Price increasing for singapore property !

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 9:12 am*

Stocks Tumble Following Jobs Report
Friday March 7, 6:28 pm ET
By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer
Stocks Fall Sharply After Weaker-Than-Expected Jobs Report; Fed Moves to Ease Credit Concerns

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street ended a dreadful week with another big loss Friday after the government surprised investors with a report that employers eliminated 63,000 jobs last month. The news compounded fears that the U.S. economy, already hampered by an unrelenting credit crisis, is succumbing to recession.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 146 points, bringing its two-day slide to 370. This week's declines in the three major stock indexes to their lowest settlements since 2006 came despite the Federal Reserve's announcement that it would take steps to aid the credit markets.

The Labor Department's report that employers cut jobs by 63,000 last month -- the most since March 2003 -- unnerved investors worried about the health of the economy and who had been expecting a 25,000 gain in jobs. While the unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent, the decline reflects people leaving the labor force.

The payroll numbers arrived minutes after the Federal Reserve announced it would take fresh steps to ease credit troubles, including boosting the amount of money it will auction to banks.

The central bank said it will increase the size of its March 10 and 24 auctions to banks to $50 billion each. The auctions had been slated for $30 billion apiece and Fed officials said subsequent auctions could be bigger if need be. The Fed also said that it would begin a series of repurchase transactions expected to reach $100 billion.

Craig Peckham, an equity trading strategist at Jefferies & Co., said besides the weak job figures, investors were worried about an apparent lack of effectiveness of the Fed's campaign.

"There is a growing sense that the Fed is trying to pull out all the stops and use all the tools they have but with little net effect," he said. "It just doesn't appear to be the quick-fix that investors had been hoping for. What we've seen is people continuing to press very bearish bets."

The Dow fell 146.70, or 1.22 percent, to 11,893.69. On Thursday, the Dow's 214-point drop came on resurgent concerns about the health of the credit markets. The index has not closed below 11,900 since October 2006, but on Jan. 22 dropped during intraday trading to 11,634.82.

Broader stock indicators also declined. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 10.97, or 0.84 percent, to 1,293.37 -- its lowest settlement since August 2006.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 8.01, or 0.36 percent, to 2,212.49, the lowest the tech-dominated index has finished since September 2006.

Bond prices jumped as investors sought defensive positions amid concerns about the economy. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.54 percent from 3.59 percent late Thursday.

It's been a rough week for Wall Street -- the Dow fell 3.04 percent, the S&P fell 2.80 percent and the Nasdaq fell 2.60 percent.

The market had been eager for a read on the jobs picture. While unemployment remains low by historical standards the increase in unemployment stirred concern among investors worried that it will result in a consumer slowdown. The well-being of the consumer, whose spending accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, is key to investors' hopes of avoiding more economic pain amid the ongoing pullback in home values and credit troubles.

Paul Nolte, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates, said the job losses in February weren't surprising.

"The trend for the last year and a half has been either job losses or very small gains. That is what you would expect in a contracting economy and we think the economy has been in a recession for two or three months," he said.

The employment figures came a day after concerns about home foreclosures and credit woes rippled across Wall Street.

The start of the week had been relatively quiet. While investors chewed over a slew of economic data, the major indexes didn't end the first three sessions of the week with huge changes. While the closing numbers belied some of the volatility, Wall Street had to contend with in the early part of the week, investors' indecision turned to fear Thursday when credit concerns took on new life.

The week also saw the dollar continue to drop, helping push several commodities to record highs. Many commodities are traded in dollars and so a weak greenback can make their prices rise. Gold, often regarded as a defensive investment, surged to near the psychological benchmark of $1,000 an ounce.

The Fed's plans announced Friday seemed to shore up investor confidence early in the session -- briefly sending stocks higher -- but failed to quell Wall Street's nervousness about the economy.

Steven Lehman, manager of Federated's Market Opportunity Fund, was doubtful of the effectiveness of the Fed's efforts.

"There is a profound lack of understanding of markets and economies, and there is still persistent lingering faith that the authorities effectively have a magic wand they can wave to make everything fine," Lehman said. "Economies and markets do go down -- particularly after a multi-decade credit boom."

