Mah disagrees with suggestions on land sales, deferred payment scheme

[mr funny]

Published April 5, 2008

JURONG LAKE DISTRICT

Mah disagrees with suggestions on land sales, deferred payment scheme


NATIONAL Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday disagreed with suggestions by property tycoon Kwek Leng Beng on the need for the government to review its first-half 2008 land sales programme and rethink its decision to scrap the deferred payment scheme.

Mr Mah said the government can be nimble on state land sales because the programme is reviewed every six months, depending on changes in the market.

But the H1 2008 programme will not be changed midstream, he said. 'We should be careful of knee-jerk reactions. You can't adjust it just because something is happening yesterday and then we change things today. We've got to take a longer-term view.'

Mr Mah was speaking at a media briefing after he delivered the keynote address at Urban Redevelopment Authority's Corporate Plan seminar at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.

In an interview published by BT this week, Mr Kwek had urged the government to review its H1 2008 land sale programme, which was fixed last year when the property market was buoyant compared with today.

On the decision announced in October last year to scrap the deferred payment scheme, Mr Mah said yesterday it was carefully considered, taken 'after a lot of thought, deliberation'.

'The objective was two-fold,' he said. 'One, to remove excessive speculation from the market. And two, to make sure there is financial prudence - that people make decisions and don't over-commit themselves.

'These are two very important objectives and they are still relevant today - in fact, probably more so in today's kind of market. I don't see any need for us to change our decision on that.'

Mr Kwek had suggested the deferred payment scheme could be revived, but this time with a higher initial payment of 30 per cent instead of 20 per cent previously. He also said that if a developer wants to extend a deferred payment scheme to a buyer, perhaps the developer's bank might be in a better position to assess viability, while keeping an eye on prudence.

Mr Kwek also made a suggestion he said could make housing more affordable for young Singaporeans, including singles. The government could build more public housing units and lease them to young first-time buyers with an option to buy the flats within 10 years at fixed prices, he said.

Responding yesterday, Mr Mah said he disagreed with the premise that young couples cannot afford to buy an HDB flat.

'The average amount of money they need to put up for monthly mortgage payments is well within their means, something like 20 per cent. This is quite affordable,' he said.

'If you were to rent, they will probably be paying as much, if not more, in rental, than to buy the flat. It doesn't make sense to rent when you can buy using your CPF. You rent, you can't use your CPF.

'When you buy, you actually buy a place you can call your own. It's an investment. When you rent, it's not yours.

'Our home ownership policy with all the generous housing subsidies that we have given actually allows most Singaporeans, young couples, to be able to buy their own homes.

'If you look at the numbers, you'll find that suggestion (by Mr Kwek) does not quite make sense.'

[mr funny]

April 5, 2008

National Development Minister responds to property issues


On rental housing:

'Our strategy is two-pronged... We are looking to increase the supply from 43,000 today, to go up to about 50,000. So that's another 7,000 - an increase of about 20 per cent.

'We are also relooking the eligibility criteria to make sure they cater to the really needy.

'As an article mentioned today, a lot of people in the queue really shouldn't be in the queue. They already enjoyed a housing subsidy...and cashed out, and are now coming out to join the queue. So while they are eligible today, strictly speaking, there are other people much more in need of a rental flat.

'There are other alternatives in place - whether it's a studio apartment, smaller flat, or the lease buyback scheme that we will roll out next month. All these are ways to monetise their flats.

'Joining the rental flat queue is not the way and I think we have to relook our criteria.'


On withdrawing the deferred-payment scheme:

'It was a very carefully considered decision...The objective was twofold: remove excessive speculation from the market and make sure there is financial prudence so that people...don't over-commit.

'These are still relevant today. We don't see a need to change the decision.'

On City Developments chief Kwek Leng Beng's suggestion that the Government remain 'nimble' in a changing property market and review the land sales programme:

'It's a point of view a developer will take, but there are many players in the property market; they all have their own views... They represent different, conflicting interests.

'We can be nimble, but we have to bear in mind that we have to take a longer-term view about things...We should be careful about knee-jerk reactions.

