MAJOR ISKANDAR PROJECT ABORTED

This is the kind of headline that make for more nightmares among Iskandar investors.

Straits Times, 26 May 2015

But what is more worrisome is the line in paragraph three of the article which noted that the news was revealed to Straits Times recently.

I wonder how long ago was 'recently'? 

Cheerios.

THE HOPELESS CASE OF ISKANDAR

As usual, the latecomers to Iskandar, or any other red hot deals, are at the losing end.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore sounded the alarm today in Parliament via a PQ answered by MAS board member Lawrence Wong. With 336k homes in the pipeline at Iskandar, the number outnumbers Singapore's and is scary.

But is the alarm too late?

And our dear TDSR only applies to borrowing from local finance institutions. I do not believe it curbs you if you intend to borrow from the foreign country where your target property is situated in.

So how? Die.

SOME GOLD FROM THE GOH

Sorry Goh, but I could not remember when was the last time something gold came out of your Goh Column in ST. But nevertheless, I managed to finish your piece today.

The idea of your career or profession or even your job having an influence on your investments intrigued me. I read on and eventually agreed with your observations and suggestions.

From the looks of it, I'd better prepare myself for more equity buy-ins. My broker would be happy. But I do not preclude myself from bonds as well. Especially AAA-rated ones which are getting rarer than that flying snow fox in Bukit Timah Hill. 

For the more entrepreneurial folks out there, here's another gold from Goh.

But bonds are not the only safe havens you could consider, there are properties in neighbouring as well as European/American markets which you may wish to KIV.

But my personal take is...things are too expensive now. Wait up a bit.

Until then, I will wait for more gold from Goh. 

By the way, I usually read the last paragraph of his column first. It's a good yardstick on the quality of the piece.

Cheerios.

THE SINGAPORE PROPERTY MARKET IS GETTING CRAPPY

The weekend papers are usually dominated by retail, property and auto ads. The introduction of the ABSD and TDSR killed some of that revenue as property firms pulled ads given dismal sales.

This weekend brought new lows.



I remembered taking advertising and copy-writing classes many years ago....and the first thing they taught was USP. Or the Unique Selling Point of the product or service offered.

I guess in the case of Kingsford Waterbay, its USP is its cheapness. That ad came on Saturday.

The next day came more dismal news in the form of an article in the Sunday Times.

It would seem that people are not able to fork out cash or are willing to get into debt for their second bite at the HDB cherry. These folks have apparently counted their sums and realised that sales proceeds from existing flat would be less and thus affecting their finance and reno of the new flat in waiting. So says Chris from Chris International.

I think more of such pain would come. Or is this the proverbial 'bottom'?

I leave it to your own conclusion.

HDB RESALE PRICES SLIDE FURTHER...GOOD NEWS OR BAD?

A 1% drop for the first quarter flash estimates by HDB on resale flat prices continues the slide downwards. What does this mean for the man in the street? 

If the 1% decline is maintained for four quarters, that would conservatively shave 4% off prices by end 2015. Not a small sum I would say.

BTO pricings are in some ways affected and influenced by resale prices in the vicinity. Sure, a broad discount is applied on new offerings. But should the resale prices be on the down trend, could we possibly see cheaper BTOs being offered?

I am not sure. But it will help out on the pockets a bit for the new home owner. It's also any body's guess as to how sellers of resale flats would take this news.