The dollar hit a fresh record low against the euro following release of the payroll numbers, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude slipped 32 cents to close at $105.15 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange, but only after briefly surpassing $106.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.67, or 0.40 percent, to 660.11.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 5 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 4.44 billion shares, up from 4.18 billion on Thursday.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 3.27 percent after Wall Street's decline. Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 1.15 percent, Germany's DAX index lost 1.17 percent, and France's CAC-40 slid 1.26 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended the week down 372.70, or 3.04 percent, at 11,893.69. The Standard & Poor's 500 index finished down 37.26, or 2.80 percent, at 1,293.37. The Nasdaq composite index ended the week down 58.99, or 2.60 percent, at 2,212.49.

The Russell 2000 index finished the week down 26.07, or 3.80 percent, at 660.11.

The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index -- a free-float weighted index that measures 5,000 U.S. based companies -- ended Friday at 13,052.41, down 403.55 points, or 3.00 percent, for the week. A year ago, the index was at 14,271

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 9:18 am*

To all Buyers out there.....

Don't buy from owners who is offloading thier condo/ unit unless of course you can manage to squeeze them.

You are better off buying from developer... been to a few showroom they are offering quite a good discount.

Or better still just wait when more unit are TOP > 10000 units we will see the panic selling coming soon. The Great Singapore Sale...

Speculators /Flippers are nothing but dead meat

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 9:24 am*

Just look at the latest ad below ......

D15 Malvern Springs Asking $585psf

For you to decide, happy hunting.........

By the way Malvern Springs Dec 07 transaction at $949 psf

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 11:10 am*

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 4:10 pm*

I also bet 6 months down the road you also won't buy... cos followers talk BIG BIG only... wat great sale hah! wat bargain hunting hah! You can't afford don't tok-kok lah!! Laughing

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 5:20 pm*

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 5:34 pm*

High housing prices are BAD for Singapore and Singaporeans.

High prices mean we have to take bigger and longer mortgages (for your profit), leaving ordinary Sinaporeans with less money for food, clothing, holidays, education, etc). At the national level, it makes the country less competitive, and is also undesirable.

People who really need homes, new couples, upgraders, should not be enslaved 30yrs for the benefit of a priviledged few, and especially not for speculators.

No one forced you to buy when prices are high.

People who bought and contributed to the speculative fever of 1990's do not deserve rescue, since, as an investment decision, they must have considered the possibility of loss. Play big, win big... or lose big.

This is precisely what MM Lee was warning about. He said we'll not bail you out for your own indescretions. Property market moves in cycles. Don't think you can just keep make bigger and bigger purchases.

Interest low, so expensive property should be bought?

Your mortgate is 20-30y long. How many years will interest rates remain this low? This is precisely what caught out so many sub-prime owners in US. They were basically buying homes they couldn't afford on unusually low interest rates.

Sorry, I'm not going to take that hot potato property off your hands now that market sentiment is changing for the worse. When interest rates rise in 1, 2, 3 years time, you can pay the price of your decision to buy at current high prices.

Inflation: property as protection against inflation is a mirage.
As a general statement over 20-30y timespan, this might be true.
But property cycles are shorter (already we've seen 2-3 property downturns in the last 12 yrs). If you bought at a peak (and we're already at a peak), your property won't protect you against inflation.

In fact, property is a liability. You will continue to pay high interest, but your property is actually worth less.

Property prices have stagnated. Therefore buying during a period of stagnation (like now) will not protect you against inflation. $1mil of property will devalue as much as $1mil of cash.

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 5:42 pm*

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 11:23 pm*

Let me tell you all, Singapore property market are still in tack in the 2nd phase of property growth....started only last year 2007.....

Property sellers are receiving calls from agents enquiring about potential buyers interested in their unit..... FOLLOWERS, MISS the BOAT, DIVA, uncle KING are receiving MARGIN CALLS from broker house....to top up their margin account..... in their minds, they just want the singapore property market crash crash crash.... so that they have "kar ke" to join them in the news paper classified session list....

too bad, they are so many steps behing ppl....don't understands the financial markets, don't understands economy...don't understand toooooooo many simple things.....

smart ppl are riding the UPTREND WAVE !!!

MIA, MISS the boat, DIVA followers are riding the DOWN TREND WAVE......!!! Wink

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 11:29 pm*

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 11:34 pm*

Guest · on *08 Mar 08 11:41 pm*

Over the long term, say 20 years, properties are a good investment in a land scarce country.

But in that 20 years, there will be ups & downs.

