It is official now

[JRJR]

Jim Rogers who is worth a few billion bucks thinks local property prices are too high and will fall. I'm with him 

Well Jim Rogers was very bullish about China and see what happened to the stock market despite his recommendations- down by 50% and yet he is still recommending to buy into China. So only fools will listen to Jim Rogers. He was just lucky to have placed some correct bets to make his billions. He is no great Guru. Your guess might just be more accurate than his.

He says buy China now that the market is halved. That's not bad advice. I'm sure he'll say buy Singapore properties after they have fallen by half. 
So a person who started from scratch and made a few billions of dollars is merely a lucky fool.   

Well he said buy China 6 months ago too when it was at its peak. So those who listened to him 6 months ago lost 50%. Would you still want to listen to him now?

So he was wrong. But if he thought China was a buy six months ago, it ought to be a screaming buy now. He's not God. He still made some decent calls, particularly, on commodities when nobody was interested. Overall, he has come out pretty well. You sound like a sore loser just because his call on Singapooe properties isn't to your liking. You want to put down the man? Go make a few billion dollars first and see how lucky you can get.   

Just because he is a billinaire by being LUCKY does not mean he is a GURU that we should listen to. A screaming buy now could become a disastrous buy 3 months time. Only God knows.Not me , you or Rogers.There are people richer than him who have made huge investments in the local property market just 1-2 months ago. So who the hell cares about what Rogers thinks about the local property market. Anybody who gets married 3 times do not deserve my respect in any case.

[to the sore loser]

there seems to be a sore loser here, who bought too early and goes all over this forum trying to talk up the market ... one and the same guy  ... good try ha ha

[Smart Joe]

there seems to be a sore loser here, who bought too early and goes all over this forum trying to talk up the market ... one and the same guy  ... good try ha ha

I think the sore loser if he really is one would know very well that one person trying to talk up the market is not going to make any difference is this expat forum frequented with expats who know nuts about the local property market.

[Uh-huh]

there seems to be a sore loser here, who bought too early and goes all over this forum trying to talk up the market ... one and the same guy  ... good try ha ha

I think the sore loser if he really is one would know very well that one person trying to talk up the market is not going to make any difference is this expat forum frequented with expats who know nuts about the local property market.

So why do you bother?

[smart joe]

there seems to be a sore loser here, who bought too early and goes all over this forum trying to talk up the market ... one and the same guy  ... good try ha ha

I think the sore loser if he really is one would know very well that one person trying to talk up the market is not going to make any difference is this expat forum frequented with expats who know nuts about the local property market.

So why do you bother?

He may just be trying to put sense into some of them who might be willing to listen, knowing very well that he alone cannot move the market.

[OOKEE]

Agrred. The first time I saw the East coast waters I almost fainted - you mean people actually swim in those waters? I don't think you can find any life forms in those oil and mineral water bottles filled water! Not impressed at all. But I heard some expats like the area because they are deprived of any beach in their homecountry, e.g. India and China. But if you've seen a real beach, then east coast beach will be a disappointment.

Anyway, I've moved to the northwest part of SG. Most of my chillout places are more to the west anyway - Bukit Timah, Rochester, Gillman, Dempsey, Portsdown etc. I can't even find a single good chillout place when I was in the east condo for a year - so sick of travelling so far to chillout, so I move out. What's more.. I get to be in lush greenery and cooler environment, and at the same time, save tons on my rental!

It takes me 20 minutes just to get out of Parkway parade and onto ECP - 1 km stretch. The jam there can be so bad.It takes me 20 minutes to cover the remainder of my 30km journey from ECP to Yishun.  It takes me 15-20 minutes during off peak to travel from my home in the hearlands far north to Orchard via CTE.
So places like East Coast are grossly overated. Property values in East Coast should be not very much more than that in heartlands.What is so great about the East Coast beach. Only deprived fools will get excited by East Coast Park and beach.

The sea view from East Coast is also overated. You see nothing but ships in the horizon. It is not like you can hear crashing waves. It is a very still boring looking oil polluted sea.

Some of the condos in the heartlands have more serene beautiful reservoir views. If I want to pay a premium for a seaview, then I should be able to hear crashing waves, etc otherwise I might as well pay a lower premium and get a reservoir view without the ships.

[aaaaaa]

Agrred. The first time I saw the East coast waters I almost fainted - you mean people actually swim in those waters? I don't think you can find any life forms in those oil and mineral water bottles filled water! Not impressed at all. But I heard some expats like the area because they are deprived of any beach in their homecountry, e.g. India and China. But if you've seen a real beach, then east coast beach will be a disappointment.

Anyway, I've moved to the northwest part of SG. Most of my chillout places are more to the west anyway - Bukit Timah, Rochester, Gillman, Dempsey, Portsdown etc. I can't even find a single good chillout place when I was in the east condo for a year - so sick of travelling so far to chillout, so I move out. What's more.. I get to be in lush greenery and cooler environment, and at the same time, save tons on my rental!

It takes me 20 minutes just to get out of Parkway parade and onto ECP - 1 km stretch. The jam there can be so bad.It takes me 20 minutes to cover the remainder of my 30km journey from ECP to Yishun.  It takes me 15-20 minutes during off peak to travel from my home in the hearlands far north to Orchard via CTE.
So places like East Coast are grossly overated. Property values in East Coast should be not very much more than that in heartlands.What is so great about the East Coast beach. Only deprived fools will get excited by East Coast Park and beach.

