(Disclaimer: This blog post contains mature content and is restricted to adults age 21 and above. Readers under 21 or immature in sexual or financial intelligence are advised to seek parental guidance before continue reading.)
According to HSBC’s 2019 survey, Singaporeans spend an average of over three hours per week on property-related window shopping, reading real estate magazines, or browsing property online listings. It is three times longer than reading bedtime stories to their children.
The poll also finds that “extreme Singaporean property addicts” can spend over seven hours a week reading or researching about properties. They can do so even when they do not intend to buy a new home.
If these people are not planning to buy any property, why are they spending so much time researching the subject?
What is property pornography
According to Wiki, pornography or porn is writing, pictures and films which feature sex for the purpose of arousing people sexually, either to help them masturbate, or to prepare them for sex with a partner.
Similarly, property porn is articles, photos or videos which feature real estate for the purpose of arousing people’s desire to own a property, either to let them enjoy the pleasure of virtual home ownership, or to prepare them to buy a new home.
According to the Macmillan Dictionary, property porn is “television programme, magazine article, etc. which shows off desirable homes, especially houses in beautiful locations or with luxurious interiors”.
What are the property porn channels in Singapore that feature property listings, real estate articles or new launch advertisements?
For property portals, there are PropertyGuru, 99.co, SRX, iProperty, STproperty and EdgeProp. For news portals or local newspapers, we have The Straits Times, Business Times, Today, The New Paper, ChannelNewsAsia, Singapore Business Review, Yahoo News, etc. Not to mention all the property ads and programs on television or radio channels.
Who are the most popular property porn stars in Singapore?
According to Google Adwords, new launch projects occupying the top three positions with the highest average monthly searches are Treasure at Tampines (60,500), Parc Esta (49,500) and Riverfront Residences (27,100). Anything online about these three new projects are no doubt the most viewed property porn this year.
The great thing about watching property porn is: It is entirely the job of the cast and crew, the production and distribution companies to finance, produce, advertise and publish all the materials. The audience can watch all of them at no cost.
No wonder Singaporeans are obsessed with watching property porn. It is exciting. It is erotic. It is addictive. Above all, it is free!
Why we indulge in property porn
Besides offering all the pleasures without spending a single dime, watching property porn can also satisfy three basic human needs:
1. Fulfill your desire
How many times have you salivated over a luxury condo or a beautiful house that you can’t possibly afford? How many times have you fantasized about a lovely home that you can only own in your dream?
Now you can fulfill your unattainable dream right at your seat. Any time you can step inside and imagine yourself staying there.
Whenever you feel like it, simply go online for a quick fix of property porn. On your mundane workdays, you can take a break at whatever time to get a dose of property articles, pictures or videos. On your leisure weekends, you can spend as much time as you like to browse unlimited property listings.
2. Satisfy your curiosity
Are you always curious about what other people’s homes are like? Are you interested to see houses in your neighborhood or in certain districts? Are you a big fan of some celebrities and want to know more about them by visiting their homes?
With property porn, you can legally trespass onto private property and peep into someone else’s home. You can enter strangers’ homes at your discretion without anyone knowing.
Better still, you can safely hide behind your computer anonymously with whatever reactions you have. No one know how erotic you feel about those property pornographic pictures and videos.
3. Check what’s out there
Do you want to know what’s on sale or for rent and their asking prices? Do you need to check the latest listings of a neighborhood, estate or housing type? Are you interested in all the hot properties, fire sales or undervalued homes?
Besides local homes, there are also overseas properties in either familiar or exotic foreign countries. You can imagine owning a piece of it right at the moment, all with the click of a button.
The hidden dangers of property porn
Is watching property porn harmful? What are the dangers of indulging in this Singapore pastime?
1. Nothing is anonymous online.
Sex therapists remind us that there is no such thing as incognito porn. Nothing on the Internet is truly private or anonymous.
Whenever you watch porn, you will be tracked by your web browser. Likewise, when you search for properties or click to view a property ad, you are immediately being tracked. You will then be bombarded with different property ads and messages. There is also no guarantee that your browsing record and personal data won’t be sold to an advertiser for their next sales campaign.
2. There is no free lunch.
Many online ads and websites market “own multiple properties with little or no money down”, “buy properties using other people’s money”, or “own a new condo unit with combined income of $6,000”. Free seminars are organized to share the “secrets” to do so. These free seminars are perfect platforms to draw curious target audience and to do upselling over there.