Take for example, after the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, property prices in Singapore & Hong Kong lost 50% to 60% of their values from the peak.

If you had bough high, and you have no holding power, then May God Help You.

Buying now when the market has already gone up by 200% to 300% in the last 2 years ...... how much upside would you have? The downside risk is higher than the upside.

This is not to denigrate the property market .... hopefully, it will go up higher & everybody wd be happy.
But one shd be wise enough to be careful with one's hard earned money and make the right decisions.

Guest · on *09 Mar 08 2:03 am*

Guest · on *09 Mar 08 2:07 am*

Guest · on *09 Mar 08 2:09 am*

Guest · on *09 Mar 08 2:13 am*

Guest · on *09 Mar 08 8:51 am*

Smart Buyers Collection is a collection of words of wisdom by various Singapore property watchers.

Singapore property market is doomed to fall/decline this year and next year. The main reasons are as follows:

(a) There are still a significant number of speculators (estimated at 30%) still holding to their existing properties with the hope of making quick bucks before TOP. Unfortunately, there will be 30-40 condo developments numbering up to 20,000 units which will go TOP this year or next year. Its real unfortunate that in 2008-2009, the global economy will not improve. There will be over-supply on top of the existing sales that we see on Classified Ads every Saturday...We shall also see pages and pages of auction sales or files for bankruptcies. As such, some desperate speculators will have no choice but sell their properties at the prices which they have bought in 2006/2007 to escape from bank actions. Banks will be more stricter on extending loans and this will make life more difficult for speculators.

(b) Rentals at present moment are still steady but unfortunately getting slower and slower in uptake rates. With more and more units coming on-stream in 2008/2009, tenants will be spoilt for choice. In addition, the bleak economic prospects in US and the global economy might mean a cutdown in factory productions which ultimately will increase unemployment. We will see lesser and lesser tenants in time to come but greater and greater number of landlords willing to bring down rents.

(c) The property price in Singapore cannot be supported by the local population. This is because in 2007, property prices increase by 40% or more, mainly due to the rampant acts of speculators or enbloc sellers in the market and not by genuine homeowners. In contrast, average salary increases just an average of 5-10%. This is not consistent. Corrections are bound to happen anytime soon.

(d) Now, it seems that speculators have gone with the end of deferred payment so as the number of enbloc sellers who probably have already relocated to suburban areas. With these 2 group of buyers gone, the only ones left are the local and foreign buyers. Unfortunately, both groups of buyers are extremely cautious now with the pessimistic economic outlook. These buyers have got burnt from stock investments as well as got stuck with existing properties.

(e) Singapore is in big trouble now. We can see this with the 'aggressive activities by our ministers to tap the Middle East market and investment...hoping to get more investors from these countries to come to Singapore.'. Unfortunately, this is not going to happen anytime soon. The Middle East consumers/investors are more attuned to Muslim markets like Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey and not Singapore. We can witness the thousands of Middle East tourists that come to Malaysia compared to a mere hundreds that come here. And bear in mind that the Middle East millionaires are more proned to dumping their properties when they see no real values in retaining them due to their huge pockets.

(f) Its true that the markets of the future belong to those rich in commodities like Middle East countries and Malaysia which are rich in oil and natural resources. Unfortunately, Singapore does not have any of these qualities. Singapore is in many ways like a miniature US. We depend a lot on the existing local talents as well as investments from overseas. Our economy is export-based with the US being our biggest customer. We will be the worst-hit when the credit crisis reach our homeland anytime soon unlike the Middle East countries which have high-priced oil to back them up. Even Middle East will be affected soon when their oil price drops when demand goes down with the recession in the long term. No one is immuned to the US economy.

(g) Property transactions in Singapore is probably the lowest in a decade in February this year. I hardly see any transactions going on in some areas of Singapore. This is a very bad sign. When there are no buyers but many sellers...and many many more sellers by the end of 2008...and economy gets worst in end-2008, and we will see even fewer buyers..unless there is a major price correction, many sellers will get burnt and lose everything including their 20% deposit to buy the property. Banks will lower their property valuations when economy gets bad and sellers will be hard pressed to compete for buyers' money.