The sea view from East Coast is also overated. You see nothing but ships in the horizon. It is not like you can hear crashing waves. It is a very still boring looking oil polluted sea.

Some of the condos in the heartlands have more serene beautiful reservoir views. If I want to pay a premium for a seaview, then I should be able to hear crashing waves, etc otherwise I might as well pay a lower premium and get a reservoir view without the ships.

I went to East Coast on a Saturday about a month ago - after 2 years. I was amazed to see the number of indian expats at the beach and many of them flying kites. Looks like the opportunity to fly kites got them attracted to East Coast.
Anyway, I found Orchard Rd less claustrophobic on a Saturday than East Coast. People who really want to enjoy the serenity with a water frontage should  venture out to the heartlands. There are some beautful undiscovred gems (undiscovered by expats) out there.

[aaaaaaa]

Why did'nt i see it coming ... falling property prices 

[News]

Mass market stays buoyant as buyers find price is right
Flash estimates for Q2 show overall private home prices flattening; steady HDB resales keep mass market more active
By ARTHUR SIM

(SINGAPORE) Flash estimates for property price indices are in with numbers suggesting that price-sensitive buyers are bargain hunting or scaling down their expectations altogether.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released estimates for the Q2 2008 price index for private residential property yesterday with prices rising just 0.4 per cent - a mere crawl compared to the 3.7 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

While this represents the slowest growth in four years, Jones Lang LaSalle's local director and head of research (South East Asia) Chua Yang Liang also notes that it is the, 'steepest' quarterly rate of change since Q3 2000.

Much of the activity was in the mid and mass-market as reflected by URA's index for three geographical regions. Prices of non-landed private residential properties increased by just 0.2 per cent in Core Central Region (CCR) and 0.7 per cent in Rest of Central Region (RCR), but climbed a more robust 1.3 per cent in Outside Central Region (OCR).

Dr Chua added that demand remained favourable in the OCR supported by average nominal wage increases in the Q1 2008 and 'dislodged residents of collective sale sites'.

Also robust was the Housing and Development Board's (HDB) resale market with estimates for the quarter revealing that the HDB Resale Price Index increased by 4.4 per cent over the previous quarter, and higher than the 3.7 per cent increase in Q1 2008.

Knight Frank director (research and consultancy) Nicholas Mak said that the mass market is 'influenced' by HDB's resale market and added that, 'the resale market has been steady'.

Indeed, while HDB resale volume did fall to 6,360 units in Q1 2008, a 6 per cent drop compared to Q4 2007, it actually increased by one per cent on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis.

By comparison, secondary market private property transactions of 2,304 units in Q1 2008 was a fall of about 40 per cent, quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) and a fall of 57 per cent, y-o-y, while primary market transactions of about 762 units was a fall of about 48 per cent in Q1 2008 q-o-q, and a fall of 84 per cent y-o-y.

ERA Realty Network assistant vice-president Eugene Lim also believes that a buoyant HDB resale market could boost HDB upgrader sentiment, but he pointed out that the strength of the HDB resale market can be attributed to 'upgraders, downgraders and permanent residents'. On the last group, Mr Lim estimates that based on in-house data, permanent residents account for about 20 per cent of the buyers in the HDB resale market.

And attention is likely to continue to be diverted away from high-end products.

'The market is not short of buyers and many astute investors have been shopping around, looking to scoop up value buys,' added Mr Lim.

CBRE Research executive director Li Hiaw Ho noted that in the private property market, most of the transactions were mid and mass-market projects with the majority of transactions in the $750-$1,000 psf price bracket.

As such, Mr Li expects sales volume of new launches to rise to between 1,200-1,400 units in Q2 2008, compared to just 762 units in Q1 2008.

Property consultants have so far been careful to not use the 'F' word to describe home prices. Most believe prices have 'plateaued' or 'softened', but not 'fallen'.

Colliers International director (research and advisory) Tay Huey Ying even believes that home prices have, 'remained stubbornly resilient to the extent that they continue to post a y-o-y increase of 20.4 per cent'.

Ms Tay also added that for the first six months of the year, home prices rose by 4.2 per cent. '(Developer's) current pricing strategy can be described as competitive, that is either similar to current market prices or marginally lower than competitors,' she added.

Ms Tay believes that home prices will continue to resist 'downward pressure' and expects prices to hold steady or decline marginally by not more than 3 per cent in Q3 2008.

Saying that mass-market prices have generally not been 'chased up' or preyed upon by the 'speculative element', Ms Tay believes this sector could be the best performing for the rest of the year.

This however needs to be put in context.

Knight Frank's Mr Mak does point out that prime property prices have increased by 52.4 per cent over the last two years. 'On this basis, it is not surprising that this market segment will lead the slowdown in price growth,' he added

[aaaaaaa]

Stock market keeps falling. Hit from all fronts. No joy from property too. Born loser .... sigh  

[Monitoring]

home prices. They have fallen but is at "checkmate" situation now. Have to watch what happens in next few months. Hopefully it does not fall too much.

[eXpat.]

Rentals are coming off -:)

[Jia Lat]

Cut loss while you can. Sell. Follow me. You will lose more over the next 12 to 36 months