Yet another measure to cool the SG property market

[Sabretan]

Maybe Govt doing this for those silly middle class speculators.....coz maybe SIBOR going up soon...South Korea alreadi made the first move to try to curb their inflation.....

[Piyopico]

Maybe Govt doing this for those silly middle class speculators.....coz maybe SIBOR going up soon...South Korea alreadi made the first move to try to curb their inflation.....

 

It is not maybe. It is definitely going up. Question is by how many basis point and whether it is after or before election.

[Sabretan]

Precisely why I say maybe SIBOR going up soon.....coz I don't know when n by how many bp....the maybe is tied to the time frame...by how much depends on their view of inflation n tryng to balance export competitiveness....but then I m not an econ professor....Tharman shld do a much better job considering how he could say we might end up w a budget deficit this year...guess what!!! the govt raked in 50billion dollar surplus....Trust our top brains ok...

[Chewbacca]

Haha. Property topic again. This is probably the hottest topic in Singapore for the past year.

 

Anyway, don't think it affects me at the moment. I'm still in the process of saving up to get one.

 

By the way, you can actually do 'loan extensions' instead.

 

But not really sure how it goes now. I did it....5 years ago?

 

Basically, if you loaned max amount (say, 80%) 10 years ago, now, after paying installments or property appreciate, the oustanding loan is actually 30% of the current price of property. You can actually arrange to have another 20% cashed out so you are loaning at max % again.

 

Kind of.

[Jasonjst]

I remember during those hey days of 1995, long queues were seen in many of the private property launches. The same thing is happening yet again.. humans never learn from history. Property prices have surpassed the 1996 peak. How much upside can there be? Very limited I can assure you.

 

And when property prices drop eventually.. Singaporeans will blame the government for not being proactive in curbing speculation. Damn if you do, damn if you don't. Whiners are everywhere...

 

"We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful." - Warren Buffett

 

Ya lor , how much can one make at current valuation ?

[Throttle2]

Haha. Property topic again. This is probably the hottest topic in Singapore for the past year.

 

Anyway, don't think it affects me at the moment. I'm still in the process of saving up to get one.

 

By the way, you can actually do 'loan extensions' instead.

 

But not really sure how it goes now. I did it....5 years ago?

 

Basically, if you loaned max amount (say, 80%) 10 years ago, now, after paying installments or property appreciate, the oustanding loan is actually 30% of the current price of property. You can actually arrange to have another 20% cashed out so you are loaning at max % again.

 

Kind of.

. and why would you want to do that?

 

short of cash? or to double up and leverage more?

Edited January 14, 2011 by Throttle2

[Jasonjst]

wat about commercial properties?

 

Commercial retail property is a cash cow !

[Fourth]

That is re-mortgaging. Can be done but there is minimum sum else the admin charges are not worth it. Probably need to pay up till 40-50% region. Note it is the cash portion not CPF portion that can be re-mortgage. It is better to verify with bank though.

[Jp66]

It is not maybe. It is definitely going up. Question is by how many basis point and whether it is after or before election.

MAS should have announce interest hike the same day with property cooling measure

Edited January 15, 2011 by Jp66

[Andrewl]

That would be a double blow to the property market. Might make those 'yaya' agents more modest. Always telling people govt measures have no use. =p

[Soya]

I remember during those hey days of 1995, long queues were seen in many of the private property launches. The same thing is happening yet again.. humans never learn from history. Property prices have surpassed the 1996 peak. How much upside can there be? Very limited I can assure you.

 

And when property prices drop eventually.. Singaporeans will blame the government for not being proactive in curbing speculation. Damn if you do, damn if you don't. Whiners are everywhere...

 

"We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful." - Warren Buffett

 

Tink those who kena burned the last round hv prob learnt their lesson.

 

Those ppl chasing prices r prob foreigners who r taken in by the image of the "utopian society" aka s'pore and are not aware of the pain suffered by many property owners in the past.

 

Another group might be those who were still in school when the '96 measures hit. Know of a few youngsters who graduated maybe 3-4 yrs ago amidst the '07 property boom and think the party will never end. Those that i know are extremely heavily leveraged i.e speculated into The Sail or Marina Bay Residences. Once the party stops, good luck to them.

[Voodooman]

MAS should have announce interest hike the same day with property cooling measure

 

It would if it could. Like HK, Singapore does not have an interest rate policy/regime.

 

SGD interest rate largely tracks US interest rate and is also affected by inflows/outflows of funds and MAS's USD/SGD exchange rate policy, I think. Any expert who can enlighten us on this issue? I have been wondering how higher rates in Asia (ie. Korea, Australia, Indonesia, China) will affect SGD interest rate as hot money should move to higher yield assets.

 

From my observations, short term SGD interest rate won't be moving north anytime soon, too much liquidity in the market, although long term rates have definitely moved up since Nov 10, meaning market is pricing in higher SGD interest rate going forward. Doubt property prices will correct significantly although volume is likely to drop considerably. Pain is needed for price to drop in a meaningful way although the smart ones have probably taken profit and are out of the mass market by now.

 

Anyway, with the overhanging policy risks, market won't be going anywhere soon, it would be interesting to see how market will react when the massive supply enters the market and interest rate starts to normalise in the next 1-2 years....

 

Read today's ST, 28 years old buying 2 condos to pun, are there many like her in today's market? Only the government knows.

 

[Voodooman]

That would be a double blow to the property market. Might make those 'yaya' agents more modest. Always telling people govt measures have no use. =p

 

It is not "yaya" but vested views, otherwise who is going to put food on their table.

 

No offence to property agents in Singapore but the super competitive dog eats dog agency business will continue to ensure agents look after their own interest first and those of their clients last, they are supposed to protect the interest of their principals but rarely, from my experience. Money versus conscience, the winner is obvious. Hence, never trust a property agent pushing a sale/purchase.

