Slower growth in new credit card accounts

0.26% increase seen last year but existing card holders spending more

The growth in new credit card accounts slowed last year, but existing consumers have been spending more.

Last year, 606,844 existing and first-time credit card holders obtained one or more new credit cards, up from 605,248 in 2010, according to the Credit Bureau of Singapore on Thursday.

This is a 0.26 per cent increase, but a sharp slowdown from the 7.32 per cent increase in 2010.

The fall stemmed from a 0.41 per cent drop in the number of existing credit card holders who obtained new credit cards.

Home buyers borrowing less as mood of prudence takes hold

Buyers are putting proportionally more cash down when purchasing a home and cutting back on borrowings as a new mood of prudence takes hold.

The safety-first approach is reflected in data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) which shows that loan-to-value (LTV) ratios have fallen sharply.

An LTV ratio of 80 means the buyer has borrowed 80per cent of the home value.

The MAS found that loans with an LTV ratio of more than 80 per cent have fallen to 4.9 per cent of all outstanding mortgages in the three months to Sept 30 - the lowest since 2004.