Yup! Everything up up up!Originally Posted by Unregistered
Yup! Everything up up up!
Not everything lah. SIBOR is down down down lah.
Property is the best bet. It has proved so for the last two years and will continue to do so. Govt will not let this sector to fluctuate, because the stakeholder is the entire population of Singapore. The impact can be politically disasterous.
I would never buy the scenario of up and down and then up again. It will only be one way ticket. Of course, it will take some breather along its journey to the peak but has no reason to go down and then move up again.
Therefore, I urge all homeowners to hold on your units. The thousands sidelines eager buyers should have given you ample reason to believe that the long-term prospect of ppty in Singapore is very promising. Why let other make the profit if the profit is yours?
OH DEAR I MISSED OUT SELLING.....WHO CAN HELP ME?
[QUOTE=Unregistered]Singapore home sales seen slumping to 5-year lows
By Daryl Loo
SINGAPORE, March 17 (Reuters) - Singapore homes sales in February almost halved from the previous month, and could slump this quarter to the lowest since the SARS epidemic in 2003 as surging inflation and global economic fears keep buyers at bay.
The government on Monday said 170 private homes were sold in February, less than a tenth of the homes sold last August when Singapore was still in the midst of a two-year property upswing.
The abrupt slowdown this year is hitting shares for property developers but could take some pressure off inflation that is at the highest level in 25 years.
After January saw 316 homes sold, property analysts are predicting that total sales for the first three months of this year will be between 700-800 units, the weakest in five years.
"The only two other periods when the Singapore residential market experienced such low sales volume were during the SARS period in the first quarter of 2003 when 427 new homes were sold, and during the Asian financial crisis in the fourth quarter of 1997 when 894 units were sold," said Li Hiaw Ho, research director of property consultancy CB Richard Ellis.
So far the jury is out on how much the drop in demand has hit home prices. Private home prices in Singapore surged 31 percent last year to their highest in over ten years and near the peak of mid-1996 just before the Asian financial crisis.
High-end homes, typically those priced at above S$1,800 ($1,302) per square foot, saw the greatest jump, while the increase was more moderate for homes in the mass market segment.
But the price increase slowed in the fourth quarter as steps taken by the authorities to curb real estate market speculation took effect, including a move in October to bar developers from selling uncompleted homes on a deferred payment scheme.
"The sales figures for February were stunningly low... Buyers are becoming very conservative, although prices seem to have held up," said Jones Lang LaSalle research head Chua Yang Liang.
LAUNCH DELAYS
Reflecting the cautious mood, some developers have delayed their property launches, evident in the 343 units put up for sale in February, against 410 units in January and 445 in December.
KepLand, which is building the 221-unit Marina Bay Suites luxury apartments with Hong Kong Land and Cheung Kong, said in January that it would delay the project until the end of the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February.
"We're still waiting for instructions to launch," said Margaret Thean, executive director of property agency DTZ, which has been appointed to market the project.
There have also been newspaper reports of property speculators who bought units last year with hopes of a speedy sale for a quick profit, but who are now being forced to sell at steep discounts due to the drop in demand. But it may not to be time to go bargain hunting just yet.
"While anecdotal evidence of lower transacted prices from desperate speculators looking to liquidate their positions have yet to be fully recognised by the entire market, the risk of a downward spiral effect in residential prices remains," Morgan Stanley analyst Melissa Bon said in a report this month.
"In addition, the bottoming out of private rental vacancies and likely peaking of rentals may put downward pressure on residential prices," she said.
The U.S. brokerage has downgraded CityDev to "underweight" for its exposure to the Singapore home market, and expects prices in the mid to high-end sectors to drop 15 percent this year, compared to its previous expectations for a 15 percent rise.
ABN AMRO analyst Fera Wirawan said homes catering to the mass market could still rise at least 5 percent as prices in this segment had not run up as much.
"It's all about sentiments now. Buyers are holding off in anticipation of a price cut. Even if developers refuse to decrease the price, especially in the high end, they can't hold out for long if the volumes stagnant like this," she said. (Editing by Neil Chatterjee)QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Unregistered]OH DEAR I MISSED OUT SELLING.....WHO CAN HELP ME?
Not to worry friend. Just wait another 10 years. By then it would come back up.
[QUOTE=Unregistered]OH DEAR I MISSED OUT SELLING.....WHO CAN HELP ME?
Why keeping posting the same almost-3-week-old news again and again?
Why not post a 3-month-old or 3-year-old news?
Anyway, price increased by 4.2%. No old news can change that.