 

.... highest offer is X amount but owner rejected it .... your asking price is too high... hear until sian.

[Pufferfish1]

Singapore

Home > Singapore > Story

Jan 15, 2011

Property agent loses 'commission' suit

 

A PROPERTY agent who sued a buyer for $437,870 that she said he owed her as a commission has had her claim dismissed by the High Court.

 

Ms Agnes Foo helped Mr Ho Kiau Seng buy 11 apartments for $37 million in all. She claimed he agreed to pay her $437,870 for helping him get a 'good price'.

 

Mr Ho, 65, argued that although he had verbally agreed to pay her a commission, he had done so on the condition that she would resell the flats for him. This did not happen.

 

He had also been under the impression that she would get a commission from the seller.

 

Justice Lee Seiu Kin threw out Ms Foo's claim earlier this week. He also ordered her to hand back the $165,956 that Mr Ho had given her for her expenses.

 

The judge noted that it was 'unusual' for a housing agent to collect a commission from the buyer when she was expected to get her due from the seller.

 

Ms Foo was helping to market a housing project in Buckley Road near Newton in 2007 when she met Mr Ho, the managing director of steel products firm Leong Jin Corporation.

 

Three months later, he signed a deal to buy 11 units at the project, in his personal capacity.

 

He then made two payouts to Ms Foo over a period of nine months, for a total of $165,956.

 

They had different explanations for the payments. Ms Foo claimed they were partial payments of her commission. Mr Ho said they were advances for her expenses, made at her request.

 

Ms Foo, defended by lawyer John Tan, claimed that Mr Ho had agreed to pay a sum equivalent to 30 per cent of the savings she had obtained for him. This worked out to $437,870.

 

Mr Ho, defended by lawyers Hee Theng Fong and Sim Mei Ling from KhattarWong, denied making any such agreement.

 

Justice Lee said in his grounds of judgment that although Mr Ho had agreed to pay a commission to Ms Foo, the sums were not agreed upon until after the option to buy had been clinched.

 

There was no formula specifying what would be paid - there was only a promise to pay an unascertained sum. Justice Lee said the $165,956 in payments to Ms Foo constituted loans that should be repaid.

 

K.C. VIJAYAN

 

 

[Pufferfish1]

for them they dont buy 11 units , with the new measure just buy 6 still ok. or more

[Andrewl]

It is not "yaya" but vested views, otherwise who is going to put food on their table.

 

No offence to property agents in Singapore but the super competitive dog eats dog agency business will continue to ensure agents look after their own interest first and those of their clients last, they are supposed to protect the interest of their principals but rarely, from my experience. Money versus conscience, the winner is obvious. Hence, never trust a property agent pushing a sale/purchase.

 

.... highest offer is X amount but owner rejected it .... your asking price is too high... hear until sian.

 

true enough...how to convince the clients if they are not confident? =p

 

but I do know some agents who say "what can the govt do? see? so many measures and property sales still hit a high!"

[Viceroymenthol]

Tink those who kena burned the last round hv prob learnt their lesson.

 

Those ppl chasing prices r prob foreigners who r taken in by the image of the "utopian society" aka s'pore and are not aware of the pain suffered by many property owners in the past.

 

Another group might be those who were still in school when the '96 measures hit. Know of a few youngsters who graduated maybe 3-4 yrs ago amidst the '07 property boom and think the party will never end. Those that i know are extremely heavily leveraged i.e speculated into The Sail or Marina Bay Residences. Once the party stops, good luck to them.

 

The fortunes of the sail/marina bay residences owners are directly tied to the fortunes of the marina bay financial district and, by association, the future of singapore as a finance centre. Govt is banking (pun not intended) on singapore becoming a major finance centre in asia, hence the heavy investment and development of marina bay and the "new downtown" district as an extension to the existing shenton and tanjong pagar CBD. You may say that this would be the govt's last throw of the dice, as we have already lost manufacturing, losing out in shipping, not spectacular in pharma (probably gonna be a big failure), changi airport / CAAS no more #1, going downhill, etc.

 

Unless singapore loses its edge as financial centre of SEA, residential properties in the CBD will remain highly valued. Finance is one of the major drivers, if not the biggest, of singapore's economy, if that goes, think there is nothing left staying back in singapore for, as our living standards will regress back to the 20th century.

Edited January 15, 2011 by Viceroymenthol

[Greatbirdlegend]

It would if it could. Like HK, Singapore does not have an interest rate policy/regime.

 

SGD interest rate largely tracks US interest rate and is also affected by inflows/outflows of funds and MAS's USD/SGD exchange rate policy, I think. Any expert who can enlighten us on this issue? I have been wondering how higher rates in Asia (ie. Korea, Australia, Indonesia, China) will affect SGD interest rate as hot money should move to higher yield assets.

 

From my observations, short term SGD interest rate won't be moving north anytime soon, too much liquidity in the market, although long term rates have definitely moved up since Nov 10, meaning market is pricing in higher SGD interest rate going forward. Doubt property prices will correct significantly although volume is likely to drop considerably. Pain is needed for price to drop in a meaningful way although the smart ones have probably taken profit and are out of the mass market by now.

 

Anyway, with the overhanging policy risks, market won't be going anywhere soon, it would be interesting to see how market will react when the massive supply enters the market and interest rate starts to normalise in the next 1-2 years....

 

Read today's ST, 28 years old buying 2 condos to pun, are there many like her in today's market? Only the government knows.

 

Second that...any financial gurus around to enlighten us?

For now it does not seems like we will see another sudden dip and job loss so the other thing I see speculators are nervous about is if there's an interest rate increase.

 

http://www.theedgesingapore.com/blog-heads...for-policy.html