Pop Quiz on the Singapore Real Estate Market
By Aili Ong
June 5, 2015
Let’s do a test on how much you know and if you are an expert on real estate matters.
Qualify to be true property sage by answering all questions right.
Warning: No answers provided.
- What is the average Gross Development Margin that developers are making? Is this number going up or down? What is the significance of this?
- How many bidders are there for Government Land Sales?
- Are foreign developers coming into Singapore? Are they economically driven to do so? What is the significance of foreign developers bidding for government land sites?
- What is the supply of condo units coming up? How is this changing over time? (Hint URA has quarterly update numbers on their website)
- Have you used Realis? (available for SGD 80 for a 24 hour usage)
- What are the government’s macro-prudential regulations? Do they want money to go in? Do they want prices to go up or down?
- What is the unintended consequences of the QC statute? What does QC stands for? And when was QC enacted?
- What is government policy on resale HDB? How does HDB prices affect private property?
- What is the government’s stance on property speculation?
- Does Singapore suffer from land shortage or does it not? Very fundamental question? How does this compare to Hong Kong? If there is no land shortage, who owns the land? What does this imply?
- Can speculators make more money than developers on a project?
- What are construction costs psf? Is this going up or down? Construction costs buttress the value of the real estate. Land costs plus construction costs is really cost base.
- How is infrastructure spend affecting land value?
- Are bigger format apartments (i.e. 4 bedroom) more or less in vogue?
- Are more or less foreigners (especially Western expatriates) migrating to Singapore or not? What do Western tenants like?
- Is SGD appreciating or depreciating vs other currencies? (this affects housing allowances)
- What is the spread between new (primary) and older (secondary) prices in the same area? Does this spread make sense? What would approximate refurbishment costs be like?
- How thick is the Straits Times classified property ads section compared to before? (bearing in mind a shift in time to online media)
- How many new launches are there? How many developers soft launch but do not embark on a full launch?
- Are foreigners buying property in Singapore? What nationalities are buying?
- Why and or how is an area “gentrifying”? What is improving? Will this cause a re-rating of the neighbourhood’s perception? What is the ultimate ceiling that “gentrification” can bring? Where is the end point of the continuum? What type of retail outlets especially F&B are opening in the neighbourhood?
- Are MRT stations under-rated or over-rated going forward? If the country is linked-up, which are the hubs that will benefit most?