Will HDB sales of $1million be the norm?

Reports of 3 houses hitting the $900k mark has sparked new apprehenSion whether that will be the norm. Here’s why I don’t think HDB homes won’t cross the $1 Million mark. At least not yet. The bumper crop of BT0s will stabilise the market in 2 to 3 years. Prices have started bottoming out..valuation & [...]

Interview on TV

So i got interviewed on Vasantham Express..Great experience..Actually there was not enough time to explain a lot more details, so here’s my take of the outlook for property market. First and foremost, to describe the market, is an uphill task. How would you explain the throngs of people buying condo units at showrooms? BTOs are [...]

Private homes sales expected to rise even further

Sales of residential private housing in the first half this year are set to beat the second half of 2010. But analysts said that will not prompt the government to introduce more property cooling measures in the short term. However, they noted that the last round of cooling measures may have had an unintended effect [...]

Useful iPhone and iPad applications(HDB & URA) for Agents

Just released: for private sales: search under applications search : URA PMI Also released for HDB, search HDB MOBILE

Follow up: iPad2 or Xoom?

In my previous post, i talked about what kind of tablets we should get. And Mar 2nd, we saw the launch of iPad2 What a load of improvement: thinner by 33%, dual A2 chip,which is faster, gyroscope, and new iOS 4.3.. All is good and well. But the Xoom honeycomb handles notifications, multi-tasking and app [...]

Housing Supply: Allocating scarce resources

The property market has a history of repeating itself. I guess that is why they call it the property cycle. There is a huge clamour for flats today, and we can’t seem to build flats fast enough to satisfy demand. Yet, when I became Minister for National Development in 1999, one of my first challenges [...]

‘CRAZY PRICES’ IN DISTRICT 10

Luxury homes in the area now rarely sell for less than $1,000 psf The luxury end of the housing market remains hot as a bungalow in the prime district at Leedon Park fetched a record $61.4 million in December last year, or $1,467 per sq ft for the 41,853 sq ft site. The site is [...]

New cooling measures by Government

This just in: Sellers Stamp Duty(SSD) has been raised from 3 years to 4 years. The rates are on a sliding scale at 16,12,8 and 4%   The Loan to Value(LTV) will be lowered to 50% on housing loans or property buyers who are not individuals. The LTV would be lowered to 60% for individual [...]

Median price and COV-3rd Quarter

Property prices may go up

SINGAPORE’S central bank said low borrowing costs and excess liquidity globally may push the island’s property prices higher again, setting back government efforts to cool the market, reported Bloomberg news. There is a risk that financial institutions may ease lending standards and extend more loans to make up for narrowing interest margins, the Monetary Authority [...]