Wartime is a good test of financial resilience. The notorious “Red Horse and Red Sheep Calamity” (赤马红羊劫) comes every 60 years. It is infamous to bring along fire, volatility, riots and warfare. Coincidentally, it falls in the years 2026 and 2027. While we were still celebrating Chinese New Year, the United States and Israel couldn’t hold their horses and attacked Iran on … [Read more...]
Rate cut and where to park money
Rate cut talks have dominated finance news for over a month now. What a breath of fresh air. It gives us hope after alarming events in the recent global winding of Japanese yen carry trades, or frantic sell-off of equities and cryptocurrencies. Rate cut twists and turns In fact, since end-2022 some analysts have been speculating that Federal Reserve would lower interest … [Read more...]
Can we repay our debts?
2023 is another year of high interest rates. Borrowers with outstanding debts from the banks are constantly under pressure. With four more months to go, the Federal Reserve shows no sign of decelerating the engine of rate hike. The big question is: How much longer can individuals, SMEs, corporations and governments hold onto their high-interest debts? The trap of … [Read more...]
Where’s the property market now and what’s next
The property market suddenly runs out of steam: Transaction volumes drop much lower. The private home for sale market is quiet. Condo rental deals also take much longer to close. Even property agents are taken by surprise. What is happening in the property market? How did it happen? Was it because of the 0.4 percent price fall in 2nd quarter flash estimate … [Read more...]
Why private home buyers aren’t buying now
The pool of private home buyers is fast shrinking in the current property market. While HDB resale flat prices are on the rise, why are HDB owners not upgrading? Other countries are fighting hard to avoid slipping into recession. In contrast, the economy of Singapore still looks fine at least on the surface. Where have all the private home buyers gone? Private home sales … [Read more...]