Property consulting firm Cushman & Wakefield believes private property prices will rise between 5% and 7% this year.

A spokesperson for the firm told the Wall Street Journal the higher stamp duty announced this week could have the effect of increasing demand for lower-priced properties located in the suburbs.

This despite the fact that Singapore’s residential property market is still too hot for the city-state’s government, said the Journal.

The Journal said the recent uptick in sales drew both local and overseas developers to acquire land for development.

The so-called collective sales, where builders buy old apartment blocks for redevelopment, have increased in volume in recent months.

A total of eight sites worth a total of S$3.1 billion have been sold so far this year, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

This brought about the cooling measures announced in the Budget 2018 with the rise of the duty for high-value property transactions.

The bulk of residential properties in Singapore that cost over a million dollars are private apartments or houses, owned largely by higher-income locals or foreigners.

The budget announcement caused a slump of several real-estate stocks.

Local builders, whose shares had climbed earlier this year, were among the country’s worst-performing stocks as trading closed.

Bywftv