It was exciting to see Nassim Nicholas Taleb presenting "Antifragility: Gaining From Volatility, Stress And Disorder" in the open space outside National Library last Wednesday. Like a loyal fan longing to meet her idol, it made my day when I managed to get his autograph at the end of the session. (P.S. I hope that I can cheer my readers up the same way when I autograph my … [Read more...]
How necessary is the exemption of the TDSR rules?
On Monday evening, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) suddenly issued a press release to broaden the existing exemption from the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) rules introduced in June last year. Fine-tuning financing restrictions a norm? Financing restrictions introduced by MAS under the context of prudent borrowing are usually made effective the following day. … [Read more...]
Till ‘tax’ do us part
In Singapore, there was a recent rush for 'decoupling' – transferring ownership of properties previously under joint ownership to one of the owners. The legal transactions allow the exiting parties to be treated as first-time buyers when buying their next property, so that they don't have to pay the 7 percent additional buyer’s stamp duty, as recently introduced by the … [Read more...]
Who are affected by the new property cooling measures?
The objective of the comprehensive package of property cooling measures, according to the government, is "to ensure a stable and sustainable property market". Government intervention can definitely delay the onset of a bubble burst, making the market 'sustainable' for the time being. As for 'stable', I don't think this is what investors/speculators or real users want. … [Read more...]
The timing of the 7th round property cooling measures
The embracive property cooling measures that introduced last Friday on January 11 cover almost all aspects of the property market, including HDBs, ECs, private residential and industrial properties. To be fair, the government also makes it a point not to miss out any segment of buyers, namely Singaporeans and non-citizens; individuals and companies; 1st time and subsequent … [Read more...]