National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan’s speech in
Parliament on the changes of HDB resale flats has many property owners in an uproar.
The rules has been changed so that HDB will only accept valuation requests from
resale flat buyers or their appointed salesperson, after buyers have been
granted an Option to Purchase (OTP) by the sellers.
Basically, the HDB expect the buyer and seller to come to an
agreement first before going to the HDB. Also price negotiations for HDB resale
flats will now be based on recent transaction prices instead of
Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) figures.
Many property owners are unhappy about this as this move
would probably force property prices down and Singaporeans who have recently
bought their flats with the view to sell their flat for a profit after the 5
years minimum occupancy period would find that their property is not worth as
much as they had hoped. I’m not a property owner so I’m on the other side of
the equation.
I’m all for this move by the Mr. Khaw. There are 2 main
reasons for this;
-
Property prices have remain stubbornly high despite
all the cooling measures and a move like this will force it down
-
Property prices have remain stubbornly high despite
all the cooling measures because property owners in Singapore have the
assumption that Singapore property prices will never come down.
If you bought a property to resell after 5 years, it is call
an investment and there is no such thing as a sure-thing. The moment you bought
a property with a view to flip it after 5 years, you are taking a risk. Don’t
complain if the risk didn’t play out.
In fact, I think the moves by Mr. Khaw didn’t go far enough.
Under the new rules, the buyer and seller need to request for a valuation from
the HDB after coming to an agreement. That doesn’t make sense to me. I know
they did this as a way to stop the prices from going down too much but why would
the buyer and seller need to go to the HDB after coming to an agreement
already?
To me, it seems that the HDB are trying to have it both
ways. They want the price to go down but also want a way to prevent it from
going down too much. Too bad they didn’t think of this when prices were going
up.
4 comments:
There is a reason why this new ruling must start at 5 pm on the same day it was announced.
Those who knows, please explain.
Most likely it is because the government agencies would be closed by then. That way, the property owners and agents have the night to take in the new ruling and the ruling will kick in the next working day.
Good for buyers. The richer the better. Good also for foreign buyers.
Foreigners are already benefiting from the property glut in the rental market.
Last weekend, Straits Times( PAP propaganda machine and the elite's puppet), wrote that homeowners should compete for tenants with better furnishing and new appliances besides lower rental.
Property market is very good for the elite especially if you are foreigners
Good job and planning by our princely paid government ministers
I disagree that this move will benefit foreign buyers. Most foreign buyers in Singapore are investors and a lowering of property prices will not benefit them as much as Singapore buyers who are more likely to buy for the long-term.
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