'We can't adjust because something happens yesterday and we change things today.'


On increasing Singapore's population:

'We don't know what will happen, what the numbers will be in 10 to 20 years.

'But if we do need to increase our population to 6.5 million in the future...it is comforting to note that our physical resources, especially land, are able to support this.'

[Unregistered]

The knee jerk measure to increase DC after a few months of boom, after years of decline, is in fact inflicting damage to the market. There is no need to go to the extent of accusing one of serving self-interest when the other is collecting vast amount of revenue. Oh yes, the DC can be used to subsidise .......any suggestions ?

[Unregistered]

Dearer Home Loans For Halifax Customers
Updated:15:39, Friday April 04, 2008

In a further sign of the global economic slowdown, Britain's biggest mortgage lender - the Halifax - has announced plans to charge more for home loans.
Under the changes customers with deposits of at least 25% will typically pay 0.1% less.

But customers with smaller deposits will be hit with higher rates of interest.

Someone borrowing between 90% and 95% of their home's value will pay up to 0.35% more than now.

Those borrowing between 10% and 24.9% will pay around 1.4% more.

Halifax says it will no longer advance mortgages of up to 97% of a property's value.

The new tiers will apply to the group's entire mortgage range, with its current 136 deals being replaced with 201 new ones.

Advertisement

It is also launching a new range of loans specifically aimed at first-time buyers, including a five-year fixed-rate deal of 5.69%.

Halifax said it had introduced the changes in response to market conditions and to reward people for being prudent.

The changes will also apply to Bank of Scotland and Intelligent Finance.

They come at the end of a week that has seen the number of different mortgage products available fall by 13%.

Lenders including the Co-operative Bank have withdrawn deals that were attracting too much business, while others have left the market altogether.

They blame the global credit squeeze which has made borrowing a lot more difficult.

[Unregistered]

I think KLB suggestion was very positive. Too bad if MBT missed the point and didn't respond accordingly.

[Unregistered]

I think KLB suggestion was very positive. Too bad if MBT missed the point and didn't respond accordingly.

Ask KLB to be minister of development la.

[Unregistered]

Ask KLB to be minister of development la.

Bet KLB would love to be the Min of Dev, but will MBT move aside?

And it took Shanmugam 20 years to be come the Min of Law with such huge sacrifice. Surely Sham earns several times more as a legal titan than a Min of Law, but why would he give up the money?

Don't tell me it is for the love of the country! It is for the power, the ability to change the law to suit your personal taste and get people like KLB banging the table. If you got the chance to see how your rivals bang the table against the policy your introduced and he could do nothing, bet you would be willing to give up millions or even billions to get the pleasure: it is something money cannot by -- peak of Maslow's hierarchy!

[Unregistered]

Bet KLB would love to be the Min of Dev, but will MBT move aside?

And it took Shanmugam 20 years to be come the Min of Law with such huge sacrifice. Surely Sham earns several times more as a legal titan than a Min of Law, but why would he give up the money?

Don't tell me it is for the love of the country! It is for the power, the ability to change the law to suit your personal taste and get people like KLB banging the table. If you got the chance to see how your rivals bang the table against the policy your introduced and he could do nothing, bet you would be willing to give up millions or even billions to get the pleasure: it is something money cannot by -- peak of Maslow's hierarchy!

Shan would earn more as minister. There is only limited amount of time to turn it into money as a fee earner and many partners in the large firm to share. KLB is more than qualified to run National Development but can any minister run City D. If lessons have not been learnt from the 1996 sudden measures, foreign investors will stay clear from Singaore. Measures were then announced despite assurances from ministers that there would be no interference in a laissez faire system, the last assurance from MND 2 weeks before the measures. This can still be condoned if lesson learnt and not be repeated.

[Unregistered]

Oh any comments on this observation from the expats forum? Seems a knowledgeable chap. Thanks buddy for educating us. I will delay my buying.

