Property Investment Insights

New Launch Condo Profits Since 2017: A Look At How Over 1,000 Sub Sale Sellers Have Fared

With the housing supply still at an all-time low, some buyers are eager to snap up any units that are closer to completion – even if the seller foists Sellers Stamp Duty (SSD) costs onto them. As we saw last…

• 3 Feb 2023
• 7 min read
• 0

How To Avoid Buying An Unprofitable Condo: 5 Less Known Reasons To Consider

The list of things to look for in a condo is long, if your goal is investing. Sometimes, it helps to do the opposite: focus on what a condo shouldn’t have. This helps you to curate your shortlist of potential…

• 25 Jan 2023
• 7 min read
• 1

Just 5% Of All Property Transactions In 2022 Were Unprofitable: Here’s 5 Interesting Learning Lessons

2022 was one of the hottest years on record for the property market. Housing supply was (and still is) at a critically low point, and prices rose across all segments despite cooling measures. It would seem as though sellers couldn’t…

• 9 Jan 2023
• 8 min read
• 0

7 Considerations To Make When Partitioning Your Condo For Better Resale Value/Rental Returns

A lot of newer condos come with “flexi” rooms, whilst dumbbell layouts are quite versatile. These make it quite easy to create an added bedroom, study, or other space; but before you go ahead and build the partitions, consider the…

• 27 Dec 2022
• 6 min read
• 0

If You Own An Investment Shoebox Unit, Here Are 5 Important Points To Note Before Selling In 2023

Right up to 2013, the single-bedder or shoebox unit was an in-demand property choice. It’s affordable to new investors, has a higher rental yield, and can be sold as an investment. But come 2023, the “selling” part is a much…

• 19 Dec 2022
• 6 min read
• 0

6 Things Foreign Investors Are Seldom Told About The Singapore Property Market

Singapore property is often advertised as a safe-haven asset, in a low-tax environment. Coupled with a history of continued price appreciation, and a high-quality built environment, it’s no surprise that our real estate finds its way into many foreign portfolios….

• 5 Dec 2022
• 6 min read
• 0

New Launch Vs Resale: Which Is More Profitable? We Look At 3,612 Transactions Over 5 Years

There are some untested sayings that have been in the Singapore private property market for decades. One of the more persistent ones is that new launches are better for gains; largely on the basis of “early bird discounts”, or that…

• 11 Oct 2022
• 6 min read
• 4

6 Essential Factors To Think About Before Buying Your First Rental Property

Some Singaporeans are fortunate enough to have an alternative home; these range from singles who can continue living with parents, to those who whose spouses already own a property. For this advantaged group, it’s possible that their very first mortgage…

• 14 Sep 2022
• 6 min read
• 0

Is The First-Mover Advantage For New Launch Condos Real? Here’re 4 Case Studies To See If It’s True

The “first-mover” theory holds that, if you’re the first to buy in a yet-to-peak area, you’ll see better capital gains. In theory, you would be buying before property values start to spike, in a classic buy-low-sell-high move. But depending on…

• 31 Aug 2022
• 8 min read
• 0

Prime Resale Freehold Condos Cheaper Than New 99-Year Suburban Condos: Too Good To be True?

The year is 2017, the market is on a bit of a slowdown and you decide this is the right time to buy an investment property.  You have always been a bit of a traditionalist, and you subscribe to the…

• 27 Aug 2022
• 9 min read
• 2

Buying A Home During Hungry Ghost Month: Does “Bad Luck” Translate To Lesser Profit?

As we enter into the Ghost Festival (7th month of the lunar calendar from August and usually lasts for a month till September), there will be just one question that buyers will be asking: Does buying a property during the…

• 8 Aug 2022
• 6 min read
• 1

5 Fast-Selling New Launches That Were Surprisingly Unprofitable Later (Some 0 Profitable Transactions)

Nothing charges up a condo show flat like a “selling fast” sign, or hyped-up news of how it sold out over a weekend. But as we’re about to see, not every condo that had a great launch ended up performing…

• 20 Jul 2022
• 8 min read
• 0

6 Slow Selling New Launches That Became Profitable Later (More Than 90% Made Money)

A common marketing tactic in real estate is to slap “selling fast” on new launch websites. We tend to assume that what starts well will also end well – so any property that’s selling out quickly must, by conventional thinking…

• 8 Jul 2022
• 8 min read
• 2

10 Shocking Loss-Making Condo Transactions Since 2017 (The Last Market Bottom)

Conventional wisdom will point at the property market cycle and tell you that 2017 was the best time to buy in the last 5 years. After all, it was the lowest point in the residential property price index and for…

• 29 Jun 2022
• 14 min read
• 2

Selling Your Home During Hungry Ghost Festival: Is It Any Less Profitable? A Look At 26 Years Of Data

You may have heard of the excuse used by agents to account for a slow-moving month in August: “Oh yes, it was the Hungry Ghost Festival, that’s why” For those who are unaware, the “Ghost Festival” (“GF”) falls on the…

• 8 Jun 2022
• 7 min read
• 0

Analysing Unprofitable Condos: 6 Reasons Why The Lanai Has Performed Poorly (District 23)

With the last unprofitable condo analysis being done in the East (Urban Vista, for those wondering), this time I’ve decided to look to the West for another on our list of 13 unprofitable condos.  I know it has taken some…

• 3 Jun 2022
• 10 min read
• 7

Should You Invest In A Condo’s Commercial Space? Here Are 6 Things To Note

With new cooling measures in place, some property investors are now considering alternatives – and one that feels close to home is commercial spaces inside condos. It’s not uncommon for many developments to have minimarts, clinics, cafés, etc. within the…

• 31 May 2022
• 6 min read
• 0

10 Most Profitable Condos Based On Their Average Performance Since 2012

The last time we did an article on profitable condos, this was by a ratio of the highest profitable-to-unprofitable transactions since 1995. But with the various cooling measures and different policies throughout the years, sometimes looking at transactions dating so…

• 18 May 2022
• 13 min read
• 2