Any suggestions on where to invest $300K

[zoomfin]

I've earned 13% this year on about $80K by dollar cost averaging on unit trusts. Could have earned more if I was smarter but since I am not so smart, this is OK for me. At least I sleep well. Earned a small fortune on gold bullion (but then again, it only cost me a few dollars - won the rest as part of a lucky draw).

13% is not bad at all! Keep it up and you will see the mount! 

13% when the stock markets have gone up by 50% and properties increased by 20% in the past 6 months is bad. Coud have done much better

Have been doing av 28% yearly for the last 8 years whether mkt up o down.......so how? Is that bad?   

[Hallo Kitty]

OP, whatever you do, don't invest in SG property. Doesn't look good:


SINGAPORE - Despite the improving economy and the upbeat showing in the property sector, investment banking and stock broking group Nomura Singapore said that it remains cautious about the prospects of local Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits).

In its latest research report dated Oct 16, Nomura said that valuations of Singapore Reits are "stretched" in the wake of "contracting demand and excess supply" as well as falling rents.

"The market appears content to buy the yield gap, indifferent to rising vacancies and negative rental reversions," the report said. "But with 3Q09 rents and values continuing to fall in all sectors, key valuation measures price-to-book value and enterprise value highlight an unjustified premium in the industrial and retail markets, in our view. Offices look undervalued."

The broker noted that the rental market has been deteriorating since June, specifically in the industrial and office markets. "While property market rentals are potentially approaching a cyclical trough in the office and industrial sectors, given significant declines, lower growth prospects and further supply risks (specifically in the retail sector) are not fully reflected in capitalisation rates in our view," it said.

[in case you missed it...]

Note that Nomura is referring to the industrial, office and retail sectors - not residential.

[HaHaHaHAAA]

PP, so you are saying only industrial, office and retail properties are all in contracting demand and excess supply, but for some reason private (residential) property supply is the opposite, You think the city planners are really so dumb? Dream on.

Supply is more than enough, you will see soon. Especially rental market will remain weak with all the new developments about to TOP.

[in case you missed it...]

Yes - the four sectors each follow their own cycles, and one can be rising while another is falling. You may like to google that if you'd like to learn about it.

[mmm interesting]

Yes - the four sectors each follow their own cycles, and one can be rising while another is falling. You may like to google that if you'd like to learn about it.

Keep on dreaming sonny. You have bought a condo in 'land scarce' Singapore and now your'e praying it will appreciate.

If every other sector is looking glum, other than private residential, then every developer will only build residential from now on. Some commercial developments will even be turned into residential. And because the residential supply is high as it is already, the prices can only go down.

[LandScarceNotReally]

I'm rather confused. Some posteres here saying Singapore is land scarce. What are you guys talking about? I take the train, look out of the window and for mile after mile all I see is land. Compare that to Hong Kong where I can't see one square meter of free space except for a few parks. A quick look around the island with its great transport system shows me that there's room to build up Singapore maybe 20-50 times more than what we have now. Yeah I know there's not much free land around Orchard so hopefully no dumb comments about that. But don't expect to live in the CENTER of the capital city. Nothing wrong with living a few miles out.

So somebody please explain why I keep hearing Sales reps. for the sail and people who want to push up condo prices saying there's no more land. Oh and yeah I realize it's not all zoned for residential but if needed that could easily be changed when the need comes up.

[GetRealPlease]

I'm rather confused. Some posteres here saying Singapore is land scarce. What are you guys talking about? I take the train, look out of the window and for mile after mile all I see is land. Compare that to Hong Kong where I can't see one square meter of free space except for a few parks. A quick look around the island with its great transport system shows me that there's room to build up Singapore maybe 20-50 times more than what we have now. Yeah I know there's not much free land around Orchard so hopefully no dumb comments about that. But don't expect to live in the CENTER of the capital city. Nothing wrong with living a few miles out.

So somebody please explain why I keep hearing Sales reps. for the sail and people who want to push up condo prices saying there's no more land. Oh and yeah I realize it's not all zoned for residential but if needed that could easily be changed when the need comes up.

It's nice to hear Singapore has got so much of land. So all those saying how cramped Singapore is must be morons.

Possibly you've never seen just what cramped is. NYC Manhatten is cramped and so is HK. Singapore has a large amount of available land not yet zoned as residential. Just take a train, look out of the window. The green stuff you will see for mile after mile is land. Yeah it may not be next to Orchard but it is still land that could be zoned for residential at any time and there's a lot of the green stuff close to MRT stations.

Are u by any chance related to the JB family who are trying to increase the value of their condos by telling everyone there's no more green stuff left in Singapore?