The Hidden Cost Of Homeownership: How A $1M Home Could Lead To $300K In Interest Alone Over 10 Years One of the least interesting property topics is financing. Home loans are dry, complicated, and don’t make for easy reading; which is why home loan interest rates are often overlooked. In fact, you’ve probably heard by now that rates are… 25 Jul 2023 5 min read 0
Why DBSS Flats Are Defying The Odds: Achieving Record Million-Dollar Prices Despite Past Criticisms Approximately a decade ago, when the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) came to an end, the event was largely met with nonchalance. From property blogs to casual conversations, the consensus seemed to favour the scheme’s termination. For most people,… 24 Jul 2023 6 min read 1
From The 70s To The Present: The Evolution Of Singapore’s Condo Layouts Our tastes as homeowners have changed over the years, and so have regulations. From the experimental era of the ‘70s, to the developers “min-maxing” profits with giant air-con ledges in the early ‘00s, condo unit layouts have seen many trends… 19 Jul 2023 10 min read 0
Expecting New Condo Prices To Drop In Singapore? Here’s 6 Factors Why You Shouldn’t While the recent unveiling of eight new GLS sites will undoubtedly provide some relief to soaring property prices, it’s essential to temper expectations. While increased land availability can bolster housing supply, and possibly lead to more moderate property prices over… 17 Jul 2023 7 min read 0
Why Do People Still Opt For Pricier New Condos Over Resale in 2023: 4 Case Studies That Show PSF Isn’t Everything In 2018, there was a research report by DBS that forecasted new private homes to cost between $2,300 to $2,900 psf on average by 2030. This sounded incredibly bullish back then, especially when the average new private home cost about… 10 Jul 2023 7 min read 0
Grand Dunman vs The Continuum vs Tembusu Grand: How To Choose Between The 3 New Launch Condos In District 15 It’s been some time since we had a concentrated launch of condos in one area (the last was the glut of 7 new launches at Holland), and the three names above are the headline projects in the East right now…. 7 Jul 2023 10 min read 1
7 Commonly Overlooked Factors To Consider When Visiting A Show Flat In 2023 It was 2017, a time when the property market was in a rather sleepy state. I remember stepping into a show flat, where I was greeted by a tagger with the enthusiasm of a sloth on a lazy afternoon. My… 4 Jul 2023 6 min read 0
Singapore’s Private Home Market Sees First Price Drop in Three Years: What’s Next? We don’t usually focus too much on the results of a single quarter, but this is an exception. Q2 of 2023 marks the first time we’ve seen a faint dip in property prices, since around Q1 of 2020. But does… 3 Jul 2023 8 min read 0
How To Lower Property Prices In Singapore: More Loan Curbs Or ABSD? The Additional Buyers Stamp Duty (ABSD) is seen as a core component of cooling measures. Every time prices creep too high, we see the government ramp up ABSD – most recently on 27th April 2023, when the ABSD on foreign… 27 Jun 2023 6 min read 1
The Myst, A New Launch Condo With Prices Under $1 Million: A 5-Minute Overview Of Upper Bukit Timah’s Latest Launch The new condo launches are coming in thick and fast, with City Developments Limited (CDL) launching The Myst (yes, I didn’t spell it wrongly, it’s supposed to represent the misty mornings in the nearby Bukit Timah Nature Reserve) on the… 23 Jun 2023 5 min read 0
8 New GLS Sites Revealed For 2023: We Explore Each Site And How They May Impact Homebuyers In an unexpected move, the government has announced eight new GLS sites for the second half of 2023; one of the biggest land sales events we’ve seen in around a decade. On top of that, two of the GLS sites… 22 Jun 2023 7 min read 0
The First New Launch In 14 Years In Ulu Pandan: Pinetree Hill And What You Need To Know Pinetree Hill will be an interesting launch to note, as it’s a little less in the limelight because Ulu Pandan isn’t traditionally an area that will pop into mind for buyers. But it’s been apparently 14 years since there was… 21 Jun 2023 6 min read 0
Inside 2023’s Biggest Condo Launch: Everything You Need to Know About Grand Dunman It’s been a while since we’ve had two new condos launching on the very same weekend – Grand Dunman (near Old Airport Road and Dakota), and Pinetree Hill (along Ulu Pandan Road in Clementi). For those looking for a new… 21 Jun 2023 6 min read 0
Singapore Vs Vienna Public Housing: Is Vienna Doing It Better Than Singapore (And What Can We Learn) Imagine a city where public housing doesn’t just meet basic living standards, but can be architectural masterpieces as well, scattered in prime locations throughout the city. And no, we’re not talking about Singapore. Welcome to Vienna, Austria, where public housing… 21 Jun 2023 9 min read 0
Avoid Homebuying Regrets: 9 Commonly Overlooked Things to Consider Before Buying a Home There are some housing issues that you can quickly research online, and there are issues which you only learn to spot with experience (or some in-depth expert insight). Rather than cover the usual stuff like defects, checking on the neighbours,… 19 Jun 2023 7 min read 0
Singapore Rental Market Challenges: Can Landed Homes Outperform The Slowdown? The condo rental market recently saw record highs, but the momentum finally appears to be slowing. Many tenants have now found cheaper alternatives, even if it means moving to more fringe locations. However, one property segment that remains untouched –… 16 Jun 2023 5 min read 0
40 New Condos With Profitable Sub Sales: A Look Into Their Performance And What You Need To Know Every now and then, we publish updates on condo sub sales, and the profits that sometimes result. In recent years we’ve seen some windfalls, on the back of a (possibly overheated) property market. Here’s an update on the sub sale… 14 Jun 2023 6 min read 0
How To Get Money Out Of Your Home Without Selling It: 4 Creative Ways To Do It It’s a story we come across surprisingly often: someone has a fully-paid up flat, condo, or perhaps even a $6 million bungalow (you can read about a real-life story here). However, they lack sufficient income as retirees or are facing… 14 Jun 2023 7 min read 2