News

What Makes An HDB Flat Prime Or Plus?

What makes a flat Plus, and what makes it Prime?  I’m convinced this is the next (mostly) unresolvable argument we’ll see in the coming decades; on par with the age-old “freehold versus leasehold” argument. As I’m writing this, we’re about…

• 13 Oct 2024
• 3 min read
• 0

What’s Better Than A Condo Next To An MRT?

What do MRT stations and condo concierge services have in common? They both seem to get less impressive every year. Having a concierge and a reception desk was once the hallmark of a luxury condo. Today, home buyers just shrug…

• 6 Oct 2024
• 3 min read
• 0

What Would Happen When We Relax Property Cooling Measures?

Sometimes, a good way to gauge cooling measures is to check who’s doing the opposite. How do we tell if the cooling measures in Singapore are working? Well, the most obvious answer is to check the results in a few…

• 29 Sep 2024
• 4 min read
• 0

Sweden Sells Land For Just 13 Singapore Cents… What’s The Catch?

Fancy a landed property that’s cheap, scenic, and really doesn’t need air-conditioning? Any of you with classic Singaporean “polar bear” syndrome? By that I mean you make you scream when someone raises the air-con past 22 degrees. There’s now a…

• 22 Sep 2024
• 4 min read
• 0

Should You Pay For A Buyer Agent?

You know those guides that say you should bang pots and pans, to scare off a bear?  Or that you should talk calmly to an armed kidnapper to humanise yourself?  Those are the kinds of solutions only someone in my…

• 15 Sep 2024
• 3 min read
• 0

What Is An Affordable Home In Singapore?

When it comes to housing affordability, the word “entitled” gets thrown around too much. There’s a certain kind of judgment that gets levelled on you, when you define affordable housing not just as a roof over your head. If you…

• 8 Sep 2024
• 5 min read
• 0

The US Just Changed How Property Agents Get Paid: Will Singapore Be Next?

Every now and then, it’s good to take a page from how other countries regulate their property agents Because everywhere in the world, there’s a general similarity in their profession: it’s a shark-eat-shark world out there, and the administrative work…

• 1 Sep 2024
• 5 min read
• 0

Is $1.1 Billion For PropertyGuru A Good Deal?

What is so expensive, you can have US $1.1 billion and still find yourself coming up short? That’s what makes me scratch my head, when the grand-daddy of property portals has been cutting jobs and closing some units. The portal I’m referring to is…

• 25 Aug 2024
• 5 min read
• 0

Why Cash Over Valuation (COV) Doesn’t Matter Anymore

It seems concealing Cash Over Valuation (COV) isn’t helping to slow down flat prices anymore. First, we had a $1.73 million flat, and now a listing in Bishan Block 261 is pushing for $1.88 million. This is for a maisonette;…

• 18 Aug 2024
• 4 min read
• 0

Are Resale HDBs Really Unaffordable In 2024?

When it comes to housing, always rethink using the “a” word. By that, I mean affordability, which is the most dangerous thing one can say about Singapore housing. Bringing it up is bound to hit a nerve on either side…

• 11 Aug 2024
• 3 min read
• 0

Here’s How Much Landed Homes Used To Cost In Singapore (We Found An Actual Advertisement)

You’ve probably heard landed homes used to be cheap in Singapore; but maybe you didn’t realise just how cheap:  As a point of comparison, average landed home prices (resale) in District 19, where Serangoon Gardens is located, was $1,853 psf…

• 5 Aug 2024
• 5 min read
• 0

HDB Owners Revealed This Reason As The Main Obstacle To Upgrading In 2024. Shocking? Not Quite.

At what point has the average Singaporean said “High prices aren’t the problem in buying a condo?” Along with people who don’t like money, or a cai png stall with consistent pricing, this is right up there with things that…

• 28 Jul 2024
• 4 min read
• 0

A New HDB Record Price: $1.73m For A 5-Room Resale HDB At SkyOasis @ Dawson

What’s happened here, exactly? Did the former owners’ renovation involve imported Italian marble and melted-down bits of the British crown? Were the buyers unfamiliar with the concept of money? And how many more ads will HDB now have to put…

• 22 Jul 2024
• 4 min read
• 1

Unconventional Tactics Some Singaporeans Use To Save Money When Buying Property

Could you possibly spend $0 on renovations? That was my question to a friend of mine, who just bought a resale flat. This isn’t a new flat either: we’re talking 1970-something construction, and there’s still a squat toilet. Usually with…

• 21 Jul 2024
• 5 min read
• 0

96 Million-Dollar HDBs Sold In June: Who Is Buying?

Some time ago, I mentioned that prices of certain resale flats are likely to go higher because of the Plus and Prime flats. At least for the near term. So it’s not too surprising that the number of million-dollar HDB…

• 14 Jul 2024
• 4 min read
• 2

A Worrying New Property Scam May Be Coming To Singapore…

There’s a pessimistic saying that criminals are faster at adopting tech than governments.  I like to believe that’s not true, but my experience so far has taught me otherwise. Case in point: someone at Stacked recently had a family member…

• 7 Jul 2024
• 5 min read
• 0

I Wouldn’t Count Too much on ABSD-related discounts this year…

I wouldn’t count too much on ABSD-related discounts this year. If you’ve never heard of it, an ABSD discount is when a developer comes close to its five-year deadline for completing and selling 90 per cent of the units. If…

• 30 Jun 2024
• 4 min read
• 0

This Hasn’t Happened In The Singapore Property Market In 20 Years…

Zero bids for a GLS site, I never thought I’d see the day. This GLS site at Upper Thomson, next to Springleaf MRT station, has attracted a record-breaking zero bids from developers. This is a 53,729 sqm site, with a…

• 23 Jun 2024
• 5 min read
• 0