I Re: Apartment sales slowing?
« Reply #389 on: 18 March 2008, 23:13:57 PM » Quote

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote from: Kubes.SG on 18 March 2008, 23:04:49 PM

The reason I am looking for some rational data-based economic basis for why values will boom again soon in Singapore is because I get nothing but the following soft baseless reasons, that don't link to any meaningful data:

IRs are coming. Rich people will discover Singapore
Singapore Flyer/Eye
F1
Youth Olympics
Singapore Hub for everything
Inflation is high and increasing in Singapore
SGD is rising against USD
India and China booming ecomony
Singapore has limited land
Population will increase to 6.5mln
Financial/Media/Health Hub

My points are the following:

Singapore prime property is grossly overvalued, by historical and global standards - (don't look at the 1996 peak as the benchmark, look at the average of the last 20 years)

Singapore's property cycle is 1-2 years of boom, followed by 1-2 years of decline then 2-5 years of stagnation

About 30,000 new prime properties are booked to be completed by 2010, exceeding demand

Possibly 50% of those were purchased by investors/speculators, many though DPS

DPS entirely skewed the market by allowing speculators/developers/realtors to rapidly pump-up prices with very small financial commitment (2%-20%)

Many of the speculators never planned to own the apartments they bought, but to flip them quickly

With negagitve equity and being highly leverage speculators will be under massive stress. Some will walk, some will sell. Further reducing market prices and sentiment.

Singapore's leadership are publicly bearish on the prime property market declaring prices will decline

Sales of prime properties have collapsed over the in Jan and Feb to the lowest levels in 5 years (BT and ST this week)

Market sentiment is at panic levels. External negative economic pressures and credit crunch is underway now in all developed economies - strong and weak. These will impact Singapore too.

Asia has not "de-coupled" its economies from the US or WE. Singapore's exports indirectly still go mainly to the US. Consumption is till very low in Chinda. With recession in the US the reduced demand will still hit Singapre. Chinda owe Singapore nothing.

Singapore's 2007Q4 GDP shrank 4.8% I fully expect that the SG.gov is currently pumping the local economy hard to avoid a technical recession.

Singapore's productivity rates in 2007 declined by 0.9% - the greatest decline on record

Latest population target is 5.5mln by 2040, or about 10,000 HH per year.

Given current mix that means about 2,000 prime properties required per year

Jobs growth is good, but it is largely at the lowest levels. In coming workers will not be able to live in prime property. Many incoming professionals will not be able to afford prime property rentals without correction

Adam Smith's invisible hand of capitalism will play an influencing role in equalizing the balance

[Unregistered]

You will bleed listening to expat. Whoever can compile the data to show an on coming boom or decline will be a billionaire for sure. If he was smart and vested 2 years back, he would be millionaire many times over by now. Sounds like one who missed the boat.

[Unregistered]

You will bleed listening to expat. Whoever can compile the data to show an on coming boom or decline will be a billionaire for sure. If he was smart and vested 2 years back, he would be millionaire many times over by now. Sounds like one who missed the boat.

I think he has a point. If one is vested for long its ok but for paper millionaires aka flippers they need to get out. Many are stuck already which proves his point. Most of the time what drives the market is hype and we follow the crowd. I have exited last Sept. and waiting to get in again maybe once it falls by 30% which could be in 2 qtrs from now.

[Unregistered]

I think KLB suggestion was very positive. Too bad if MBT missed the point and didn't respond accordingly.

Answer from MBT with no explaination, just said they already considered carefully is not good.
As long as the take the country interest in the 1st place, not vote consideration, they are doing the right thing, not popular thing, then we are ok.
If not, they just want to abuse power because of their position, realistic will teach them a lesson in time to come.

[Unregistered]

Oh any comments on this observation from the expats forum? Seems a knowledgeable chap. Thanks buddy for educating us. I will delay my buying.

Didn't you see the poster is Kubes Sg. Didn't I say earlier he is the gang leader in Spore Expat who like to post nonsense (say all sort of negative views to suit his agenda) because his rental got double and his cannot afford that dream house anymore. I assure you, he is more sour than any sour grapes here. Later, when I got time, I will extract some of the refute for all of you to see.