[QUOTE=Unregistered]Why reply to your same almost-3-week-old news?
Why not post a 3-month-old or 3-year-old news?
Anyway, price increased by 4.2%. No old news can change that.
Since price has not went down, mentioning coming back up is irrelevant.
Thanks for the advice.
I have just seen one sour grape in action above.
Price may have increased 4%. Rice increased 50%. Oil increased 25%. So what is 4%. But scary is that Sales not increasing. Didnt you read about speculators panicking? Wait I post for you. Read again.
Singapore home sales seen slumping to 5-year lows
By Daryl Loo
SINGAPORE, March 17 (Reuters) - Singapore homes sales in February almost halved from the previous month, and could slump this quarter to the lowest since the SARS epidemic in 2003 as surging inflation and global economic fears keep buyers at bay.
.............................There have also been newspaper reports of property speculators who bought units last year with hopes of a speedy sale for a quick profit, but who are now being forced to sell at steep discounts due to the drop in demand. But it may not to be time to go bargain hunting just yet.
.....................................................................
"In addition, the bottoming out of private rental vacancies and likely peaking of rentals may put downward pressure on residential prices," she said.
The U.S. brokerage has downgraded CityDev to "underweight" for its exposure to the Singapore home market, and expects prices in the mid to high-end sectors to drop 15 percent this year, compared to its previous expectations for a 15 percent rise.
ABN AMRO analyst Fera Wirawan said homes catering to the mass market could still rise at least 5 percent as prices in this segment had not run up as much.
"It's all about sentiments now. Buyers are holding off in anticipation of a price cut. Even if developers refuse to decrease the price, especially in the high end, they can't hold out for long if the volumes stagnant like this," she said. (Editing by Neil Chatterjee)
Help the owners service loan la
Don't post old news here.
4.2% can be measured. So the news reported it.
You mean speculators would ask the papers to tell everyone that they panic?
Don't come and bullshit us.
Are you saying rice speculators panic? Oil speculator panic? ....
Help already.
I lower the SIBOR rate for him.
Thanks for the advice.
I have just seen one sour grape in action above.
More discussions on the way.
[QUOTE=Unregistered]Never mind! If no buyer wants to pay the price then hold loh. Anyway, if I sell now I might never ever to buy it back again in the future. Imagine the sky high construction cost and land scarce in Singapore. I don't want to risk myself to be home less in Singapore.
My civil servant friend told me that the 100% homeownership may soon become a history in Singapore. Going forward it will be very common sight for ppl to live in rental flat for life like most ppl in HK due to the lack of affordability.
Remember, owning a house is still a big dream for many ppl in most country. Don't take thing for granted. No country can achieve the high level of homeownership like us nor any govt has to do it for you. Since the ppty prices are still within your reach, by all means grab it, before its too late.
[QUOTE=Unregistered]Are you the same guy who works in Pioneer Circle?
Prices going up?
Rental also going up.
Huat Ah!!!!!
Subprime spells gloom, not doom, for Asia banks
Reuters
Singapore and Tokyo, Japan
Friday, 4 April 2008
Investors may have a nervous eye on Asia after the subprime crisis tore through the United States and Europe, but while the region's banks will see losses on risky investments, they won't be facing doomsday.
Investors have punished Asian financial stocks, concerned that somewhere in the region a big bank may be at the edge of collapse. Yet lenders are unlikely to be lacerated by the losses that hit UBS, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and others, analysts say.
Investments related to troubled United States housing loans have cost global financial institutions as much as US$215 billion (S$298 billion) as of December, but less than 7% of that has come in Asia, according to estimates by Japan's regulatory Financial Services Agency.
'They are nowhere near as embroiled as the large US and European banks,' said Mr Jason Rogers, a credit analyst at Barclays Capital in Singapore who looks at banks across Asia.
'Their exposure mainly comes through their investment portfolios, as opposed to part of their core business. They were not in the practice of slicing and dicing and underwriting the US RMBS-type products,' he said.
Mr Rogers said Mizuho Financial Group was one of the only Asian banks to attempt to arrange products such as residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).
RMBSs and other structured instruments such as collateralised debt obligations are securities backed by a pool of loans or bonds with differing risk profiles but which plunged in value when the US housing market tanked.
Mizuho, Japan's second-largest lender, is now one of the region's biggest subprime casualties, so far reporting 345 billion yen (S$4.6 billion) in losses. Still, that's just a sliver of the US$37.4 billion written down by UBS and Merrill's US$24 billion write-down.
