Saturday, March 27, 2010

And We Have An Answer...

In a rare move in Singapore, the chief of the Real Estate Development Association (REDAS) Mr. Simon Cheong made a public complain that the Singapore government has interfered too much in the property market and that the government has to take some of the blame for the sky-high property prices in Singapore.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan then had the thankless task of defending the government’s position for failing to control the sky-rocketing property prices, saying that the government has a “role” to play in the property market but they do it sparingly and only because the government wanted to see a “stable, healthy market, where prices are generally moving in tandem with the fundamentals of the economy”.

The spat came on the back of yet another record price for a HDB flat as a Taiwanese couple forked out an amazing $650,000 for a four-room flat. No, that is not a misprint. It is $650,000 and for foreigners who never seen a HDB flat before, this amount to $736 psf.

Trick question: How do you know when you are in a property bubble and property prices had gone beyond the means of Singaporeans to buy?
Answer: When the people most involved are falling over themselves to push the blame.

Guess any questions about the “affordability” of HDB flats in Singapore are over.

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