By Joyce Teo

MR LIM Yew Soon, 33, managing director of EL Development, the property development unit of Evan Lim & Co, is hoping for help with costs and measures to stimulate demand in the property market.

WHAT HE WANTS

'Reducing or waiving property tax would help us in terms of holding costs. Now developers are not selling many units and will have to dig into their pockets to pay for it. It's a cash flow issue.' The current property tax is at 10 per cent of annual value per year, regardless of whether the land is let, vacant or under development.

Mr Lim also suggests that the Government defer, or lower, the stamp duty that buyers pay on uncompleted properties until they can move in.

It could also allow buyers to defer the bulk of their purchase price until the property is completed, which is a few years down the road.

These measures existed in some form until recently. A concession to defer stamp duty was withdrawn in 2006, while the deferred payment scheme was scrapped in 2007.

WHAT EXPERTS SAY

Past recession Budgets often included a section targeted at the property market. This time should be no different.

Citigroup economist Kit Wei Zheng estimates that property developers face $7 billion of refinancing requirements over the next 12 months, while real estate investment trusts face $4.5 billion.

Mr Owi Kek Hean, head of KPMG tax services in Singapore, agrees that developers should be exempted from paying property tax on vacant land until the development is complete.

He believes the Government should reinstate the stamp duty deferral for uncompleted properties. 'This will help individuals who have signed an option to purchase property with their cash flow during this downturn,' he said.

Other measures could include giving a one-off property tax rebate of at least 30 per cent this year for industrial and commercial properties, he added.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on January 17, 2009.