- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
- Messages
- 33,627
- Points
- 0
<TABLE id=msgUN border=0 cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>
Coffeeshop Chit Chat - PAPee's Grace FOOL Bullshitting AGAIN!!!</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>Fkapore <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>4:36 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 4) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>27040.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Grace Fu: Hard to “predict” short term demand for housing
January 11, 2010 by admin
Filed under Headlines
Leave a comment :- Temasek Review
Written by Our Correspondent
Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu told Parliament today that there are adequate housing, facilities and infrastructure to meet the demands of a growing population.
However, there are cases where short-term demand is not met because it is very hard to “predict” such demand, such as for housing.
“This is because there is always a lead time involved,” she said without elaborating more on it.
The National Development Ministry led by Mr Mah Bow Tan had come under intense criticisms from the public of late due to the shortage of public housing for Singaporeans which is exacerbated by a growing population contributed largely by the relentless influx of foreigners.
The floodgates appear to open a few years ago when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced an ambitious plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people via immigration.
A quick check on the HDB Infoweb reveals that the number of HDB flats built between the years 2005 – 2008 are fewer than the preceding four years.
In the face of rising demand and limited supply of flats, the prices of HDB flats sky-rocketed in Singapore, reaching a record peak high in June last year.
Mr Mah admitted lately that he was “caught off guard” by the spike in prices and reassured Singaporeans that HDB flats will remain “affordable” to the majority of the population.
Despite repeated reassurances from HDB and government ministers, there is a prevailing sentiment on the ground that ordinary Singaporeans are being priced out of reach in the public housing market.
Even for those who can afford to pay for these over-priced flats, they will probably have to deplete their CPFs in order to do so.
The situation is worsened by PRs who “spoil” the market by paying higher than market prices for resale flats. For example, one Indonesian PR forked out $653,000 for a four-room resale flat in Queenstown when he could well afford a private apartment.
As prices of new flats are pegged to the recent transaction of resale flats in the vicinity, this contributes indirectly to the high prices fetched by two BTO projects launched in Queenstown lately with an average price of more than $500,000 for four-room flats and $600,000 for five room flats.
According to Mohamad Ismail, the CEO of real estate agency Propnex, as high as 20 per cent of the buyers of resale flats are PRs. Another agency C&H Realty quoted a figure as high as 50 per cent, yet Mr Mah claimed that PRs form only a “small proportion” of the buyers of resale flats.
Some PRs eventually sell their flats for a generous profit after they leave Singapore for their homeland where they can retire comfortably for the rest of their lives while locals continue to pay the high price for the ruling party’s pro foreigner policy.
Being the highest paid ministers in the world, it is unforgivable for Mr Mah and Ms Fu not to foresee the rise in HDB prices with more foreigners coming into Singapore.
Furthermore, the Singapore cabinet is blessed with a “forecaster extraordinarie” who does nothing much other than to “do forecasting.”
Perhaps he should spend more time “mentoring” the junior ministers to ensure they don’t make such a disastrous mistake again instead of flying around the world to lecture others on how to run their countries.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
January 11, 2010 by admin
Filed under Headlines
Leave a comment :- Temasek Review
Written by Our Correspondent
Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu told Parliament today that there are adequate housing, facilities and infrastructure to meet the demands of a growing population.
However, there are cases where short-term demand is not met because it is very hard to “predict” such demand, such as for housing.
“This is because there is always a lead time involved,” she said without elaborating more on it.
The National Development Ministry led by Mr Mah Bow Tan had come under intense criticisms from the public of late due to the shortage of public housing for Singaporeans which is exacerbated by a growing population contributed largely by the relentless influx of foreigners.
The floodgates appear to open a few years ago when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced an ambitious plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people via immigration.
A quick check on the HDB Infoweb reveals that the number of HDB flats built between the years 2005 – 2008 are fewer than the preceding four years.
In the face of rising demand and limited supply of flats, the prices of HDB flats sky-rocketed in Singapore, reaching a record peak high in June last year.
Mr Mah admitted lately that he was “caught off guard” by the spike in prices and reassured Singaporeans that HDB flats will remain “affordable” to the majority of the population.
Despite repeated reassurances from HDB and government ministers, there is a prevailing sentiment on the ground that ordinary Singaporeans are being priced out of reach in the public housing market.
Even for those who can afford to pay for these over-priced flats, they will probably have to deplete their CPFs in order to do so.
The situation is worsened by PRs who “spoil” the market by paying higher than market prices for resale flats. For example, one Indonesian PR forked out $653,000 for a four-room resale flat in Queenstown when he could well afford a private apartment.
As prices of new flats are pegged to the recent transaction of resale flats in the vicinity, this contributes indirectly to the high prices fetched by two BTO projects launched in Queenstown lately with an average price of more than $500,000 for four-room flats and $600,000 for five room flats.
According to Mohamad Ismail, the CEO of real estate agency Propnex, as high as 20 per cent of the buyers of resale flats are PRs. Another agency C&H Realty quoted a figure as high as 50 per cent, yet Mr Mah claimed that PRs form only a “small proportion” of the buyers of resale flats.
Some PRs eventually sell their flats for a generous profit after they leave Singapore for their homeland where they can retire comfortably for the rest of their lives while locals continue to pay the high price for the ruling party’s pro foreigner policy.
Being the highest paid ministers in the world, it is unforgivable for Mr Mah and Ms Fu not to foresee the rise in HDB prices with more foreigners coming into Singapore.
Furthermore, the Singapore cabinet is blessed with a “forecaster extraordinarie” who does nothing much other than to “do forecasting.”
Perhaps he should spend more time “mentoring” the junior ministers to ensure they don’t make such a disastrous mistake again instead of flying around the world to lecture others on how to run their countries.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
