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no more bypassing the 5 yr loan and paying 40 to 50% DP anymore

this is the trend. land alone already cost smelly smelly $500+ psf after build up + landscape + profit + this&that ... no $1,000+ psf no talk simi curb also no use la ... http://www.todayonline.com/business/tampin...pite-loan-curbs

Good to see who esle will be affected with the CM1 for cars. Grooming and paintworks mentioned so far SINGAPORE: Motor firms Channel NewsAsia spoke with said recent loan curbs on car purchases are having negative ripple effects on some vehicle-related services. They said this effect is likely to be more pronounced, with a temporary reprieve on borrowing limits for used car dealers ending on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the loan curbs set by authorities in February will return in full force. Used car dealers cleared much of their old stock in the 60-day reprieve period given by authorities, where people could take up to 100-per cent loans for car purchases. It applied to some 7,000 second-hand vehicles, with over 4,800 sold. Car dealers have been saying second-hand luxury vehicles are difficult to sell, even if buyers can take up full loans to buy them. Such cars simply do not suit the needs of the many budget-conscious people looking for cheaper, second-hand buys. With the reprieve period over, the maximum borrowing limit is 60 per cent of the purchase price. Dealers said the high down-payment needed to get a vehicle is causing the new supply of used cars for sale to shrink. Owners are likely to hold on to their old rides since conditions for getting a new one are tough. Mike Wee, owner of Mayfair Motoring, said: "People will maintain their car, drive their car until almost the end, until the car really needs to (be scrapped). Then probably they will change to another car." Fewer used cars for sale also means less need for some vehicle-related services. Kenson Goh, sales executive at Car Design, said: "The spray-painting and the car-grooming sector will be affected. Because basically we can't move our old stock, we aren't able to bring in new stock. So therefore we're unable to send over new stock over to the spray-painting or car-grooming companies." Empty shop spaces at the Automobile Megamart in eastern Singapore showed how firms have downsized operations. Motorviva sells commercial vehicles, which are not hit by loan curbs. It has taken over a prime spot at Automobile Megamart, vacated by a used car dealer. Joe Quah, assistant sales manager at Motorviva, said: "The car loan curb - I think all of us know that it has hit the market quite badly. So I think that gives us opportunities to find this very good location which we have always wanted." With business slowing, car dealers said rental rates at Automobile Megamart have fallen about 40 per cent. - CNA/xq

1/3 of private properties bought by foreigners, and out of this, 1/3 is PRC seems harmless on the paper.. but greedy govt and private developers will push for more lands to be freed up to build more condos, so as to earn huge by selling them to the large demands from the foreign buyers until a certain point that our heritage is compromised think of Old School and Bukit Brown (they already said sooner or later it will be cleared for high end residences) in the end, foreigners happy that they have assets in a socially safe and disaster-free country private developers happy that they earn much from the sales SLA and URA happy of the large profits from the lands sold govt happy as revenue surges who are the unhappy ones?

Beijing steps up car curbs Thousands of new cars hit Beijing's streets every day [GALLO/GETTY] Authorities in Beijing have reinstated some of the traffic rules that were used during the Olympic games to clean up the city's air pollution and ease the Chinese capital's chronic road congestion. Starting from Wednesday, officials said 30 per cent of government vehicles would be taken off Beijing's streets. Later this month, all cars will be banned from roads one weekday per week, depending on the final number on their registration plates. Government vehicles are said to account for about 10 per cent of the city's more than three million cars and vans. Tough restrictions on car usage during the August Olympics helped dramatically improve Beijing's air quality, taking pollution levels down to their lowest level in 10 years. The measures had limited private motorists to driving on alternate days, removing more than a million of the city's 3.3 million vehicles from the streets each day. Construction sites and dozens of factories were ordered to close for the duration of the games. The special restrictions for the Olympics were lifted on September 20 and since then the traffic gridlock and much of the pre-games smog has returned. As part of the new measures the official Xinhua news agency said employers were also being asked to adopt more flexible working hours - or to encourage working from home if possible - to help ease congestion. Recent reports in state media have also said Beijing was considering steep hikes in parking fees to discourage driving in the city. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pac...8929415251.html

Malaysia will scrap fuel price controls in August and allow pump prices to rise in line with market rates as part of plans to cut the government's burgeoning subsidy bill, the domestic trade minister said on Tuesday. Looks like Malaysian drivers r screwed now http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/latest...,281981,00.html?