[Unregistered]

Didn't you see the poster is Kubes Sg. Didn't I say earlier he is the gang leader in Spore Expat who like to post nonsense (say all sort of negative views to suit his agenda) because his rental got double and his cannot afford that dream house anymore. I assure you, he is more sour than any sour grapes here. Later, when I got time, I will extract some of the refute for all of you to see.

Yes anyone who talks sense is 'sour grapes' and the ones who share your views are wise. What a tragedy for the country.

[Unregistered]

Didn't you see the poster is Kubes Sg. Didn't I say earlier he is the gang leader in Spore Expat who like to post nonsense (say all sort of negative views to suit his agenda) because his rental got double and his cannot afford that dream house anymore. I assure you, he is more sour than any sour grapes here. Later, when I got time, I will extract some of the refute for all of you to see.

Why you care so much?
Guest
Re: Apartment sales slowing?
« Reply #1051 on: 04 April 2008, 1:57:39 AM » Quote

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote from: Kubes.SG on 03 April 2008, 18:57:04 PM
Quote from: Enblocked on 03 April 2008, 15:44:29 PM
lies, damn lies and statistics : )

whichever case it is, low volume does make price statistics notoriously unreliable. it's the same with stocks isn't it? a low volume day makes prices thrash about like a fish out of water.


You are absolutely correct in your concern that low volumes will distort the statistics and make them less reliable. I am trying find out how the property price index is actually calculated. I prefer that is use the median price - the mid point where half sales are above and half below. It is bit less skewed but exceptionally high or low outliers in the sample.

Can anyone provided the dectails on how the Singapore property value index is calculated?


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Guest : Why you care so much?
I bet if the index was negative, Kubes will stand by the index. If good news for the ppty mkt, he will argue it is not correct and manipulated by people with vested interest. If it is bad news, he will totally agree and stand by the news. Aren't you tire? Can you do better than this, Kubes?

He always stress he has no vested interest in S'pore ppty market yet he always come to this board to post all his super negative views.
Why is he doing it? Probably, he has not bought the dream house he has been eyeing for the past years. Now, it is beyong his reach.

I read an article written by Mr Clif Droke and I quote the below statement which I find it very interesting.

"Pokers players are master of the art of bluffing. If someone is telling the world he is taking the bearish bet, you can bet your bottom dollar he has a bullish ace in the hole which he is not telling you about. This is how the game is played, my friends".

As for us here (opposite his views), we never denied we have NO vested interest.

[Unregistered]

Didn't you see the poster is Kubes Sg. Didn't I say earlier he is the gang leader in Spore Expat who like to post nonsense (say all sort of negative views to suit his agenda) because his rental got double and his cannot afford that dream house anymore. I assure you, he is more sour than any sour grapes here. Later, when I got time, I will extract some of the refute for all of you to see.

read Liew Mun Leong of Capitaland comments, if he is not happy here, go Jakarta & Thailand.
That kind of environment & infrastructure, even that kind of salary offer there, he can go & ahead & move there.
His family will be worry of their security everyday, riot by racist or religious, kids' education standard, medical health care, languages, corruption, hygiene, global exposure....many more, ask him to get lower pay & lower rental there, go ahead lah!

[Unregistered]

Oh any comments on this observation from the expats forum? Seems a knowledgeable chap. Thanks buddy for educating us. I will delay my buying.

I agree with you. Neutral in his view and just sharing facts unlike morons here screaming up up. Few morons got thrashed in 1997. This is the new generation and they would end up the same way soon. They have just one comment to make always - ' sour grapes' a typical local singaporean term used by people who envy others who dont share their view and are much better off.

[Unregistered]

read Liew Mun Leong of Capitaland comments, if he is not happy here, go Jakarta & Thailand.
That kind of environment & infrastructure, even that kind of salary offer there, he can go & ahead & move there.
His family will be worry of their security everyday, riot by racist or religious, kids' education standard, medical health care, languages, corruption, hygiene, global exposure....many more, ask him to get lower pay & lower rental there, go ahead lah!

go dubai go india. buy property and retire in 5 years a multi millionaire. best locations now.

