S’pore buyers call for more property curbs

Buyers want more bargain, amid developers and sellers are screaming...

S’pore buyers call for more property curbs

SINGAPORE — Repeated rounds of cooling measures and loan restrictions may have put a squeeze on home prices here, but potential buyers continue to view affordability as a major concern and are calling for additional curbs to bring prices down even further.

A biannual survey by real estate portal iProperty.com showed yesterday that 51 per cent of the 2,853 Singapore respondents intend to buy a property in the next two years, with condominiums topping the wish list of many. However, 74 per cent said prices have yet to become more affordable.

General manager at iProperty.com Singapore, Mr Sean Tan, said: “The cooling measures have begun to lower prices, which respondents recognise and support … The question now is, when will buyers feel comfortable with adjusted prices and jump back in?”

Latest data from the Housing and Development Board and the Urban Redevelopment Authority show that current curbs such as the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty have started to take effect, with prices of public resale and private homes dipping in the first three months of the year compared with the previous quarter.

However, while acknowledging the effectiveness of the cooling measures, 52 per cent are calling for more restrictions.

To address the affordability concerns of buyers, developers have started to price units more competitively, Mr Tan said.

“Although respondents are concerned with financing options, more than half, or 51 per cent of them, have a budget above S$800,000 … Some developers are already pricing their projects or lowering prices of previously-launched projects to within this range,” he said.

The survey also showed buyers taking an interest in overseas properties, with 43 per cent of the respondents saying they intend to purchase a property outside Singapore in the next two years, and 26 per cent in the next 12 months.

Malaysia emerged as a top choice despite recent cooling measures introduced by the government, edging out Australia, the United Kingdom and Thailand.

“The survey shows consumers retain great confidence in the property sector,” said Mr Getty Goh, director of real estate research and investment firm Ascendant Assets.

“Prices are declining and, while buyers are currently hesitating, the appetite for property remains very strong at both the national and international level. The property market will certainly see a revival in demand; the big question is when. Timing the market is always tough.”
http://www.todayonline.com/business/spor...erty-curbs

It seems that in general Singaporeans are more interested in investing in properties than stocks.
Even when properties in Singapore are too expensive, we prefer to buy overseas rather than go into stocks.
I wonder why this is the case. Is this just a Singaporean trait or true for people in general?

Personally I find stocks "easier" to invest in, due to better liquidity, lower capital requirements, and more consistent dividend (for dividend stocks).
Renting out an apartment is harder.
I heard of people who have problem finding tenants, chasing for overdue rent, or even having to pay lawyers to evict people who don't pay rent and don't move out.

gzbkel,
I think everything has a cycle.

At this moment, I still think that quite a lot of Singaporean sees private property (condo&landed) as one of their 5 C's dream.

With enough budget ($800k cited by the survey), they are out to buy.

Only problem is the seller is not selling (prefers to rent out lar)
except developer who already marked down their selling price by a wopping 30% (star buy units law).

BTW, is condo one of your 5C dream, too?

Love Compassion

Many people i feel do not go read annual reports and look into ratio details. They can do badly in stocks if there is no strong regulatory protection. This is made worse by 2008 GFC and S-Chip saga. Prior to that Clob. SGX has self serving on all this but i feel they are changing.

In property, value will not go bust to zero. Limited land Singapore also mean the trend will be up long term. The debate is only on pace and timing. You can also collect rental and taxes are low in Singapore. You can feel and touch. You owned it. And can be leveraged through loan.

Sentiments for stocks had nt recovered since the great subprime crisis
Some more ppty had been gng up
Non stop in recent years. No surprise why ppl are more interested in ppty

(30-04-2014, 11:00 AM)gzbkel Wrote: It seems that in general Singaporeans are more interested in investing in properties than stocks.
Even when properties in Singapore are too expensive, we prefer to buy overseas rather than go into stocks.
I wonder why this is the case. Is this just a Singaporean trait or true for people in general?

Personally I find stocks "easier" to invest in, due to better liquidity, lower capital requirements, and more consistent dividend (for dividend stocks).
Renting out an apartment is harder.
I heard of people who have problem finding tenants, chasing for overdue rent, or even having to pay lawyers to evict people who don't pay rent and don't move out.

Base on data, Singapore retail market is only 9%, with 350,000 CDP accounts out of approx 3.8 mil residents. The comparative markets in the regions are Hong Kong (35%) and Australia (43%), both having much higher ratio.

So more room to grow in SGX by retail investors, after the doom in property market? I am cautiously optimistic on that

As history has shown, need a few mega IPO with >30% gainto suck people in. New CDP accounts was highly correlated to IPO returns.

The Singapore stock market is too small if more people become investors. The quality is rather low, too.

(30-04-2014, 11:00 AM)gzbkel Wrote: It seems that in general Singaporeans are more interested in investing in properties than stocks.
Even when properties in Singapore are too expensive, we prefer to buy overseas rather than go into stocks.
I wonder why this is the case. Is this just a Singaporean trait or true for people in general?

Personally I find stocks "easier" to invest in, due to better liquidity, lower capital requirements, and more consistent dividend (for dividend stocks).
Renting out an apartment is harder.
I heard of people who have problem finding tenants, chasing for overdue rent, or even having to pay lawyers to evict people who don't pay rent and don't move out.

IMO pp invest in property due to safe leverage. You wont see a property value drop substaintially whithin a month. You also wont see the value drop to 0 or get delisted. My friend invested in property since 2007 and I in stocks. I made quite ok returns while he made many times my returns. He is now a multi-millionaire and have 2 paid up properties all because of leverage.

One more thing to add. Stocks can be manipulated. And there are always insiders who take the cream.