Time flies. Since the setup of Property Club Singapore in April 2014, I have organized seven talks, run five workshops and spoken in seven property events. During this time, I have the privilege to find topics of common interests for property buyers and owners; get to know industry experts while inviting them to speak; and benefit from these gurus through their generous … [Read more...]
Downtown Line 2 – It’s closer than you think
On the last week of 2015, Land Transport Authority (LTA) was calling everyone to “Give Your Car A Break” and take a free ride on the newly opened Downtown Line 2 (DTL2). To show my support, I took a bus to the first station Bukit Panjang, then got on the DTL2 train that passed through twelve stations to the last stop Chinatown, while keeping check on the way the exact time … [Read more...]
When fear of downturn becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy
In my earlier blog post "Why property prices won’t be recovering any time soon", I talked about 'regime uncertainty' and how the recent China stock market crash further undermined market confidence. During the free fall between June 12 and July 7, in less than a month Chinese equity investors lost more than $3.4 trillion in equity value. By end of August, investors suffered a … [Read more...]
Why property prices won’t be recovering any time soon
There was a recent article in the paper with the headline “Time to review property cooling measures” (Straits Times, July 4). The argument is that, if private home prices have been down; HDB flat prices have dropped; oversupply has worsened; rents have weakened; interest rates have risen; the real estate industry has shed jobs, it may be time for the government to review the … [Read more...]
Enforcing the law for a more transparent property market
Since my letter to The Straits Times Forum in December 2014 regarding the accuracy problem of private property transaction data, URA had replied about improving the property market data and releasing the nett prices of individual units sold by developers by the first half of 2015. In URA’s 1 April 2015 press release, there were six major changes in the revision of the URA … [Read more...]