Mizuho expects to report a net profit of 480 billion yen for the year that ended in March. By contrast, UBS reported on Tuesday a net loss of US$12 billion for the first quarter alone.
Merrill has turned to outside assistance for capital relief, including a US$1.2 billion injection from Mizuho.
Watching exposure
Asian banks rated by Standard & Poor's have a total exposure of about US$34 billion to structured instruments, reckons Mr Ritesh Maheshwari, a credit analyst with the ratings agency.
'Considering that the total shareholder equity of these banks is nearly 10 times this amount, the likely write-downs can be easily absorbed,' Mr Maheshwari said in a note to clients.
Japan's subprime-related exposure is estimated at 1.5 trillion yen by the Financial Services Agency, less than half of what UBS has so far written down.
Yet investors remain largely unconvinced. Tokyo's banking index has fallen 30% in the last 12 months, and Singapore's index of financial stocks is off about 11%.
Both have fared worse than their broader markets.
Shares of Bank of China have fallen about 11% over the same period while the FTSE index of global banks has lost about 18%.
Bank of China, so far the hardest hit among big Chinese banks, said it held US$5 billion worth of asset-backed securities that were related to the subprime market.
A lot of investor frustration is due to poor disclosure, because Asian banks don't need to be as precise as their US rivals when revealing subprime holdings, said Ms Kristine Li, banking analyst at KBC Securities in Tokyo.
'Many banks say, 'We have this much in RMBS, but they are all triple-A rated so it's safe'. What do you say? You don't know if it's safe or not,' Ms Li said.
Just holding on
Some banks, such as Tokyo's Mizuho have been aggressive about marking down their holdings, while others, such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group are taking a wait-and-see approach, said Mr Graeme Knowd, banking analyst for CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Tokyo.
Mr Knowd is particularly cautious about MUFG, Japan's largest bank.
'When the problem moves from subprime to just other stuff, they have more than anyone else (in Japan),' he said, referring to an estimated 3 trillion yen parked in structured credit products outside of Japan.
And thanks to the subprime-inspired market downturn, even lenders with no direct exposure to US mortgage products are being squeezed.
Resona Holdings, Japan's fourth-largest bank, said it would miss its fourth-quarter revenue target due to worse-than-expected sales of investment trusts.
The bank, which relies heavily on its retail operations, said sales of investment trusts - products similar to mutual funds - fell about 40% in February due to poor market performance.
At a recent news conference, the bank's chairman, Mr Eiji Hosoya, might have been speaking for banks across the region when he made a glum prediction.
'The next business year will likely be even tougher.'
I HAVE CANCELLED MY PLANS. SOON WILL BE 40% LOWER.
[size=+2]Ok Lah this post really saved thousands of dollars for me.Hope it does for others too[size=+2]
After 40% lower, it will be lowered to another 50%
Economy Loses 80,000 Jobs, Worse Than Expected
By Reuters | 04 Apr 2008 | 08:32 AM ET
US employers cut payrolls for a third month in a row in March, slashing 80,000 jobs for the biggest monthly job decline in five years as the economy headed into a downturn, government data on Friday showed.
The Labor Department revised the first two months of the year's job losses to a total of 52,000 from a previous estimate of 85,000. The March unemployment rate jumped to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent, the highest since a matching rate in September 2005.
The March job report was more bleak than expected.
Economists polled ahead of the report forecast a decline of 60,000 in non-farm payrolls and a rise in the unemployment rate to 5 percent.
"It's not a good number, clearly," said David Bianco, chief US equity strategist at UBS. "But the market has been braced for a bad number. Almost every investor equity and otherwise would acknowledge that we are in a recession but we still think it is a mild recession and we are going to have pretty good profit conditions in the S&P 500 for this quarter and for the rest of the year."
During the first quarter of this year job losses averaged 77,000 a month, compared to average monthly gains of 76,000 in the last half of 2007, according to Keith Hall, Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner.
Job losses were widespread during the month, with the biggest losses in the construction and manufacturing sectors.
Of course go up lah.
Economy is surging ahead with full employment.
Everything is good man!
Yes only property going down down...everything else up mah.
How do you know economy is surging ahead?
Anyhow guess right?
Anyway, many economists got it wrong but you are right.
Singapore's GDP Rebounds By 16.9% In Q1
MAS moves to curb inflation as growth rebounds
Agence France-Presse
Singapore
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Singapore's central bank unexpectedly further tightened monetary policy on Thursday, pushing the Singapore dollar to a record high against the U.S. dollar, in a move aimed at keeping a lid on soaring prices.
