Singapore still attractive

[La la la]

Influx of expats fueling Singapore housing boom


AFP, SINGAPORE
Wednesday, Jul 11, 2007,

"The owners are getting greedy. It's really a landlord's market right now."

property agent

Malaysian financial executive Ron Tan wasted no time in renewing his lease for a three-bedroom apartment in Singapore when his landlord decided to raise the monthly rent by S$300 (US$199).

"I see no point in haggling. The way the market is right now, I think my landlord is very reasonable," said Tan, who counts himself among the lucky few to escape the pain of a red hot property market.

Other foreign executives have no such luck as they find themselves hit with rents that have increased by as much as 50 percent, or more, amid a property boom in the city-state.

At the Bayshore Park condominium, popular with foreigners because of its closeness to the beach, monthly rents for a two-bedroom unit have doubled to US$2,800 from a year ago.

"The owners are getting greedy. It's really a landlord's market right now," said a property agent who wanted to be identified only as May.

Singapore is now the eighth most pricey city in Asia in terms of housing costs for expatriates, says a global human resources firm.

The firm's latest survey of global accommodation costs showed rents for a three-bedroom apartment in residential areas popular with expatriates jumped 15 percent from 2005 to an average US$5,113 a month last year.

Fueling the rental boom is the huge influx of foreigners into the Southeast Asian state as the government seeks to recruit more skilled professionals to augment its local workforce.

Foreigners make up 18 percent of Singapore's 4.4 million population. The government is planning for a population of 6.5 million over the next 50 years and experts say the bulk of the additional 2 million people will come from abroad.

Singapore's robust economy is also a factor behind the current rental spike with more multinational companies (MNCs) relocating staff to the city-state, which serves as their regional headquarters, observers said.

"Basically, if we look at the causes of this, a lot of it is being driven by demand."

"The economy in Singapore is doing very well. MNCs are expanding their operations and are bringing in more expatriates," he said.

Global property consultancy expects the rental crunch to worsen with more foreigners expected to arrive as the government seeks to further entrench the city-state's status as a regional business hub.

"We expect the rental market to continue to perform well. The number of foreigners is expected to increase with the expansion of companies as well as the increasing number of new firms, especially from the financial sector."

Despite the massive rental hikes, recruitment specialists do not expect Singapore to surrender its cost advantage over arch economic rival Hong Kong anytime soon.

The southern Chinese territory is still the world's most expensive city in which to rent a three-bedroom apartment and living costs are generally regarded as higher than in Singapore.

"Rentals have also risen in Hong Kong and it is generally accepted to be a city that has a higher cost of living versus Singapore, so the differential still exists."

For foreign executives or companies planning to relocate staff to the region, accommodation cost is not the only factor taken into account.

"From our perspective, we are not seeing this as a reason for people to relocate either as individuals or as corporates," he said. "It's a consideration but it isn't the major driving factor and Singapore is very much an attractive city for people to live and work and for organizations to headquarter into."

Hong Kong's worsening pollution problem has also worked to Singapore's advantage.

"What we are experiencing more and more is that many people, particularly with young families, would like to relocate from Hong Kong to Singapore because they perceive Singapore to be a cleaner city and they are concerned about the levels of pollution in Hong Kong especially if they have young children," he said.

[new lease]

Malaysian financial executive Ron Tan wasted no time in renewing his lease for a three-bedroom apartment in Singapore when his landlord decided to raise the monthly rent by S$300 (US$199).

His rent was raised by just S$300? Must have been one of the lucky ones

[Big Ron]

With a name like 'Ron Tan' i've got a mental image of a perma-tanned and bejewelled Big Ron Atkinson negotiating his rent with 'Deadly' Doug Ellis. That'll be $300 less per month to spend on pina-colladas on holidays to the Algarve for the big man.

[thatstotalcrap]

USD2800 for two bedrooms at the bayshore? that's total and utter nonsense! I just signed a two-year lease at 2.2k (SGD!) and was shown nearly half a dozen other two bedroom apartments all asking 2.2-2.7k (SGD!)

Sounds like a load of BS to me!

[The media is in cahoots]

... with the property people.

You should know that by now.

Talking up the market.

[Free market?]

All this talk about booming property and the economy but e'one is missing one vital point: S'pore ain't a free market; it's a managed economy. It's taking steps to delink its global economic dependency which will help insulate it from further global shocks a little, but day-to-day it's all about micro-management and mutual benefit. If you're in (the circle) you win. If not, you miss out. 

[Bayshore v Bayshore Park]

Isn't the "The Bayshore" different to "Bayshore Park".  I think one is a lot cheaper than the other....

[thatstotalcrap]

yes they are different, but i was talking about THE bayshore (the expensive one)

[enbloc]

the bayshore is going en-block, next year

[sorryno]

no, the bayshore is not going enbloc and attempts to make bayshore park go enbloc are stalling and doomed to fail.

[sorry but yes]

sorry but yes it has, my company actually invovled in the purchase, you will hear about it q4 this year

[sorryno]

well i'm one owner of two apartments who won't be selling! pray tell, what is your supposed company name?

[oh yes it is]

as you will be made aware shortly the bayshore will be going en-bloc
we now have the required percentage of owners to sell

[Rumours]

as you will be made aware shortly the bayshore will be going en-bloc
we now have the required percentage of owners to sell

There are strong rumours govt will announce that only developments above 30 years old can go en-bloc. This is an interim measure to cool down the market. Should be announced by 1 Aug. So can BP finalise everything before 1 Aug?

[oh yes it is]

well as its a done deal, its just when we decide to annouce it so if the goverment do bring this law in (when we spoke today was no mention of it), we can annouce before any deadline, but otherwise will annouce in q4 this year as mentioned before.