Is that really for free? Is that really so affordable?
Woody Allen said the most expensive sex is free sex. The most expensive seminar is often a free seminar. The organizers are not charitable organizations. They will make sure that there is a price to pay.
3. More harm than good to the industry?
The main concern on the problem of porn addicts is not only their health and social life, but its impact on the country’s birth rate and future economy.
In 2016, Russia censored the two biggest adult websites Pornhub and YouPorn, together with other sites featuring porn content. Anyone trying to enter these sites would be prompted by an advice to “meet someone in real life”. Rumor had it that it’s the Russian government’s effort to save falling birth rate. Because fewer children implies a shrinking labor force, production and consumption in the foreseeable future.
When porn is readily available, why the hassle to go out and court women?
If this logic holds, is property porn a reason to blame for disappointing sales volumes for both new and resale private residential property transactions?
When property porn is everywhere, why the hassle to own the real thing? When people can enjoy the perfect virtual experience at any time any place and any way they want it, who bother to spend so much money for the actual experience?
4. Traffic doesn’t convert into sales.
It is a big dilemma for industry stakeholders when traffic from property pornography is irrelevant to sales results:
1) Singaporeans spend three hours per week on property window shopping. But the industry only moved over 900 new units and 800 resale units in the whole month of October. How many views or clicks can convert into sales?
2) Thousands of people flock to sales galleries at new launch preview weekends. But these days developers can only sell tens of units during the actual launch. Is majority of the people hoping to see only but not to buy?
3) Treasure at Tampines has average monthly searches of 60,500. But seven months after its launch in March, the project is still 63 percent unsold (1,395 unsold units out of 2,203 total units as of end October). Where have the visitors gone? Why is the search traffic not converted into actual sales?
4) There are thousands of listings flooding the property market. Do we have too many virtual showflats and virtual homes, but too little time to do window shopping?
3 advice for doing it right
In Singapore, there is sex education for children in primary and secondary schools. However, we don’t teach home purchase and financial planning in schools, thinking that the children can learn from their parents at home.
The fact is: The parents themselves often have no clue and they may do it the wrong way. As a result, many home buyers and aspiring investors learn the wrong things from the wrong parties, especially from the media or from people with vested interests. This is no different from teenagers picking up the wrong things about sex from watching porn.
Why can’t we give our children a formal education on home purchase the way we conduct sex education? There are at least three important things they should know:
1. Be ready before doing it.
Find out what you must know before taking the plunge.
– Read up on the property market from different sources, not just what the media want you to know.
– Conduct your own property research with raw data published by credible sources. Examples are the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Singapore Department of Statistics.
– Go through everything in the Property Soul blog, youtube channel and facebook page. Make sure you follow and subscribe for the new content.
2. Take precautions
Always practice safe property purchase. If you could take precaution, passion (would be) made possible.
– Check the affordability of your dream home with reliable tools from the government such as the CPF Board, not the rough calculations from property agents.
– Visit the MAS website to understand how to calculate the Total Debt Servicing Ratio for property loans. Check whether you can pass the stress test.
– Test your housing affordability using my 3-3-5 rule which is endorsed by the CPF Board.
3. Seek professional help early
Don’t make assumptions when in doubt. Consult experts in the field.
– Make sure you get the approval-in-principle from the mortgage banks before you place a deposit to buy any property.
– Check with your conveyancing lawyer before signing the Offer To Purchase or the Option to Purchase that comes with additional or exceptional clauses.
– If you find yourself addicted to property porn, you may find the right treatment and therapy by joining Property Club Singapore where you can meet fellow private property owners, buyers and investors in real life. You are welcome to sign up for the talks, workshops or online courses to satisfy your curiosity and passion for properties.
Why do u have so much angst against Property agents? You yourself are also earning money by conducting workshops no?
I hold no grudges against property agents. Why should I? Some of my friends are property agents. It is just their profession. I am only upset about dishonest or unprofessional agents who tarnish the reputation of the industry (and hurt the livelihood of my agent friends).
Organizing property talks and workshops is one of my hobbies. The difference between those free property seminars and my workshops is: Many of the former trick innocent homebuyers into buying the wrong thing at the wrong time so that they can make commissions. On the contrary, my talks and workshops warn people not to buy, especially not to the wrong thing at the wrong time, because I don’t earn any commission.
From something so serious and mundane, you convert it into something so sexciting?
Thanks. That’s the magic and fun about blogging!