Singapore's economy grew at an annualised, seasonally adjusted rate of 16.9% in the first quarter, beating economists' expectations, government data showed on Thursday, after a surprise 4.8% contraction in the fourth quarter of 2007.
The data beat a median forecast from economists polled by Reuters for growth of 11.5% because of a recovery in pharmaceutical and electronics manufacturing.
"The GDP figures were stronger than what the market had predicted and that gave the Monetary Authority confidence to tighten the policy," said Joseph Tan, an economist at Fortis.
"Strength of GDP quarter-on-quarter came from domestic sources. Where we go from here is a step in time approach but the one-up shift of the band, as opposed to the steepening of the Singapore dollar, shows that MAS recognises inflation is an imminent danger."
The Monetary Authority of Singapore conducts policy through the exchange rate, steering the Singapore dollar within a secret trade-weighted band against a basket of currencies, rather than by adjusting interest rates.
Growth Support
"Against backdrop of continuing external and domestic cost pressures, an upward shift of the policy band at this point will help to moderate inflation going forward, while providing support for sustainable growth in the economy," the central bank said in a twice-yearly monetary policy statement.
"MAS will therefore re-centre the exchange rate policy band at the prevailing level of the S$NEER. There will be no change to the slope or width of the policy band."
The Singapore dollar hit a record high, up 0.9% on the news to 1.3683 per U.S. dollar. The currency has gained around 5% this year.
Ten out of the 12 economists polled by Reuters had expected the MAS to refrain from tightening monetary policy due to concerns about slower economic growth.
The other two had expected the MAS to tighten policy to fight inflation, which stood at 6.5% in February. In January it hit 6.6%, the highest since March 1982.
The MAS said it expected inflation in the upper half of its 4.5% to 5.5% forecast range this year.
Singapore is one of the first Asian countries to report GDP data each quarter. The health of its exports is seen by analysts as a barometer of demand for Asian goods.
Despite concern about slower global growth, most central banks in Asia have refrained from easing monetary policy due to high inflation.
Some analysts said a stronger Singapore dollar would further cut demand for the island's exports by making them more expensive at a time when demand in the key U.S. market is weakening.
They also said a stronger Singapore dollar may not be as effective as before in reining in inflation because domestic factors such as a tight labour market, high wages and elevated property prices were factors as well.
The MAS tightened policy slightly at its last meeting in October as asset prices spiralled higher.
Singapore's economic growth is largely fuelled by manufacturing of products such as electronics, pharmaceuticals and oil rigs. However, the economy also relies increasingly on tourism, financial services and construction.
Who cares! As long there is growth. 16.9% you know?
Wow! So high!
Moron read the details before jumping.
Lehman Says It Liquidated Three Investment Funds
By Ambereen Choudhury
April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. securities firm, said it liquidated three investment funds because of ``market disruptions.''
The funds' assets, valued at $1 billion on Feb. 29, were taken onto Lehman's balance sheet, the New-York-based firm said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The firm also bought ``certain deteriorated assets,'' with a value of $800 million, from other unidentified funds, Lehman said.
``The funds used the cash received from the company to either redeem investors in the funds or make alternative asset investments,'' Lehman said in the filing yesterday.
More than 45 of the world's biggest banks, including Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG, have recorded a combined $232 billion in asset writedowns and credit losses since the beginning of 2007, including reserves set aside for bad loans. Falling U.S. house prices and rising delinquencies may lead to $565 billion in residential mortgage-market losses, the International Monetary Fund said in its annual Global Financial Stability report on April 8. Total losses, including those tied to commercial real estate, may reach $945 billion, the fund said.
Lehman was little changed at $40.52 by 11:26 a.m. in Frankfurt trading, after closing at $40.54 in New York yesterday. The stock has dropped 38 percent this year.
The liquidation of the funds was reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier today.
Further Writedowns Seen
Lehman may write down $2 billion in the second quarter and will face ``difficult'' market conditions this year, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank AG.
``While liquidity seems okay, we continue to expect more writedowns to equity and tougher revenues this year,'' analysts led by New York-based Mike Mayo wrote in a research note yesterday. Deutsche Bank rates the firm ``buy.''
Revenue at Lehman will decline to about the level of 2005, when it totaled $14.6 billion, Mayo wrote. The 2007 net revenue was $19.3 billion. Lehman plans to reduce risk by selling 20 percent of its $75 billion in mortgage assets and cut leverage by the same amount, according to Deutsche Bank.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
