Rental prices still going down?

[no new expats]

There are not loads of new expats, people, at least in banking, are getting repatriated. Due to fx it is cheaper to pay London salaries so why have your support staff halfway round the world.

As above, housing now negligible.

People would like to move here because of tax, pity there aren't any jobs for them.

[still going down]

This post was an excellent illustration how Singaporeans sometimes get things mixed up. The prices are increasing, while the real demand is not there thus rentals are decreasing. They are getting these two confused:

The Edge reported that rents are back to record levels seen in 2007.
Can you guys please stop being in denial. Either ask your boss for a raise or start packing up if higher rents are going to bother you so much.

I don't want to shock anybody, but I think they will go down even more soon.... This was the period it was supposed to shoot through the roof when both IR's were hiring staff. Now there is nothing new to expect and upcoming supply is still quite huge.

[Definitely Downward Trend]

About 6-9 months ago, everyone was speculating a property boom when the IRs open. I would be very interested to know... exactly where is the boom?

Think about it... we have enough property agents on this forum, talking about rising property prices and rents. Isn't that obvious that there ain't enough work to keep them busy?

[yes]

Yes there is a boom with the sales prices, i.e. Singaporeans selling overpriced condos to each other.

Most of these units are empty or waiting for reach TOP. The boom in rental prices never came however.

[it wont either]

Unfortunately sg has shot its bolt.

Never going to be a hub for revenue, had a good shot at support as somewhere with better infrastructure and regulation than what west or india could offer. Missed on both cost and talent. Pity.

[it wiil]

It will always be a tourist hub, technology hub and major financial hub for se asia. That will never change and this will always keep lots of expats in work. There will always be a need for rental homes for expats. Not sure why you think its over.  youve been sayin that for years and yet economy is rock solid and no signs of weakening.

[LOL PP]

Tourist hub - you are kidding yourself. Its a stopover on the way to somewhere better.

Technology hub - get over yourself

Yes there will be expats - the locals can not do the high end jobs and they think the low end jobs are beneath them but will be scrambling to do anything when the wheels inevitable come off.

[it will]

Wheels coming off ? What did you eat for breakfast ?   What utter tosh.  You have been saying for years that expats will be pink slipped etc, yet here we all are still. 

[going down]

You have to consider where some of these condos are.

Blue Horizon is next to the new construction of the Vision. So West Coast Condo etc. will be getting cheaper too.

Hillview, Symphony Heights, Hume Park II are being stuffed by the construction of the new MRT line and the mess being made of Upper Bukit Timah. I suppose some of the other condos around Hillview, Cashew and Upp. Bkt Timah will also be getting cheaper as a result.

The other onese I don't know where......off my route but i might suspect construction there too>

That's an interesting point, although I don't think these are all near construction sites. I visited a friend at Chiltern Park recently and there was no construction. Quite the opposite, they have just opened a MRT line there and rents should have increased instead. And what about UE Square?

[Eat the Rich]

Have been here over 10 years and from what I gather places on rental mkt vacant for over 6 months are taken out of statistics which makes it all seems somewhat more positive than it really is.

.

What are you talking about? The URA rental figures simply show the stats for rentals agreed in the quarter. Only those condos where there have been more than 10 transactions are included. There is no concept of "places being taken out of the statistics"  After 10 years here you perhaps should have worked that out.

As usual the doomsayers are determined to put down Singapore regardless of any evidence to the contrary. By continuously forecasting a crash in prices and rentals, they know that come the next crash they will be right. In the meantime they will be wrong. Rents went up by 4.7% (on average) in Q410. Yes of course some went down and some went up - the sample sizes are very small on an individual condo basis remember - not dramatic perhaps, but still an overall increase.  Now lets all argue pointlessly until the end  of Q2 when we have some more figures to support/disprove our current views

[Even]

There are not loads of new expats, people, at least in banking, are getting repatriated. Due to fx it is cheaper to pay London salaries so why have your support staff halfway round the world.

Indeed.

The Euro now sits at just under 1.80 instead of nearly 2.1 just a year ago, making Singapore automatically 15% more expensive than a year ago only on currency exchange. Doesn't take into account 5% increases in rents, a doubling of COE or whatever everybody else bangs on about.

The GBP now sits at just under 2.1 where i used to be around 3.0 before the great collapse of 2008. A massive 30% increase in costs over a 2-yr period that will only get worse through the rest of this year.

Even if expats are coming into Singapore these days, if their companies are doing the right contracts at the correct exchange rates, expats can generally be getting paid ~20% less in SGD terms.

[a newish expat]

There was a whole bunch of us hired together because we are cheap to hire with the exchange rate at the mo. 30% cheaper than in 2008. I dont have a very senior job here but hey I am not complaining.  

Enjoying the life in asia and long may it go on. I understand there are lots of new first timer expats moving out this way. Who can blame them, good food, lots of sun, tons of good looking single available women and whats more were being paid for it...now this is living !

[My take]

Been here 4 years and seen many changes in the expat community but recently I've seen alot of unemployed expats on PEP waiting for things to get better, expats leaving because of job loss and very few coming in to replace them.  The ones that are coming in are much lower level and some will be leaving because they are stretched too thin.  Most are on local packages when they arrive and are deemed foreigners rather than expats.  Hey but what would I know,

Rents should be going down due to the number of empty units and number of new units coming into the market but landlords here have a rather different economic sense. 

A couple of years ago you couldn't find a large older condo or house with a balcony, renovated kitchen and bathrooms, greenery for love nor money and now these places are sitting empty.  Rental prices are staying the same but not because expats are paying the rent for them, they sit there empty because those expats left and the ones coming in are on much smaller budgets.

[amusing]

"By continuously forecasting a crash in prices and rentals, they know that come the next crash they will be right. In the meantime they will be wrong. Rents went up by 4.7% (on average) in Q410. Yes of course some went down and some went up - the sample sizes are very small on an individual condo basis remember - not dramatic perhaps, but still an overall increase. "

Get a grip, mate. Time to understand the stats do not speak for the facts.  Rentals have dropped, aside from a few condos and properties where a select few who have money and do not know any different choose to live.  Oh yes, and then there are the agents.  They have a lot of time on their hands these days. In the long run it's going to hurt the country as a whole to keep this rental facade up. 

[Eat the rich]

PP ( mate), I did of course indicate that the stats are limited (especially with small sample sizes) but they are official stats and they indicate an increase. You claim that rents are dropping. That may well be so but I assume you have some evidence to support your claim and aren't just relying on your feel for the entire rental market. As tenant we all of course want rents to go.  down, but that sadly doesn't mean that they are.

It's funny how when the URA figures show rents are dropping we think the stats are good and will use them when negotiating, but as. Soon as the stats show a rise, they are wrong and landlord/agents are greedy. You can't have it both ways.