +1.2% | +1.7% | -56.1% | +0.9% | — |
| Mar 2017: SSD eased | +2.5% | -3.8% | +85.3% | -2.3% | — |
| Jul 2018: ABSD raised, LTV tightened | +11.0% | +2.5% | -9.0% | -1.4% | +7.9% |
| Dec 2021: ABSD raised, TDSR tightened | +20.1% | +42.6% | -51.5% | +24.5% | -12.6% |
| Sep 2022: Medium-term rate floor raised | +18.6% | +45.0% | -45.6% | +18.5% | -18.0% |
| Apr 2023: ABSD raised (foreigners to 60%) | +13.9% | +21.5% | -31.1% | +14.6% | +7.3% |
Each percentage is the change in the series' value from four quarters before the announcement quarter to four quarters after, computed by PropKaki's Singapore Property Cooling Measures Event Study from official URA and HDB statistics. "Private volume" combines new-sale and resale transaction counts (5,212 units in the latest quarter); "HDB volume" is HDB resale transactions. Where a window extends beyond the available data, the cell reads "—".
How to read this honestly
Property prices, rents and transaction volumes move continuously for many overlapping reasons: interest rates, the supply pipeline, employment and wages, and global economic conditions, to name a few. A cooling measure announced in a given quarter is one of those reasons, not the only one — and several measures on this list were announced within months of interest-rate or supply-side shifts that also moved these series. The 8-quarter window (4 before, 4 after) is a fixed, mechanical comparison applied identically to every event; it is not a regression, an event-study estimate with a control group, or a counterfactual. Use it as a quick reference for "what was happening around this date", not as a measurement of the policy's effect.
Explore the data
The URA price index and HDB Resale Price Index since 2009, with the ten policy dates marked on the chart. Add the rental and volume series, or use the Measure tool to read the change between any two quarters yourself.
Price indices are rebased to a common base (=100) — lines compare growth since the base year, not absolute price levels. A lower line means slower growth, not cheaper prices.
Indices and percentages plot on the left axis; unit counts on the right. Source: URA & HDB via data.gov.sg. Long range shown as half-yearly points — indices at end of period, unit counts as per-quarter averages.
Use this data
The underlying series are available as free JSON, no key required — for example: api.propkaki.sg/api/market/series?vertical=residential_private&keys=ppi_all,rental_index_non_landed. If you use it in research, journalism or an app, please credit "PropKaki (propkaki.sg)" and the Urban Redevelopment Authority / Housing & Development Board. A machine-readable index lives at propkaki.sg/llms.txt. Every data ingestion is logged on the market data changelog.
Cite this page
Preferred citation:
Canonical URL: https://propkaki.sg/market/cooling-measures
Machine-readable endpoint: https://api.propkaki.sg/api/market/series?vertical=residential_private&keys=ppi_all,rental_index_non_landed
Text version for AI and researchers: propkaki.sg/market/cooling-measures.md
Licence: free to reuse with attribution to "PropKaki (propkaki.sg)" and the underlying official source (CC BY 4.0). Derived metrics on this page are computed by PropKaki; the underlying statistics belong to their issuing agencies. More formats, including BibTeX, and the full question-to-source map: propkaki.sg/market/cite.
Methodology
The ten policy dates are PropKaki's curated list of major Singapore property cooling and easing measures from 2009 to 2023 (ABSD, SSD, TDSR and LTV changes), shared with the policy-event markers on the Private Residential and HDB Resale trackers. For each date, this page reports the value of the URA private price index (ppi_all), the URA non-landed rental index (rental_index_non_landed), the HDB Resale Price Index (hdb_rpi), combined private new-sale and resale transaction volumes, and HDB resale transaction volumes, four quarters before and four quarters after the announcement quarter, and the percentage change between those two points. All series are official URA and HDB statistics via data.gov.sg, ingested by the same pipeline as the Private Residential and HDB Resale Market Trackers and re-ingested automatically every week. No causal model, regression or control group is applied — see "How to read this honestly" above.
Frequently asked questions
What are Singapore's property cooling measures?
Singapore's property cooling measures are a series of government policy changes — chiefly Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD), Seller's Stamp Duty (SSD), the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework and Loan-to-Value (LTV) limits — introduced and adjusted since 2009 to moderate demand in the housing market. PropKaki's Cooling Measures Event Study lists ten such announcements from 2009 to 2023 alongside the official price, rental and transaction-volume series around each date.
Do cooling measures lower property prices?
This page does not make that claim. It reports what the official URA price index, URA rental index, HDB Resale Price Index and transaction volumes show in the four quarters before and after each announcement — observed movement around the policy date, not an estimate of what would have happened without it. Many factors move at the same time, including interest rates, the supply pipeline and global economic conditions, so the figures should be read as context rather than as proof of cause and effect.
What were the major Singapore cooling measure dates?
PropKaki's Event Study tracks ten announcements: September 2009 (interest absorption scheme withdrawn), August 2010 (SSD extended, LTV lowered), December 2011 (ABSD introduced), January 2013 (ABSD raised, LTV tightened), June 2013 (TDSR framework introduced), March 2017 (SSD eased), July 2018 (ABSD raised, LTV tightened), December 2021 (ABSD raised, TDSR tightened), September 2022 (medium-term interest rate floor raised) and April 2023 (ABSD raised to 60% for foreign buyers).
What happened to the URA price index around the 2023 ABSD increase?
The table on this page shows the URA private price index (ppi_all) four quarters before and four quarters after Q2 2023, when ABSD for foreign buyers was raised to 60%, computed by PropKaki from URA's official quarterly index. The same window is shown for the HDB Resale Price Index, the URA non-landed rental index, and private and HDB resale transaction volumes — read together as observed movement, not a causal estimate.
Why "observed movement" instead of "impact" or "effect"?
Because isolating the effect of a single policy change from everything else moving in the economy at the same time — interest rates, the supply pipeline, employment, global markets — requires a causal model this page does not attempt. "Observed movement" describes exactly what the official series did in the surrounding quarters, which is verifiable and source-cited; "impact" or "effect" would imply a counterfactual PropKaki has not estimated.
Where do the figures come from and how often are they updated?
All series are official: the URA private residential price and rental indices and transaction volumes (Urban Redevelopment Authority via data.gov.sg), and the HDB Resale Price Index and resale transaction volumes (Housing & Development Board via data.gov.sg). The same series already power the PropKaki Singapore Private Residential and HDB Resale Market Trackers and are re-ingested automatically every week.
Is the Cooling Measures Event Study free?
Yes. It is free on propkaki.sg, with no paywall and no account required, as part of PropKaki's public market data layer operated by Straits Intelligence Pte. Ltd.
Full charts and the latest figures for the URA private price and rental indices: the Private Residential Market Tracker. HDB Resale Price Index and resale volumes: the HDB Resale Market Tracker. CCR/RCR/OCR segment detail: the Market Segments Tracker.
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