February 20, 2010 – 8:45 am
Tougher rules and taxes could possibly frighten some property speculators, especially those that truly do not have the appetite for such a risky business. Truth be told, a 3 % isn’t truly going to turn away true blue property investors and those that have been investing and flipping for a long time. Any investor would tell you that if the profits that have deducted the cost of funds, any legal expenses, GST and now Stamp Duty, some of them will tell you it is worth the while when the profits are right.
Of course in such risky business, there are times when bad decisions are made, sums calculated wrongly and losses are part of the territory. Such costly mistakes do not only hurt the individuals or groups that go into such business, but the economy and society as a whole. Artificially inflating the market to achieve personal gains are what speculators do, and that is why for the general health of the real estate market and the economy as a whole the government has to step in to cool the buoyant property market, which started to move again in January this year.
The tightened rules on the mortgage loans only allowing 80% of the purchase price doesn’t have such a great impact on the speculators, but rather hitting some marginalised (and genuine) buyers. I truly disagree with this move. As it really hurts those that are not trying to artificially inflate the market, but buyers who are looking to buy for their own, especially those that are wanting to start a family. The impact won’t be that great on sales figures though. Buyers will just have to stick to buying property which they can truly afford, and not try to over-stretch themselves.
The global economy is recovering, US economic data shows improvement, and hence our Singapore government is concerned that the global economic recovery will cause an overheating of the property market, and the risky global economic factors may hurt many should the market correct itself. I seriously doubt so. Its a little far fetched, but as usual, in Singapore, we’re all Kiasu, so its better to be prepared then not to be.
February 19, 2010 – 9:59 am
Well this doesn’t seem to come as a surprise, our public housing is touted as one of the best in the world. Many other countries come research Singapore’s success in public housing. Despite it being public housing, our HDB estates in no manner whatsoever look drab, badly managed, dirty and smelly. As a matter of fact, some look so good that you may think that they’re private developments, with manicured bushes, clean common areas.
The Sample Household Survey (SHS) 2008 – which polled almost 8,000 households – found that 85.8 per cent of residents considered their flats worthwhile. HDB said yesterday that this was mainly because of ‘the appreciation in flat value, good location, proximity to facilities, and affordability’.
And what is there not to be pleased about your HDB flat? Singaporeans are a pragmatic group of people. It all comes down to – what am I going to get when I sell this place, how much money am I going to stand to profit from the sale. If it ain’t enough, I ain’t selling – seems to be the response of some individuals (about 15 of them, aged between 35 – 50s).
Then I asked, would you pay more for your HDB flat if it was an upgraded estate or a non-upgraded estate, you’ll surprisingly find that the response comes back mixed. ‘Its outside my flat, so why do I care’ was one response. Many estate upgrading projects to provide more aesthetic features such as landscaped parks and gardens, modern playgrounds for the kids, bbq pits and improved walkways with ramps and hand rails is lost on some.
But truly, no one likes living in a run down neighbourhood. Behind the facade of nonchalance, HDB dwellers are proud and happy with what they’ve got.
January 30, 2010 – 3:35 pm
Holland Hill Lodge is a small 3-storey residential development near the junction of Holland Road and Queensway. Completed in 1997, this development looks older than it actually is. The size of the land isn’t very large, just slightly above 9000 sqft with only 11 units in a single block and a basement car park.
The marketing agent Credo Real Estate announced the tender for the freehold residential development with the asking price of between $15 million and $16 million. This translates to a land price of between $1,038 per square foot (psf) per plot ratio (ppr) and $1,107 psf ppr.
The marketing agent said the property can be redeveloped into a 12-storey boutique residential development with 22 apartments averaging 620 sq ft in size.
