Singapore Private Property Market - Boom Times for Some, Unlucky for the Majority
One expert Singapore Real Estate Marketer said, "Having been involved in the real estate industry in many countries over my 20 year career I have never seen such massive hikes in property prices like I have seen in Singapore since 2005.
" The Singapore government has introduced very important and effective cooling measures for example the non ownership of a private condo unless the sale of HDB, (Housing Development Board) goes ahead or for that matter the purchase of any deeded real estate, whether it is in Singapore or even overseas, the HDB must be sold.
So ultimately the practice of owning a HDB and renting it out to a tenant whilst owning a private condo is forbidden.
A buyer cannot own both.
This added to certain taxation and duty advantages aimed towards encouraging end user ownership of private property in Singapore, has surely seen the end to off plan flip investment there for quite a while.
Could this be a case of bolting the door after the horse is already long gone or a very clever and practical way to bring private property ownership back within the grasp of all Singaporeans as opposed to the very wealthy few? Probably the latter of the two...
Unfortunate for Most The flipping of off plan real estate as a short term money making opportunity has been the name of the game in Singapore since before 2005 fueled by such very popular proven practices in the USA, Europe, China, HK and more recently the UAE this short term attitude to real estate investment is the cause to what may become a long term problem for average Singaporean families who are just simply attempting to get higher on the property and social ladder, basically the Singapore private property market has priced the majority of Singaporeans and PR's ( Permanent Residents,) out of the market place, making the dream of the private condo and landed detached/ terraced home purchase, a luxury which will now only be enjoyed by wealthy foreigners and very few cash rich Singaporeans.
With thousands of brand new condos due to be built in Singapore in 2011/12 we also have to ask ourselves, "Who is actually going to rent these properties?" As we must assume that most have been purchased as an investment and whilst the option of flipping the property on to a new buyer has now depleted this still leaves a lot of investors with bank loans to re-pay and plummeting rental levels to cope with.
The cooling of the real estate market in Singapore by nature of the action itself will start defaults and bank repossessions similar to what has happened in the USA and Europe although in Singapore this will be a positive in the long run because it should bring private housing prices back within reach of Singaporean end users looking for a quality and affordable family home once more.
" The Singapore government has introduced very important and effective cooling measures for example the non ownership of a private condo unless the sale of HDB, (Housing Development Board) goes ahead or for that matter the purchase of any deeded real estate, whether it is in Singapore or even overseas, the HDB must be sold.
So ultimately the practice of owning a HDB and renting it out to a tenant whilst owning a private condo is forbidden.
A buyer cannot own both.
This added to certain taxation and duty advantages aimed towards encouraging end user ownership of private property in Singapore, has surely seen the end to off plan flip investment there for quite a while.
Could this be a case of bolting the door after the horse is already long gone or a very clever and practical way to bring private property ownership back within the grasp of all Singaporeans as opposed to the very wealthy few? Probably the latter of the two...
Unfortunate for Most The flipping of off plan real estate as a short term money making opportunity has been the name of the game in Singapore since before 2005 fueled by such very popular proven practices in the USA, Europe, China, HK and more recently the UAE this short term attitude to real estate investment is the cause to what may become a long term problem for average Singaporean families who are just simply attempting to get higher on the property and social ladder, basically the Singapore private property market has priced the majority of Singaporeans and PR's ( Permanent Residents,) out of the market place, making the dream of the private condo and landed detached/ terraced home purchase, a luxury which will now only be enjoyed by wealthy foreigners and very few cash rich Singaporeans.
With thousands of brand new condos due to be built in Singapore in 2011/12 we also have to ask ourselves, "Who is actually going to rent these properties?" As we must assume that most have been purchased as an investment and whilst the option of flipping the property on to a new buyer has now depleted this still leaves a lot of investors with bank loans to re-pay and plummeting rental levels to cope with.
The cooling of the real estate market in Singapore by nature of the action itself will start defaults and bank repossessions similar to what has happened in the USA and Europe although in Singapore this will be a positive in the long run because it should bring private housing prices back within reach of Singaporean end users looking for a quality and affordable family home once more.
Source...