[Unregistered]

Why you care so much?
Guest
Re: Apartment sales slowing?
« Reply #1051 on: 04 April 2008, 1:57:39 AM » Quote

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote from: Kubes.SG on 03 April 2008, 18:57:04 PM
Quote from: Enblocked on 03 April 2008, 15:44:29 PM
lies, damn lies and statistics : )

whichever case it is, low volume does make price statistics notoriously unreliable. it's the same with stocks isn't it? a low volume day makes prices thrash about like a fish out of water.


You are absolutely correct in your concern that low volumes will distort the statistics and make them less reliable. I am trying find out how the property price index is actually calculated. I prefer that is use the median price - the mid point where half sales are above and half below. It is bit less skewed but exceptionally high or low outliers in the sample.

Can anyone provided the dectails on how the Singapore property value index is calculated?


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Guest : Why you care so much?
I bet if the index was negative, Kubes will stand by the index. If good news for the ppty mkt, he will argue it is not correct and manipulated by people with vested interest. If it is bad news, he will totally agree and stand by the news. Aren't you tire? Can you do better than this, Kubes?

He always stress he has no vested interest in S'pore ppty market yet he always come to this board to post all his super negative views.
Why is he doing it? Probably, he has not bought the dream house he has been eyeing for the past years. Now, it is beyong his reach.

I read an article written by Mr Clif Droke and I quote the below statement which I find it very interesting.

"Pokers players are master of the art of bluffing. If someone is telling the world he is taking the bearish bet, you can bet your bottom dollar he has a bullish ace in the hole which he is not telling you about. This is how the game is played, my friends".

As for us here (opposite his views), we never denied we have NO vested interest.

Great Observation. Kubes is a genius. Thanks for his analysis.

[Unregistered]

I have some questions for Mr. Expat Forum, can any kind soul here help me to convey?

Singapore prime property is grossly overvalued, by historical and global standards - (don't look at the 1996 peak as the benchmark, look at the average of the last 20 years)

I don't know what you mean by "overvalued". If you look at the average of the last 20 years, almost all global cities have gone up tremendously, not just Singapore.

Bombay, Shanghai, London, New York, Hong Kong.

If you look at Hong Kong's property market here:
http://business.fullerton.edu/financ...05.337_356.pdf

and Singapore's property market here:
http://www.redas.com/einformation/mt...vtmeasures.pdf

You can see that both Singapore and Hong Kong have gone up almost synchronously.

London's property prices have also gone up by 279% in the last 10 years.
http://www.easier.com/view/House_Pri...le-109868.html

Hence can you tell me which major international city is not "overvalued" compared to their historical value?

(Please exclude cities like Yangon, Kabul and Baghdad).

Singapore's property cycle is 1-2 years of boom, followed by 1-2 years of decline then 2-5 years of stagnation

Where did you get this idea from?

Look at the following residential price chart from 1960 to 2006

http://www.redas.com/einformation/mt...vtmeasures.pdf

Did you see the continuous climb all the way from Q2 1986 (Index at 33.5 points) all the way to Q2 1996 (Index at 181.4 points). Exactly 10 years and a rise of 440%. Bull-run of the decade!

What do you mean by 1-2 years of boom, followed by 1-2 years of decline?

About 30,000 new prime properties are booked to be completed by 2010, exceeding demand

Can you tell me how do you know that this supply of 30,000 has exceeded the demand?

How did you work out the demand? What are the formulae and data you used to work out the demand?

What exactly is the demand?

Possibly 50% of those were purchased by investors/speculators, many though DPS

DPS entirely skewed the market by allowing speculators/developers/realtors to rapidly pump-up prices with very small financial commitment (2%-20%)

Many of the speculators never planned to own the apartments they bought, but to flip them quickly

With negagitve equity and being highly leverage speculators will be under massive stress. Some will walk, some will sell. Further reducing market prices and sentiment.

Why should the speculators be under "massive stress"? The apartments can easily be rented out.

Don't forget that all the projects coming up TOP this year were bought in 2005, when the price was only 50% of what it is today.

With a rental yield of around 5% (based on current prices) and a mortgage interest rate of only 3%, the bank is subsidising borrowers to the tune of 2% p.a.

