Property activity can't be key growth engine
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Dec 31, 2011 - ST Forum
THE comments by the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore president on the recent property cooling measures are uncalled for ('Property curbs could hurt economy: Redas'; Wednesday).
Spiking property prices have led to home buyers taking up increasingly larger mortgage loans to finance their purchases, and if this is not nipped in the bud, the fallout from falling equity home values would be even harder to contain when the bubble finally bursts. It is a question of when, not if.
Having real estate activity constituting a significant portion of the gross domestic product (GDP) - the figure quoted was 5.2 per cent - is not a desirable state for the economy at all.
Real estate activity should not be a key driver of economic growth. I do not think we want to go the way of economies like Hong Kong, where real estate forms a significant chunk of the GDP and has been responsible for driving property prices beyond the reach of many home buyers.
It is not the responsibility of the Government to ensure that the developers continue to reap fat profit margins from selling homes at inflated prices to cash-rich foreigners, but it is certainly the Government's duty to make sure property prices, public or private, remain affordable to the majority of Singaporeans.
Andrew Hong
For the nation
'Amid a fragile economy, Redas should encourage its members to do their part in helping Singapore maintain a sustainable property market.'
MR ANG CHIN GUAN: 'The Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (Redas) said the sharply raised stamp duties could hurt the real estate market and the wider economy and added that land costs might increase and home values could fall. ('Property curbs could hurt economy: Redas'; Wednesday). It should explain this phenomenon to help consumers understand it better. Amid a fragile economy, Redas should encourage its members to do their part in helping Singapore maintain a sustainable property market. During the 2009 slump, landlords passed on up to 40 per cent of the property tax rebates of commercial and industrial properties to tenants.
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Imagine 1 million dollar hdb flats contributing to gdp.
Huat ah.
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Originally posted by charlize:
Imagine 1 million dollar hdb flats contributing to gdp.
Huat ah.
Quickly, let us all becoming housing agents, interior designers and own maid agencies.
Huat ah!
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Originally posted by mistyblue:
Quickly, let us all becoming housing agents, interior designers and own maid agencies.
Huat ah!
How you know if 80% of the people in sgforums aren't property agents already?
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Originally posted by charlize:
How you know if 80% of the people in sgforums aren't property agents already?
if not property agents, surely an insurance agents
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Singapore properties damn jia lak... Do you know Singaporeans afraid to quit their job (for the next 30 years!!!), felt under so much pressure just to pay off their 3 room HDB???
To put things in perspective, in South East Asia, although some people like Thailand people or Vietnam people they make less money than us, they can pay off their housing within 2 years of working (after that their money is to eat and enjoy life - you notice in some countries their pace of life more relaxed because they can afford to do so - in Singapore you try relax see whether HDB/SingTel/PUB/LTA will relax or not)... irony is that while Singaporeans become enslaved to their jobs for the next 30 years, all they are paying for is merely to exist under a shelter...
but I must say PAP damn good, still got 60% to vote for them... lol
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Originally posted by Jacky Woo:
if not property agents, surely an insurance agents
That could be the other 20% in sgforums.
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Let's face it. The government has allowed the private property market free play for too long a time. And this is despite the fact that Singapore is a small red dot with limited land space. Big developers with huge land banks hold the ordinary citizens ransom , in terms of property prices which has risen by leaps and bounds ove rthe last decade! To add to the problem Sentosa was carved out as a premium spot for bungalow developments catering to the elites , rich and famous and foreigners who wanted citizenship here.. Foreigners buying one of these premium real estate also obtained their Singapore citizenship thrown in. Once they become Singapore citizens they could then even speculate in landed properties on the mainland proper. in addition you have also foreigners who buy up "whole blocks " of apartments like the lady who bought up the blocks of apartment at Reflections. All these activities had a "overflow effect" to all levels of the property market. Thanks to our HDB under the last Minister, demand for HDB flats far outshot the supply stream. So even public housing resale prices jumped up significantly. All Singapore property owners want their property values to go up -but at a rational pace. This sort of speculative play at all levels of the market can only hurt the ordinary citizen in th elonger run, as it also causes inflation and rising costs all round in quick time. The only ones who gains immediately are the greedy developers agents , and the inland revenue department who can of course collect more stamp duties!
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Originally posted by charlize:
That could be the other 20% in sgforums.
I feel so alone - not a property agent or insurance agent making millions .... no wonder I cannot make enough to buy 'affordable' HDB :-P
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Originally posted by mistyblue:
I feel so alone - not a property agent or insurance agent making millions .... no wonder I cannot make enough to buy 'affordable' HDB :-P
Join the 4.5 million other people on this small island.
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Originally posted by Jacky Woo:
if not property agents, surely an insurance agents
reminds me of the Hitchhiker Guide...
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
reminds me of the Hitchhiker Guide...
Hitchhiker guide is about insurance agents?
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the need to lower the LTV (loan to value) limits is an important step and must go concurrent with the stamp duties...towards stablilizing the property market....but this must be closely monitored and adjusted....
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Originally posted by Fcukpap:
the need to lower the LTV (loan to value) limits is an important step and must go concurrent with the stamp duties...towards stablilizing the property market....but this must be closely monitored and adjusted....
Cannot touch stamp duties.
Major source of income for gov.
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cannot band smoking - liquor , gambling - their major source of income. gambling is the new 'innovative' income magnet
got some at sentosa and marina bay
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Anything to do with money cannot touch.
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Damn stressed.
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Damned stressed.
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Originally posted by charlize:
Damned stressed.
from drinking maple syrup