For my critics, don't forget my wisdom comes with credentials. I own properties in Australia still valued at SG$1.62 billion (with a "b"). And I won't drop the price on them.
Oh I think you may have to drop your prices after all. Australian property prices are dropping like rocks. Plus, Aussies in general do not have the house-owning culture that Asians traditionally have. Aussies do not mind selling prices down and renting indefinitely. Asians on the other hand, come from a "shame culture" and consider it a public loss of face if they had to sell their houses and move to a rented place.
I don't think I will drop the prices of my property assets. The benefits of being a billionaire are quite good. So waiting for the right buyers to come along.
On the home-ownership numbers, I had always understood that Australia was quite high. Here are the splits:
Owners without a mortgage 38.0
Owners with a mortgage 32.7
Renters-state housing authority 6.2
Renters-private landlord 21.3
Total renters 29.3
Total 100.0
Source: ABS 1999c
Here are Singapore's stats.
Home Ownership Rate (%) 90.7
Two key reasons that SG rates are relatively high are: 1) the subsidized HDB housing, and 2) very limited low-cost rental stock forcing kids to live at home until they get their own HDB flat, even well after they get married. There seems to be very little opportunity for a young married couple to rent a property, and it is virtually unheard of a group of young twenty-somethings in their first jobs sharing an apartment.
