Singapore Property Prices Increasing

[What?]

The 4.2% is conservative. The sub-prime is starting to be boring and irrelevant.

The quarterly increases should creep up.


Wall St edges up as Merrill eases fears 

NEW YORK - US stocks edged up on Thursday, after a report that Merrill Lynch & Co does not need to raise more capital eased fears of a deeper credit crisis and offset concern that monthly jobs data would point to a recession.

Merrill Lynch shares rose 1.2 per cent as optimism mounted that Wall Street's write-downs for bad assets may have peaked after Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported the brokerage's chief executive said it has no plans to raise fresh capital.

Earlier this week, the market rallied sharply after solid demand for a Lehman Brothers share offering quelled fears the investment bank was headed toward a fate similar to that of Bear Stearns and raised optimism that the worst of the credit crisis may be over.

'Markets are starting to pay more attention to any indication that what caused the slowdown is no longer as relevant as what it was six months ago,' said Mr Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey.

 

[What?]

Any particular reason we should take 4.2% as a constant? Or just the word of the ST and the property agents, particularly when the likes of CDL are playing it carefully?

Some people say that it would fall! Better to believe the opposite. They have been wrong quarter after quarter. It would fall some time during our lifetime.

[talker !!!]

I can confirm that these reported figures for Q1 are indeed correct and looks like we into an upward movement after all as we expected as we head into Q2.

Agent XYZ,  you're a talker not a thinker, right?  At school you were not one of the scholars who did really well in the "hard" subjects like mathematics, physics or science, right?  You find it easiest to look at the multitude of confusing things going on and then pick just one element (property prices) out of the many, and put all your faith and trust into that to lead you to the truth, right?  You are a devoutly religious person with deep faith, right?

You really don't understand what all these nerdy expat people are talking about because you have a piece of data that prop prices are a bit higher than last quarter - right?   You believe everything is really good in Singapore property and these expat whiners are just plain stupid, right?

Its OK, if you feel these points are correct.  My advice is use your time here to listen and learn from these discussions.

He's definitely a talker.

That is why he is a salesman, not a research analyst.  Property agents are salespeople.

[Yes]

I can confirm that these reported figures for Q1 are indeed correct and looks like we into an upward movement after all as we expected as we head into Q2.

Agent XYZ,  you're a talker not a thinker, right?  At school you were not one of the scholars who did really well in the "hard" subjects like mathematics, physics or science, right?  You find it easiest to look at the multitude of confusing things going on and then pick just one element (property prices) out of the many, and put all your faith and trust into that to lead you to the truth, right?  You are a devoutly religious person with deep faith, right?

You really don't understand what all these nerdy expat people are talking about because you have a piece of data that prop prices are a bit higher than last quarter - right?   You believe everything is really good in Singapore property and these expat whiners are just plain stupid, right?

Its OK, if you feel these points are correct.  My advice is use your time here to listen and learn from these discussions.

He's definitely a talker.

That is why he is a salesman, not a research analyst.  Property agents are salespeople.

He gets very agressive especially when he appears "wrong". Not open to anything else beside falling prime property prices. Most people would accept "failure" (facts) and then move on.

[And]

I can confirm that these reported figures for Q1 are indeed correct and looks like we into an upward movement after all as we expected as we head into Q2.

Agent XYZ,  you're a talker not a thinker, right?  At school you were not one of the scholars who did really well in the "hard" subjects like mathematics, physics or science, right?  You find it easiest to look at the multitude of confusing things going on and then pick just one element (property prices) out of the many, and put all your faith and trust into that to lead you to the truth, right?  You are a devoutly religious person with deep faith, right?

You really don't understand what all these nerdy expat people are talking about because you have a piece of data that prop prices are a bit higher than last quarter - right?   You believe everything is really good in Singapore property and these expat whiners are just plain stupid, right?

Its OK, if you feel these points are correct.  My advice is use your time here to listen and learn from these discussions.

He's definitely a talker.

