Homeownership in Singapore down in past 10 years

Posted on 24 Sep 2014 | Comments Off on Homeownership in Singapore down in past 10 years

Although overall homeownership in the city-state remains high at 89 percent in the 2012/2013 period, this is a slight dip from the 91 percent recorded in the previous 10-year period, revealed recent data from the Department of Statistics’ household expenditure survey.

Ownership of HDB flats saw the most noticeable drop over the past decade, falling from 91.9 percent in the 2002/2003 period to 89.9 percent in 2012/2013.

The homeownership rate of condominiums and other apartments has fluctuated in recent years, increasing from 83.6 percent in 2002/2003 to 85.6 percent in 2007/2008, but this has since slipped to the current 84.5 percent.

Meanwhile, households staying in landed properties enjoyed the highest levels of homeownership in Singapore, with 92.2 percent owning their homes in 2012/2013, up slightly from the 91 percent in 2002/2003.

Specifically, the rate of homeownership was generally higher among households in the 21st to 80th percentile income bracket, whereby more than nine in 10 owned their own homes.

The survey was conducted among 11,050 households between October 2012 and September 2013.

Click here to read the full report.

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Danger lurks when property consultants also trade

Posted on 24 Sep 2014 | Comments Off on Danger lurks when property consultants also trade

PROPERTY consultants may be tempted to invest in real estate, but to be a good consultant, one needs to be somewhat detached and not get carried away, says a veteran in the business.

“Some of them think that with the knowledge they have, it is a sure thing; so they start to take positions. They may get carried away and start trading in property. But in their job as a property consultant, they are not supposed to do that,” says Knight Frank Singapore’s executive chairman, Tan Tiong Cheng, when asked to offer advice to those planning a career as a property consultant.

Apart from clouded judgement, there could also be potential conflict of interest issues.

“As a property consultant or as an agent, you are supposed to serve your client, yet there have been cases where the agent took a position by buying the property from the client,” said Mr Tan.

He attributes Singaporeans’ keen interest in property to the state’s policy of encouraging home ownership, initiated decades ago. In itself, this is a good objective.

But with home ownership at very high levels, Singapore having limited land and Singaporeans seeming to think that the government always gets them out of difficult situations, the preoccupation with property investment could become excessive.

His advice to anyone looking for their dream home is: “When buying a property, the most important thing is to make sure that should you decide this is not your dream home, you are able to find other people who think it is their dream home.”

“Whatever property you buy, just make sure that there is a pool of similar-minded people, so that if you change your mind, you can offload it.”

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Posted in CEA, General

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