(h) Even the IR, F1 Grand Prix, Youth Olympics etc will not do much to hype up the property market at a time of economic downturn. This is because F1 Grandprix is only held less than a week in a year so as the Youth Olympics. IR/Casinos are found not only in Singapore but also in Malaysia, Korea and US. When times are bad, no one will be gambling away their money at the casinos. In year 1996, Singapore property market experienced its most robust year, even better than 2007, where buyers pay people to queue up for units. At that time, our government even plans to have a bullet train to link to Malaysia, and are talking up plans to expand the Marina Bay area with their huge land reclaimation efforts. Government also has great plans for Tanjong Rhu area with a Marina and Marine Village planned. But the 1997 currency crisis came and every plans that we had go down buried in the grounds for 7 or more years....What makes you think that this wont happen again this year round ???

(i) Have you ever considered why Government corporations like Temasek and GIC are heavily investing in US/European banks to keep them afloat from the sub-prime crisis ?? It is because Singapore has so much stake to lose if these crisis goes uncontrolled....from the pattern, it seems that the damage is already done and cannot be undone despite the massive injections of funds from GICs and Sovereign Funds. The US economy is in debt to the tune of US$3 trillion or more....How to rectify these problems ???

And so, my friends, if you still think that the already overpriced property prices in Singapore will go up further, you are indeed dreaming. Wake up to reality !

Really make sense.....very good read indeed

Guest · on *09 Mar 08 8:57 am*

Some poster here keeps telling people they'll 'miss the boat.'
Well, tell that to the PM.

PM Lee
Quote:

THE Government is watching the property market 'carefully', and taking steps to ensure that it does not over-heat.

To those are worried that they might have 'missed the boat' in the current residential property boom, his advise to them is: Don't worry, there is enough land for affordable housing for all Singaporeans.

The withdrawal of the deferred Payment Scheme, announced by the National Development Ministry last Friday night, is one such measure 'to dampen excessive speculation and help to inject some reality into the market,' said the Prime Minister.

'The Government is committed to keeping housing affordable for all Singaporeans,' he promised.

To that end, the Housing Board is building more flats.
The Government is also releasing more land for executive condominiums - which also addresses the problem of middle-income households that do not qualify for HDB flats.

'We're convinced that we will be able to provide good housing for all Singaporeans over the medium to long term.'

'There is enough land in Singapore. There is no need for anybody to get alarmed, that this is the last chance, and if you don't get on, you'll miss the boat.'

SM Goh. (Excerpts.)
Quote: [/size][/size]http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_207565.html

...surpluses came about because of the exceptional economic performance. We cannot grow by 7.7 per cent every year.'

... continued growth of the property sector at such a pace is neither possible nor desirable because it may lead to an oversupply of property or an overheating of the economy.

MM Lee (excerpts)
Quote:
http://forum.channelnewsasia.com/viewtopic.php?t=126480&highlight=&sid=730137656abf7aaff6c02707b772a3af

MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew last night urged Singaporeans not to over-stretch themselves financially in a period of boom, so that in the event of bad times, they would be better able to ride out the cycle.

Mr Lee: 'The government will not allow anybody to die of starvation, but we are not going to cover you for your indiscretions'
Describing the effect of the property cycle, he warned that property prices go in cycles and will not keep going up all the time.

'They go up, then they go down,' he said. 'So when they go up, don't believe that it's going to go up further and further, and you start buying bigger and bigger, and mortgage for bigger and bigger amounts. Because the day it starts to fall, the cycle goes around, you will find yourself with a negative value asset.'

Mah BT
Quote:
"It's not my job, neither is it my ability to predict prices. All I can say is that we monitor the price situation very carefully and over the past months, the government has taken several steps to try to cool down the strong speculative fervour that was taking place earlier in the year. Those are the internal factors.

"As you know, there are also many external factors that could affect property prices. Those are external factors which are beyond our control, so we don't really know how the sub-prime crisis is going to pan out. We don't know what's going to happen to the American economy this year.

"What we do know is for Singapore and we are optimistic that we will continue to do well. It's up to us to keep a close eye on the market to ensure prices remain stable and move in tandem with the economy."

Guest · on *09 Mar 08 9:13 am*

Don't be dumb dumb lah!
Gov has been ensuring is affordable for many time liao leh!
Gov they themselves selling their flat for how much now?
Gov also follow market to increase their new flat price leh!
You think they willing to sell you cheap hah??

Price increasing for singapore property !

Singapore Room & House For Rent, Sale, Buy, & Sell

Price increasing for singapore property !