Reading the papers today, I saw a full page article on the affordability of property in Singapore. Now the ability to own a house is something that strikes deep into the hearts of most Singaporeans, and the article state that Singaporeans are debating on whether property is more affordable now than 10 years ago.
There are charts in the well-written article but I have a problem with this suppose debate Singaporeans are having. Everyone I know will to the man say that a new house in Singapore is now more expensive than it was 10 years ago. Even when you count inflation and the supposedly wage increases over the past 5 years, it’s hard to even imagine that property in Singapore is more affordable now than 10 years ago.
I believe it is saying a lot when a housing loan of 20 years is consider short and a loan of 25 years is consider normal nowadays. In fact outside the Singapore government ministers, I am hard-press to remember anyone even arguing that property in Singapore is still affordable for ordinary Singaporeans.
Like I said, it was a pretty well-written article but Singaporeans are not debating about the property prices. They can’t afford to.
2 comments:
What are the main reasons causing the high increase in singapore properties like houses? Could speculations be part of the reasons?
That’s one of the reasons. Others reasons are foreigners who need to buy houses to apply for PR, a refusal by the Singapore government to allow property prices to go down (HDB can actually block sales if they believe the house is sold below-value)…thing is, I find it hard to believe there are ordinary Singaporeans who believe property is more affordable now than 10 years ago. I sure as hell never found them.
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