That is why he is a salesman, not a research analyst.  Property agents are salespeople.

you must be as blur as him and talk like him, then you are right. Fancy talking down on hard subjects like the sciences and mathematics and preferring the artistic thoughts of simple economics to see the world and insisting that the world should be ordered like it.

[crazy]

the RE market is not doing well at all.

Volume is down significantly and prices will be next.  sorry to burst the bubble, but everyone is on the sidelines ready to see prices fall before jumping into the market...no use trying to talk up the market.

[Malaysian Expat]

The 4.2% is conservative. The sub-prime is starting to be boring and irrelevant.

The quarterly increases should creep up.


Wall St edges up as Merrill eases fears 

NEW YORK - US stocks edged up on Thursday, after a report that Merrill Lynch & Co does not need to raise more capital eased fears of a deeper credit crisis and offset concern that monthly jobs data would point to a recession.

Merrill Lynch shares rose 1.2 per cent as optimism mounted that Wall Street's write-downs for bad assets may have peaked after Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported the brokerage's chief executive said it has no plans to raise fresh capital.

Earlier this week, the market rallied sharply after solid demand for a Lehman Brothers share offering quelled fears the investment bank was headed toward a fate similar to that of Bear Stearns and raised optimism that the worst of the credit crisis may be over.

'Markets are starting to pay more attention to any indication that what caused the slowdown is no longer as relevant as what it was six months ago,' said Mr Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey.

 

Look carefully at the deals Lehman Brothers had to offer in raising the 4 billions dollars, and then you can decide for yourself if it is good news

[Look]

The 4.2% is conservative. The sub-prime is starting to be boring and irrelevant.

The quarterly increases should creep up.


Wall St edges up as Merrill eases fears 

NEW YORK - US stocks edged up on Thursday, after a report that Merrill Lynch & Co does not need to raise more capital eased fears of a deeper credit crisis and offset concern that monthly jobs data would point to a recession.

Merrill Lynch shares rose 1.2 per cent as optimism mounted that Wall Street's write-downs for bad assets may have peaked after Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported the brokerage's chief executive said it has no plans to raise fresh capital.

Earlier this week, the market rallied sharply after solid demand for a Lehman Brothers share offering quelled fears the investment bank was headed toward a fate similar to that of Bear Stearns and raised optimism that the worst of the credit crisis may be over.

'Markets are starting to pay more attention to any indication that what caused the slowdown is no longer as relevant as what it was six months ago,' said Mr Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey.

 

Look carefully at the deals Lehman Brothers had to offer in raising the 4 billions dollars, and then you can decide for yourself if it is good news

at the US stock market indices and sentiments. The story is told there..

The markets there wants to see the positives (so far) only unlike the few negative only prime property posters here. With the FED doing its tricks recently, its like playing with a banker that prints more money when he is losing (in addition to changing the rules of the game as well).   

Interestingly, the major external factor that caused the uncertainty in the Singapore prime property market has not being mentioned much in the recent posts by those calling for a fall in prices. They assess prime property here as if it is in its own world (concious ignorance of positive news?)..

[We\'ll Meet Again...]

Yes the US market is holding up well but today a March unemployment figure showed an incraese of 80,000 which is the largest monthly increase for decades. We are in the dark and the market is singing to bolster failing spirits...

[Well]

the RE market is not doing well at all.

Volume is down significantly and prices will be next.  sorry to burst the bubble, but everyone is on the sidelines ready to see prices fall before jumping into the market...no use trying to talk up the market.

As of March 31 2008, its up. IMO 4.2% is a high number given the happenings in the world financial markets in Q108. The markets/sentiments at the beginning of this quarter (Q208) is definitely much better that the last as seen by the US stock market indices..

You said it, everyone is waiting on the sideline, this implies that they HAVE money. Volume just indicates a disagreement in prices between developers/sellers and buyers. The question is, what happens if the global financial environment sentiment gets better and better over the quarters? Even rice farmers (or middlemen) from Thailand will come and buy.. A commentator says we are in a supercycle.

