Finding Houses in Singapore

Yesterday there was an article in the  Straits Times on the increasing resale prices of HDB flats.  And there are warnings on the potential increase of interest rates that might increase strain on buyers servicing their mortgage loans.  So is it still a good time to buy houses now? The question is why is demand increasing ? (1) Due to the work from home initiative, many realized the need for more personal and spaces. Many crave for a personal space for their own, and started to look for houses.  (2) With the current low interest rates, many are taking advantage of it and buying property.  (3) Some are taking advantage of the current prices of property market, in anticipation of high property and higher rental yields when international travel become possible in future and more foreigners come to Singapore.  Let's talk about Supply: Due to small land size of Singapore, there are always constraints on the land space and the land used to be built for houses. W...

Telegram is gaining popularity and is a good way of getting news right away.  Here are some useful telegram channels about the property news/scene that might help you in your purchase of your next house. 1.  SingaporeHDB - HDB's official telegram channel to push HDB related news and announcement to you real time.  2. Ku Swee Yong Telegram channel - Telegram by well known Property advisor who shares his views and outlook of the property scene. Good to hear his views and what to look out for before you make the next purchase.  3. Propnex Property News Broadcast - This is the telegram channel by Propnex that pushes daily property news to you. 4. The Business Times - This is the official Business Times Telegram channel that will share business times news to you. However you have to be a subscriber to read some of the premium news. 

 Here are some of the links that are useful and can be bookmarked: 1. Developers Sales  - this website shows all the new launch condos that are on sale right now. You can see the price lists as well as the virtual 360 degrees view of the condo without being at the showroom. Floor plans and details of the condo are also available there.  2. URA Private property transactions - this website shows all the transactions by a particular condo. You can roughly gauge the price to buy or sell from the prices listed here.  3. Edge Prop - from this website, you can check out the price trends of a particular condo, whether it is going up or down. You can also see the profitable/unprofitable transactions which would be important should you buy the condo for investment. You can also see the rental transactions in the condo and rent in nearby properties which might be your competitors.  4. SquareFoot - you can also find the price trends and transaction details of a condo here...

 Recently, The Business Times published this chart on 16 March 2020 comparing the affordability of different types of housing over the years.  Source: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/in-a-covid-year-new-condos-price-income-ratio-widens  Affordability is calculated based on the property median prices for each of the property types, divided by median annual household income. On the left is the implied number of years one household have to save to buy a 1000 sq property. From this chart you can see that the prices of new sales/launches of non-landed private have been going up steadily, it is the steepest of all.  On the other hand the prices of resale non-private have been going up my a small margin of 0.1 from 2019 to 2020. For prices of resale HDB, it has also went up from 2019-2020.  What does this article tell us? It gives a overview on the disparity of prices between new launch non-landed private as well as resale non-landed private. This is ...

Is it good to invest in a HDB? Recently there are many million HDBs sold.. -> https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/13-hdb-resale-flats-sold-for-at-least-1m-in-jan-prices-rise-for-7th-straight-month Is it a good investment? Taken from data.gov.sg, we see that the number of flats sold is decreasing since 2017, after reaching its peak. The number of flats for rent is about the same.  This is the resale price of HDB flats, as we can see, the price increased at of 2020 Q4. Despite the covid situation and the weak SG stock market, the price of HDB flats continue to increase.  Number of rental houses do not seem to show any signs of decrease.  According to these graphs, there seems to be good chance that you can sell away your HDB for a profit in the future, given that there is large number of lease years left in the HDB as there is a tighter restrictions for buyers to buy HDB with leases less than 50 years.  Even if you now is not the right time to sell t...

 Here's the Straits Times Index ETF from 2008. Here is the price chart of the Straits Times Index (STI) ETF (ES3), which tracks the performance of the Straits Times Index taken from yahoo finance. As you can see, if you entered and bought some STI ETF in the year 2010 at around 3.02, 10 years later in year 2020, you might incur a loss as the average price of 2020 is around 2.744. Hopefully the dividends earned from the ETF which yield is around 3-4% per year will help to cover the losses.  Let's compare it with the Price Index chart for HDB and Non Landed Private Housing. The trend of the price index of STI and Non Landed Private Housing looks similar, up to 2020, where we see the tanking of the STI while the prices of houses did not fall as much.  There are probably several reasons for this.   The covid that happened in 2020 has changed the lifestyle for many. During the circuit breaker, students have to learn from home while office workers work from home. Many...

 Let's take a look at the average price of Non-Landed Private Properties (eg. condo) This includes all the non-landed houses in Singapore, in all regions. At this time of writing Q4 2020 prices is not available yet. For Year 2020, it is the average price index of Q1-Q3. As you can see, after 2017, the price level of properties do not increase as much. How does it compare to HDB? The above shows the price index of Non landed private properties as compared to resale price index of HDB. As you can see, from 2015 onwards, the price of non-landed private properties continue to increase while the price levels of HDB remain relatively flat.  Which do you think is a better investment? For most people, to get a profit you have to buy low and sell high.  If you buy a HDB or non landed property at around the time of the first red circle at around 2009, you will likely be able to make a profit if you sell the property in 2013.  Similarly if you buy a non landed property in 2017 ...