For Rent: (Lock 1rm)3rm 1+1 Yishun 106

Very nicely renovated!
(Lock 1rm) 3rm 1+1 Yishun 106
fully furnished with ac

$1.4k
avail: immed

Call Dinx (Your Kabayan ERA Agent)
9643.5138

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Location:Tuas Bay Walk,Singapore,Singapore

What now for the property market?

If, like me, you were home on Sunday night watching the National Day rally, you would have picked up on our Prime Minister’s remarks on how he intentionally avoided elaborating on the changes to the Singapore property market as that would be the media’s focus the following day.

Hence, the irony was not lost on me when headlines the next day were precisely that. Evidently, the subject of property is something very close to all Singaporeans.

So what are some of the changes? To summarise, the latest round of anti-speculation measures for private properties are as follows:

• Increase the holding period for imposition of Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) from the current one year to three years.
• Increase the minimum cash payment from 5 percent to 10 percent of the valuation limit and decrease the Loan-to-Value (LTV) limit for housing loans granted by financial institutions regulated by the MAS to these buyers from the current 80 percent to 70 percent for property buyers who already have one or more oustanding house loans at the time of the new housing purchase. 

The changes for HDB flats are as follows:

• Increase the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) for non-subsidised flats to 5 years.
• Disallow concurrent ownership of both HDB flats and private residential properties within the MOP.

I have only extracted the relevant portions, however if you are interested to read up on the complete list of changes, they can be found at www.mnd.gov.sg and www.hdb.gov.sg.

The Market IS Cyclical

The property market is cyclical by nature. While it is hard to predict the duration of each upswing or downturn, at some point the market will certainly change direction. To illustrate, Figure 1 shows the URA Private Property Price Index (PPPI) from the first quarter of 1975 to the second quarter of 2010 and the areas in red show phases of market contraction. Thus it is quite clear that growth will not carry on indefinitely and the question is not if prices will start to drop but when.
Figure 1: URA Private Property Price Index (PPPI) from Q1 1975 to Q2 2010
With the latest round of anti-speculation measures, we think the real estate market will start to drop. So what does this mean to property buyers?
If I was thinking of buying an investment property, I would sit out until the dust settles. However, if I have ample cash to spare and am looking for a property for my own stay, the next few months may present an opportunity to look for good deals as owners attempt to comply with new monetary and ownership guidelines.
What about property sellers? If I was set on selling my property, I will not hold out for a higher offer and proceed with the sale when I get my asking price. Although all of us hope to milk our property for all its worth, it may not be realistic to expect significantly higher offer prices in the near term, given the tightened lending conditions and increased property supply. 
When will we see the effects?
Presently, there is still some sense of cautious optimism. After all, the property market continued to grow rapidly despite the last two doses of anti-speculation measures. So will the market remain unscathed? I think not.
A good analogy to describe the property market would be an ocean-liner. Unlike a car that can start and stop almost instantaneously, an ocean liner responds much slower due to its massive size and momentum. To stop an ocean-liner, the propellers would have to go in the reverse direction to gradually bring the vessel to a stop.
Similarly, the propellers of the property market are already in the reverse gear. Although the market’s momentum could still carry property prices upwards for a while longer, the effects of the cooling measures will eventually kick in.
On the other hand, even if this round of measures are not able to break the proverbial camel’s back, you can bet that the Singapore government has other straws to do the trick. Ultimately, we should not doubt the government’s will to bring property price appreciation in line with “economic fundamentals”. However, what the magic figure is (for economic fundamentals) is anybody’s guess. 

By Getty Goh (courtesy of PropertyGuru)

HDB's For Rent!

(Walkup apt)3rm 2+1 Yishun 106 fully furnished
2ac

$1.6k (only chinese)
avail: immed

*****
3rm 2+1 AMK 155
Fully furnished with ac,
nice $1.8k
avail: immed


****
3rm 2+1 Hougang 674
Fully furnished
ac

$1.4kneg
(worker condition)
avail: 14/9

welcome cobroke. Call/sms admond to cfm.


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Location:Tuas Bay Walk,Singapore,Singapore

For Rent: Condo 4+1 St.Michael Regency

Condo 4+1 St.Michael Regency

Fully Furnished with ac
$3.8

immediate
all races welcome

Hurry before it's taken!


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Location:Tuas Bay Walk,Singapore,Singapore

Top cop to police real estate agencies

The Straits Times, Aug 31, 2010

Top cop to police real estate agencies

CPIB director to be seconded to help head new regulatory body

By Lester Kok


A TOP cop will help helm the new Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) - a regulatory body which is tasked to regulate the property agents.

Mr Soh Kee Hean, director of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) since 2005, will be seconded to the Ministry of National Development (MND) to take up the position of deputy executive director (designate) of the CEA.

The new statutory board will be formed later this year and will take over the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore's (Iras) role in licensing real estate agencies and their agents.

CEA will have the power to investigate consumer complaints against housing agents and agencies, and will have the authority to mete out penalties, such as suspensions and fines.

Rogue housing agents have plagued the property market of late, with the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) receiving an average of over 1,000 complaints a year.

In the first four months of this year, Case received 358 complaints. Last year, 1,079 cases were brought to its attention, while the figure was 1,100 in 2008.

Complaints ranged from agents failing to give proper advice and using misleading sales tactics, to the non-honouring of agreements. There were other questionable practices, such as agents taking commissions from both buyers and sellers of flats.

There are about 25,000 real estate agents and 1,700 agencies in Singapore.

When contacted, local real estate companies welcomed the news.

ERA Asia-Pacific associate director Eugene Lim felt that Mr Soh's new appointment will benefit the industry, by weeding out the crooks.

He said that as 'Mr Soh comes from a background dealing with corrupt practices', he believed the intention was to tackle the problem of 'shady agents'.

Likewise, PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail felt that this move showed the determination of the MND in ensuring that the new council 'will work effectively in upgrading the professionalism of the real estate industry'.

Mr Soh, a former deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) as well as a former commander of the Geylang Police Division, will be replaced by Mr Eric Tan Chong Sian.

Mr Tan, the commissioner of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), will relinquish his current position tomorrow and will take office as CPIB director on Oct 1.

When contacted, both Mr Soh and Mr Tan declined to comment as they have yet to take up their new roles.

Taking over Mr Tan will be Mr Clarence Yeo Gek Leong, the current deputy commissioner (operations) of ICA.


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For Rent : (5A) Blk 253 Bishan 碧山 3+1 (Singapore)

(5A) Blk 253 Bishan 碧山 3+1

- high floor corner unit
- furnished
- 2 ac
- available 1st September

Asking $2.200





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For Rent: Blk 510 Bukit Panjang Ring rd 武吉班让 3+1

View 730PM today
Blk 510 Bukit Panjang Ring rd 武吉班让 3+1

lift level
2 min walk Segar LRT to choa chu kang MRT
furnished, 2
ac
neat house
avail 15th Sept

$1.6k prefer less pax.




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