I’m buying it

The results show that ‘62% of Singapore survey respondents indicated that they were in the market to purchase a property in the next six to twelve months’.

There’s a catchy headline that says ‘nearly two thirds of Singaporeans in the market to purchase property in the next 12 months’.

If you read further, you’ll find the survey is ‘leveraged’ on their website iproperty.com.sg ‘to gauge the opinions of consumers on the property market’.

I am confused: If people are not looking for properties, why do they go to this site?

Isn’t it shoppers stepping into a shoe boutique want to buy shoes in the first place? Should the shopkeeper ask whether they are buying now or later?

So, what is iProperty.com really saying about these ‘survey findings’?

To the dear advertisers (agents and developers), the results prove that the website draws traffic from real buyers — the exact reason why they’re buying advertising space from this site.

Why don’t we try the same question at all relevant places?

What about at a VVIP new launch? I’m sure that close to 100% of the customers there will say they are buying it now.

Let’s go to a showflat. I bet more than 62% will say they will buy in less than 6 months.

I had a dream last night.

I walked into a showflat to do a simple market survey, asking only one question, “Are you buying a property in 6 to 12 months?”.

All respondents said yes.

To check whether there is any correlation, I did the survey a second time using a lie detector.

Here are the findings:

– 10% of respondents gave a positive reply.

– 60% answered “maybe”, “not sure”, “let’s see” or “it all depends”.

– 15% confessed that they are here for their own market survey.

– 10% said visiting showflat is one of their favourite pastime.

– 5% simply put “It’s hot outside. I’m here for the aircon and a free drink”.

So I took a free drink too and woke up from the dream with a smile.