Private properties: local demand?

[lighter]

The simple truth is that we will NEVER go back to the old prices, be it property, food or oil.  Ask yourself - will private property go back to $600 psf?  Chicken rice at $1? Movie tickets at 50c?  

You see it everywhere - even sports stars (think F1 drivers, soccer players, NBA players) are being bought and sold at ever higher prices.

Warren Buffet said it well when he said that he knows not what tomorrow will be like but he is sure that in 10 or 20 years time, we will live better.  That is why he invests over a long term horizon.

Just cast your mind back 5, 10, 20 years.   Would you have been better off if you had bought then?  Or have you been waiting since 20 years ago for the 40% correction that never came?

IF you had asked me, during the ASian crisis, that entry level for most private properties would cost minimum $1,300 psf in 2008, I would have laughed and thought you were mad.  Now, you cant even buy anything decent at $1,000 psf!

At the end of the day, if you are buying a home and it is within your means, you should be ok.  Those who get burnt are those who speculate beyond their means.

[mostly right]

...but property is not chicken rice.  It has had substantial falls twice before in Singapore after hitting bubbles.  Food prices almost never fall, property does regularly, as do stock markets (you will notice Nikkei is back at 96 levels and well below half 1990, closer to home STI is back at end 96 level and still worse than 20% below 6 months ago).

Your point on buying what you can afford and are happy with is true though long term.  People trying to hit peaks and troughs almost always miss.  I'd add that buying where you think you get good value more than can merely afford but anyway.