It is a question of people needing a roof (buy or rent) versus paying mortgate (by owners/tenants for some owners). I suspect the prior is of a more urgent basic need and greater in number due to pressure from further population growth this year.

In general most owners/developers are sitting on hugh gains and some have bought a long time ago. There may be a small number who bought less than half a year ago. The developers are not going to built blindly, it cost money to built them..  

It's okay to think of a plan B instead of just hoping that rents and prices will fall. If it does not, one will not be happy at all.

[So clear]

Yes the US market is holding up well but today a March unemployment figure showed an incraese of 80,000 which is the largest monthly increase for decades. We are in the dark and the market is singing to bolster failing spirits...

At this point in time, the markets' sentiment is better than Q108. Think about longer time spans.. I do not have much interest in the US markets going up and down, its good though to see the change. IMO, the sub-prime should "fade" away. Okay, if another "surprise" comes along, the FED will bail it out.

[fyi.]

Yes the US market is holding up well but today a March unemployment figure showed an incraese of 80,000 which is the largest monthly increase for decades. We are in the dark and the market is singing to bolster failing spirits...

In line with the market wanting to see positives..


On Friday, the stock market closed out a strong week on a dull note, ending the day near the unchanged mark. However, the market showed some resilience by not posting a decline, considering employers cut jobs for the third straight month.

Nonfarm payrolls fell 80,000, which was worse than the 50,000 decline economists expected. This marks the largest decline since 2003. In addition, January’s reading was revised lower to -76,000 from -23,000, and February’s reading was revised lower to -76,000 from -63,000.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rebounded to 5.1% from 4.8%. Economists expected a rate of 5.0%.

These numbers are not good, however, the numbers do not necessarily fit the recession label. Unemployment and the decline in payrolls have yet to come close to the early 2000s recession level, which saw unemployment top 6.3% and payrolls fall as much as 325,000.

[Of course]

those in the know why sentiments go like this won't tell..

[enbloc seller]

If we look at statistics we must also look between the lines.  Not only maths and physic apply here, let's apply history also. If you think the price will increase, how much more will it rise? Of course we have to factor in inflation, we cant deny that. However, we are talking about cyclic pattern here where prices go up and down not when we buy a property 20 years ago for $100,000 and now worth $500,000 or even 40 years ago when we paid only $20,000. Remember 1996? Property prices rose as if there was no tomorrow. Then came the crash and the rest was history. People who paid a million for their condominiums found that they suffered a paper loss in a matter of few months. Even today, they are still licking their wound.  During the financial crisis, many lost their jobs and could not even afford to pay their maintenance fee and downgraded to HDB. Even HDB owners found the value of their homes dropped more than 30%. I have been looking for a replacement unit for the past year and knew the ground well.  For the past three months, there were only 2 or 3 viewers compared to about 10 last June.  For some properties, which I will not name, there is not a single viewer.  Newly launched projects are only half taken up compared to last year when all units were sold as soon as they were launched. I have to add that most buyers are speculators then.  I know of 1 project which was sold out as soon as it was launched and a property agent bought 16 units in the hope of flipping and earning a very fast buck. Good luck to him. This project TOP since last December but only half of it is occupied now (where are the owners?).Serious sellers are now willing to accept a lower price while speculators are the one who are still holding on to their high asking prices (good luck to them also). The only real buyers in the market now are people like me, the enbloc sellers who have 3 choices, namely, buy a HDB (majority did), a private property or rent.  However, not all enbloc sellers are buying, mind you.  Out of 48 owners in my development, a few of them own 2 units while 16 owners rented their units out as they have been living in other properties. When the site is redeveloped, there will be more than 70 units available.  I am sure the same story applies to other developments as well.  As long as there are still enbloc sellers looking for replacement units, there is still a demand.  The question is, how long can enbloc sellers hold up the market? Dont forget, there is only 1 enbloc deal this year.

[Don't worry]

Didn't you hear, all the IR workers are gonna queue up to buy the newly releasing multi million dollar condos?