Hot property prices here 'worrying' - Asian Development Bank

SINGAPORE - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday that Singapore's fast-rising home prices are "worrying", as real-estate lending accounts for more than half of total loans in the banking system.

According to the latest issue of the ADB's Asia Economic Monitor, the share of property-related loans in total loans is as low as 9 per cent in South Korea, 15 per cent or less in Indonesia and the Philippines, and below 20 per cent in Hong Kong, Thailand and China.

At 51 per cent of advances, Singapore's banking sector's exposure to property is the highest among the nine major economies of East Asia, followed by 42 per cent in Taiwan and 38 per cent in Malaysia, ADB data showed.

The ADB report comes less than two weeks after the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in its annual Financial Stability Review that household debt has been growing at a faster rate in recent quarters - driven largely by housing loans which account for the bulk of household borrowing.

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