MORE HOME BUYERS CHOOSING SMALLER UNITS
The last two rounds of the government’s property cooling measures may have driven more home buyers to opt for smaller and cheaper homes, according to new research. Property analysts attributed the trend to the tighter loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for home buyers with existing mortgages. The LTV ratio has been cut twice since last year, from … Read more
ROLL OF HONOUR OR DISHONOUR?
There were two good property reads this week. One was a perceptive commentary which had “ghost towns” in its headline but it was not images of vacant HDB flats that came to my mind. But more of that later as I first need to lay the foundation for that story with the other, which should … Read more
‘LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION’ TO ‘DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS’
Gone are the days when location fundamentally mattered in most private residential purchases. While the recent aggressive bids in Government land tenders for centrally- located suburban sites showed the importance of location and how location still underpins a property’s value, home buyers are now increasingly open to properties in more diverse places. There are also … Read more
Singapore Shares Dive 6-Month Low
SINGAPORE – Singapore share prices closed at a six-month low on Tuesday amid Japan’s escalating nuclear crisis after Friday’s killer earthquake and tsunami. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Tuesday said there was a high risk of elevated levels of radiation from a quake-damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant that exploded earlier in … Read more
THREE EVILS IN THIS WORLD
There are three evils in this world, said one of my colleagues a few days ago. There are lies, statistics and research. He was joking, of course, but I understood his point. Compared to only five years ago, there is a lot more real estate stuff – data, comments and analyses – in the public … Read more
HARDER TO PRESERVE WEALTH THAN MAKE MONEY
Two stories caught my attention over the past week. The first was an announcement in Geneva by Switzerland’s Palaedino Group and Euroasia Investment. They unveiled plans to store and manage gold in Singapore for ultra-wealthy clients who have lost confidence in banks and paper money. The gold will be stored in the high-security Singapore FreePort … Read more
INSIGHTS – SINGAPORE CONDO PRICES
WHEN property owners or investors make their decisions to buy or to sell, they usually form expectations of how prices of property are changing in general over time. These changes are driven by common perception of the scarcity of land, the number of developments in the pipeline and estates under construction; by shifts in the … Read more
WILL COOLING MEASURES WORK THIS TIME?
Government measures are most effective when they are unexpected. That was why I concluded last week that the single most effective move was not the measures themselves but the timing of their introduction. In economics, this topic is covered under the expectations theory. If the market expects the announcement, players will take positions that will … Read more
ADDY LEE’S HOT ON PROPERTIES
CELEBRITY hairstylist Addy Lee has a motto that has kept him successful all these years. He believes a person has to always look forward, and to look towards money. For this reason, the 40-year-old upgraded to a new home a month ago. He hosted The New Paper at the apartment recently and said: “My first … Read more
HK Housing Market: Government should not be too protective
Hong Kong- The Party Secretary of Shenzhen, Wang Rong, had the following comment to make about the hot housing market: “Everybody feels the pressures from high cost of living in Shenzhen. But the government cannot therefore suppress the housing price from 20,000 yuan per square meter to 10,000 or 8,000 yuan. That would not be … Read more
PROPERTY MEASURES MEAN ONLY SHORT TERM EFFECTS: HK
Hong Kong – With either a bigger or smaller price bubble, the government has reasons to deter property market speculation and the ensuing overheating of the market. The lower-middle class and even middle class complain that they cannot afford to purchase their first private flat, despite several years of saving. At first, the banks were … Read more
WHAT THE GOVT PROPERTY MEASURES MEAN TO YOU
With the latest round of Government measures, there might be concerns among first-time home buyers, those looking to upgrade their properties as well as property investors on how they will be impacted. Let me share my views: First-Time Home Buyers and Property Upgraders For first-time home buyers, you need not worry as these measures do … Read more
LAY DOWN THE COOLING MEASURES TO BE TAKEN UPFRONT
In a Sunday feature article entitled “History-making year ahead”, eight events and issues were highlighted by the writer which are expected to loom large in 2011. Seventh on the list was how to cool the property market without crashing it. Last year, private housing prices eclipsed the previous 1996 peak, while the cash-over-valuation (COV) levels … Read more
ENBLOC SALES: DREAM OR REALITY?
In a changed market, there is little, if anything, to be excited about Several articles have been published in the media and by property analysts in recent months about the frenzy surrounding enbloc deals and the increasing values of these collective sales. Some of these are really bullish about the potential for such transactions this … Read more
ARE LANDED PROPERTY PRICES FOR REAL?
When the real estate figures for the private housing market for Q3 2010 were released in late October, the landed sector pulled off a huge surprise by going against the market trend. Instead of slowing down like the rest of the market as it absorbed the impact of the most recent set of cooling measures, … Read more
