The dynamics of housing returns in Singapore: How important are the international transmission mechanisms?

Abstract

This paper studies the dynamics of housing returns in Singapore. We first extract the movements of Singapore's economic aggregates that are free from foreign (U.S. and rest of the world) factors, and then examine the determinants of its housing returns. We find that both the domestic variables (such as GDP growth rate, volume of international trade, and exchange rate) and U.S. variables (such as the Federal Fund Rate and the External Finance Premium) are important during the boom regime. The bust regime is very different. Directions for future research are discussed.