Last Tuesday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore has urged households to be prudent when taking up new debt or committing to property purchase (“Households urged by MAS to stay prudent when taking up debt or buying property”, Channel NewsAsia, December 2, 2020). As of the third quarter of this year, about 36,000 mortgage relief applications from homeowners who couldn’t … [Read more...]
How to save air travel, retail and Reit
How much bad news can we take in one week? Singapore’s unemployment rate hit 2.9 percent in the second quarter. Under the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic, we still manage to maintain low unemployment. Thanks to the government’s more than $15 billion payout under the Job Support Scheme. It is also because our unemployment rate excludes the unemployed non-residents, the … [Read more...]
Will the cooling new sales market be frozen 2?
To divert public attention from the recent hot topic of supply glut in the property market, The Straits Times made use of November’s new sales to give developers a face-saving headline: “New private home sales rebound in November amid supply glut: URA data”. (The Straits Times, Dec 16) The article said “Excluding ECs, developers sold 1,147 units last month, 23.2 percent more … [Read more...]
Podcast Ep#9: The Truth Behind The New Curbs
Here comes part two of the new cooling measures show with the government raising five percent Additional Buyer Stamp Duty and lowering five percent for Loan-to-Value on July 5. In the midst of frantic last-minute buyers and discontented industry stakeholders, let me show you the true picture in this video: 1. How analysts prove to be the worst predictors again? 2. … [Read more...]
New cooling measures: The show has just begun
What a roller-coaster week for Singapore’s real estate market. It is a surprisingly well-coordinated good show put up by the Singapore government, complemented by the parts played by different stakeholders in the industry, with an unexpected ending of the cooling measures announcement. The show leading to the announcement Day 1: URA Q2 Estimate and PropNex IPO The … [Read more...]