The study noted that mortgage credit expanded across the region, albeit at a
slower pace than six months ago, while monetary policy remains highly
accommodative - which has lowered mortgage interest rates, and eased
mortgage financing conditions.
"At the same time, cooling measures have been imposed to tame house prices in place in several
markets in the region. These policies have had some success in
controlling house-price inflation in China and Singapore," economists at
S&P said.
Among other things, the report also highlighted that public housing in Singapore is still undergoing "mild price
declines", while the private residential market improved in the first
quarter of this year, following a long period of price falls.
Said S&P Asia-Pacific economist Vishrut Rana: "Out of the markets we
cover, prices in the latest quarter only fell in three places: mainland
China's Tier 1 markets, public housing in Singapore, and Sydney."
Australian residential property markets appear to have slowed, particularly in
Sydney, where additional housing supply is in the pipeline, the report
said.
"Several residential market indicators, including residential transactions and housing starts, are showing cyclical
downturn. Macro-prudential policies have been effective in slowing down
new mortgage borrowing, particularly by investors."
In China, tight house-price cooling measures in Tier 1 cities led to property
prices decreasing slightly for the first three months this year, and
cooling measures in Tier 2 cities, while milder, remained very
stringent, S&P said.
Although mortgage credit growth has slowed partly due to these measures, China's residential mortgage market
is still expanding at the fastest rate in the region, the report noted.
Conversely, stringent price-cooling measures in Hong Kong have not been very
effective in slowing house-price inflation due to strong property
demand.
"Hong Kong's residential property market stands out in the region for being unstoppable," said Mr Rana.
Nonetheless, taken together, residential property markets in the Asia-Pacific region
have remained resilient since October - thanks to favourable economic
conditions, tight labour markets, and an accommodative monetary policy,
S&P noted.