For those who've bought 3 years ago at half price (compared to today), that's a yeild of 10% versus a mortgage interest of 3%, the bank is subsidising borrowers to the tune of 7%.

Furthermore, rentals are expected to continue to rise due to the influx of foreingers. Read the following article:

"HDB, private apartment rentals set to rise

By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 03 April 2008 0050 hrs
SINGAPORE : Rentals for HDB and mass market private apartments are set to rise in the coming years, with more foreign workers heading for Singapore."

If it looks familiar, it's because it's the title for one of the threads in this forum. Go and read the full article over there.

Please explain where is the "massive stress" coming from?

Is getting 7% p.a. from the bank stressful? Are you referring to the "massive stress" of having too much money?

Singapore's leadership are publicly bearish on the prime property market declaring prices will decline

That is really strange!

MM Lee just said during Chinese New Year on 11 Feb 2008 that "By 2011, the Marina Bay Area will be splendid, especially a water plaza, surrounded by a promenade fronting financial centres, integrated resorts, residential condominiums, food and beverages outlets, an enchanting sight to behold. It will be a unique city centre. We will not leave our heartlands behind. All new towns will be upgraded and beautified. The massive new investments in infrastructure and beautification, plus a steadily growing economy, with higher incomes, will keep property values going up."

You can read his full speech here:

http://app.sprinter.gov.sg/data/pr/20080211985.htm

May I ask whether MM Lee is considered part of "Singapore's leadership"?
[QUOTE]Sales of prime properties have collapsed over the in Jan and Feb to the lowest levels in 5 years (BT and ST this week)

Market sentiment is at panic levels. External negative economic pressures and credit crunch is underway now in all developed economies - strong and weak. These will impact Singapore too.[QUOTE]
If sentiment is at "panic level", why then does the URA property price index rise 6.6% in Q4 2007 and then another 4.2% in Q1 2008?

http://www.ura.gov.sg/pr/text/2008/pr08-35.html

Remember that all these happened after the U.S. subprime had started.

If sentiment is at "panic level", then prices should decrease, instead of increase. Are you referring to "panic level" of the buyers, or "panic level" of the sellers?

Asia has not "de-coupled" its economies from the US or WE. Singapore's exports indirectly still go mainly to the US. Consumption is till very low in Chinda. With recession in the US the reduced demand will still hit Singapre. Chinda owe Singapore nothing.

Singapore's 2007Q4 GDP shrank 4.8% I fully expect that the SG.gov is currently pumping the local economy hard to avoid a technical recession.

Singapore's productivity rates in 2007 declined by 0.9% - the greatest decline on record

According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, "Singapore growth slows to 6.0% in fourth quarter"

Even "On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis, real GDP fell by 3.2 per cent in the quarter compared with a 4.4 per cent gain in the preceding quarter, reflecting a slowdown in the manufacturing sector".

May I known where did you get the figure "shrank 4.8%" from?

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...320244/1/.html

Latest population target is 5.5mln by 2040, or about 10,000 HH per year.

Given current mix that means about 2,000 prime properties required per year

Jobs growth is good, but it is largely at the lowest levels. In coming workers will not be able to live in prime property. Many incoming professionals will not be able to afford prime property rentals without correction

Adam Smith's invisible hand of capitalism will play an influencing role in equalizing the balance

What you mean by "Jobs growth is good, but it is largely at the lowest levels. In coming workers will not be able to live in prime property. Many incoming professionals will not be able to afford prime property rentals"?

Read the following article:

Steaming demand for senior private bankers
7 February 2007

UBS isn't the only one beefing up its senior private banking ranks in Singapore.

The Swiss bank relocated Carlo Grigioni, its formerly Swiss-based global head of private wealth management, to Singapore this month.

Pay for these top individuals is generous – the salary for the average private banker is around S$300k (US$195k). But it can reach considerably more than that. "Last year we came across a few candidates who will hit S$700k to $800k in total compensation," says Koh.

http://news.efinancialcareers.sg/NEW...ewsItemId-9212

Do you think that with a salary of S$300k to $800k per year, these "low level workers" will be able to live in prime properties?

[Unregistered]

Good response to pig head foreign trash

[Unregistered]

According to quite a few "experts" on this board the cannons are still booming. I just hope they are not confusing it with the big thuds of speculators jumping from high rises.

[Unregistered]

According to quite a few "experts" on this board the cannons are still booming. I just hope they are not confusing it with the big thuds of speculators jumping from high rises.

You are right. The thuds are echoing throughout the island as they rush for the exits. Many are being trampled. The thuds would get softer as they land on fellow speculators rushing for the exits.

[Unregistered]

You are right. The thuds are echoing throughout the island as they rush for the exits. Many are being trampled. The thuds would get softer as they land on fellow speculators rushing for the exits.

Can you please explain why the URA residential price index still rose 4.2% in Q1 2008?

If there is a rush for exit, then the price index should fall instead of rise.

It's almost one year since the sub-prime started and the sour grapes have come to this forum to predict the "rush for exits".

In the mean time, the URA residential price index has risen by 6.6% in Q4 2007 and another 4.2% in Q1 2008.

In another three months, we are going to celebrate the first anniversary of the sub prime.

[Unregistered]

Even KLB "admits" that he is feeling the pinch from the withdrawal of DPS.

Good thing that the govt stands firm and is committed to preventing unrealistic run-away prices. In other words, they want real economic growth, not excessive speculation.

Three cheers for PAP. Three cheers for MBT.

[Unregistered]

Can you please explain why the URA residential price index still rose 4.2% in Q1 2008?

If there is a rush for exit, then the price index should fall instead of rise.

It's almost one year since the sub-prime started and the sour grapes have come to this forum to predict the "rush for exits".

In the mean time, the URA residential price index has risen by 6.6% in Q4 2007 and another 4.2% in Q1 2008.

In another three months, we are going to celebrate the first anniversary of the sub prime.

Oh yes badly bruised speculators looking for figures. Figures dropping and dropping. Oh so much blood. Looks that this is the last we will hear of the speculators who would be trampled and done away with so that we can enjoy healthy growth.

[Unregistered]

Oh yes badly bruised speculators looking for figures. Figures dropping and dropping. Oh so much blood. Looks that this is the last we will hear of the speculators who would be trampled and done away with so that we can enjoy healthy growth.

Actually it's very cruel to think like that.

I once had a colleague who over-committed himself in the mid-90's. His hair grew white over a few months. I really pitied him.

But reality struck him and reality strikes again.

[Unregistered]

Good job, Mr Mah.

The policy is spot-on and good for stability.

[Unregistered]

Oh yes badly bruised speculators looking for figures. Figures dropping and dropping. Oh so much blood. Looks that this is the last we will hear of the speculators who would be trampled and done away with so that we can enjoy healthy growth.

"Figures dropping and dropping" are purely in your imagination.

Low-class people like sour grapes and high-class people like us who are condo owners belong to two different worlds actually.

It's only in this forum that we will meet; and only because this period the market is a bit quiet so the sour grapes have a chance to make some noise.

Very soon the sub-prime will blow over and that's the last we will hear of sour grapes.

We will each return to our respective worlds and our paths will never cross again.

[Unregistered]

Actually it's very cruel to think like that.

I once had a colleague who over-committed himself in the mid-90's. His hair grew white over a few months. I really pitied him.

But reality struck him and reality strikes again.

I once had an aunty who thought that the market had peaked in 1990 and sold off her Orchard Road apartment for $1 million and moved to an HDB flat.

Instead the market continued to surge. Even after the 1996 crash, it was still much higher than what she had sold it for. Recently, the estate was en blocked with each unit receiving $6 million.

My aunty's hair did not turn white but she has since stopped appearing in gatherings amongst our relatives.

Unlike you who are obviously very pleased with your colleague misfortunes, proclaiming that "reality struck him and reality strikes again", I will not say the same about my own relative.

People who play with properties will know that the upside risks far exceed the downside risks.

The most you could lose is $1 million; the most you could miss out has no upper limit.

The sourness of many people on this message board bears testimony to the many who were left behind.