Updated: S'pore's bubbly property market

The Singapore private property market is experiencing its biggest boom, after the 1996 crash that pulled the market down for a decade. Prices of private apartments and condominiums have since recovered strongly in the last two years. Public housing is not spared either.

Prices of many private homes in high-end areas such as Districts 9, 10 and 11 have surpassed the previous records with headline prices generally ranging from S$2,500 per square foot to as much as S$4,000 per square foot. The previous record of about S$2,400 per square foot for a posh apartment in the Orchard Road area looks like a steal.

Prices of apartments in less prime areas have also shot up but many are still priced below their peak in 1996. Check out the graph, based on statistics from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, showing recovering prices that are still below the 1996 high.

Such runaway prices have prompted endless speculation that the government is set to step in to cool the sizzling property market.

The speculation was partly triggered by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's earlier comments that Singapore must check property prices to help maintain the country's overall competitiveness.

"We must check this spike in rents for office and residential space or we will lose our competitiveness," he was quoted as saying on July 9 by The Sunday Times.

The recent hike in the development charge (a charge levied by the government when a developer proposes to enhance the usage of the land) and the government move to step up land sales to help increase supply have lent credence to the view that the government is determined to rein in the property market. Such measures are not likely to cause the market to collapse as property deals will still be market driven.

A bigger concern is whether the government will introduce drastic fiscal measures such as a capital gains tax, which was slapped on property transactions in 1996. The tax and other financing restrictions sent the property market into a tailspin and caused many to suffer negative equity in their property purchases. Instead of cooling it, the government measures sent the property market into a prolonged slumber.

But there is also the view that the government will not unveil drastic measures this time around. The government won't want to be accused of causing the property market to collapse again. After all, it has done so much to help nurture the recovery of the Singapore economy through many new projects and measures to attract foreign capital in the last few years.

While the government is stepping up the supply side to help moderate prices, there is a possibility that it may still press the eject button should things get out of control.

Kuan Yew has again provided the hint that the government may have something up its sleeves. While in Indonesia, he was asked whether the government was planning any regulatory moves to curb prices in the Singapore property market.

His response, reported in BT today: "This is market-sensitive information...surely we are not going to discuss with the newspapers. But I think we also know that there are certain market forces at work, and we just let it run its course."

Instead of an outright denial, his comment about market-sensitive information suggests that there could be some measures in the pipeline. But he also qualified it by saying that the government should let the market run its course, suggesting no government interference.

So the overall message seems to be: The Singapore government will continue to allow the private property market function through market forces. But it may step in should prices hit the roof again.

Disclosure: Sophie lives in a private condominium in a not-so-prime part of the city that has also seen a sharp spike in property prices. Agents have been knocking on our door, offering some 40 per cent more than the purchase price earlier this year.

Latest: Housing rentals in Singapore are still lower than those in other major cities, according to The Sunday Times on July 29. According to a report cited by the newspaper, Singapore is ranked 15th in terms of rentals in the world -- below major cities like Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York. But a recent ST report also noted the trend of expatriates relocating to cheaper areas in Singapore due to fast rising rentals. I guess prices or rentals are all relative.

Maverick sons, part 2

The Li Hongyi incident is no laughing matter but it's good to have a good sense of humour, especially in straight-laced Singapore.

Famous blogger mrbrown and BT writer Jamie Ee have not lost their sense of humour despite the intense public debate on the merits of what Hongyi did recently.

mrbrown's podcast entitled 'Swordsman' is quite funny. Jamie's sarcasm is equally funny as the letter is obviously a spoof on Hongyi's famous letter, which was mentioned in an earlier posting.

Harry Potter and the Letter of Complaint
By JAMIE EE

TO: The Ministry of Magic, Department of the Dark Arts.

CC: All in Hogwarts; All in centaur colony in the Dark Forest; All the giants (at least the ones who can read English).

Re: A complaint about the quality control of Wizarding Officers

Dear Sirs and All,

I am about to disrupt my education at Hogwarts in order to find the Deathly Hallows and launch into a fight to the finish with You-Know-Who, so this may well be my last e-mail sent to you, depending on my fate, which will not be known until tomorrow morning at Borders at 7:01 am. Hopefully, I will come away with only a stern warning.

I am using this last opportunity to issue a letter of complaint about the quality of officers in the wizarding department, especially over the control of He-Who- Must-Not-Be-Named, who has gone missing for 14 years and whose method of transportation during those incidents has yet to be ascertained. Some say he travels by portkey, but others say he uses a Mitsubishi Lancer.

Anyway, I have reported many times that he has gone missing - and sometimes I think he does it to annoy me because he always sneaks back and tries to kill me - but the officials in charge do not seem to want to do anything about it.

In fact, they do not even want to find him and seem to me to be almost afraid of bringing him to justice. This leads some to believe that he is a half-blood princeling who is able to come and go whenever he pleases.

Unfortunately, because I have brought this issue to light, I am accused of being a tattle-tale taking full advantage of the fact that I am Hogwarts principal Dumbledore's favourite student ever.

Because of their ill-feeling towards my perceived hallowed status, they have run gleeful stories about me in the Daily Prophet, implying that I am a hoity-toity smug know-it-all. I feel that this is not fair, especially considering that I am being named while You-Know-Who remains blissfully unexposed. He is a danger to us, and threatens the very foundation upon which our society is built on.

He wants power, which in itself is really not a bad thing if you ask me, but he does it in a rather sneaky way which reminds me of other developing countries which-shall- not-be-named, but that's another story.

So, you leave me no choice but to go after him on my own, on my Nimbus 2000 broomstick. And when I find him I am going to take him down, even if it leads to the death of more than two people whose identities again will not be known until after tomorrow.

Of course, all this leads to the inevitable question of what happens to me. Will I be killed? Will I kill You-Know-Who before he gets a chance to run off without permission again? Because I really feel like killing him. Will he take my car this time? Will my loyal followers be killed too? Will I ride off into the sunset on the back of a centaur? Will I return many years later, appointed to the wizards' council? Will I spend my retirement years investigating letters of complaint like this?

Be patient. Come this time tomorrow, all will be revealed. Chances are the anticipation will be more exciting than the actual result but never mind. I'm not complaining.

Sincerely yours,

Harry Potter

Different strokes

It's quite amazing that the caning of criminals in Singapore can sometimes hog the headlines and blogosphere.

According to media reports today, a Singapore judge has been punished for mistakenly sentencing a prisoner to an extra three strokes of the cane. As a result of the error, Dickson Tan -- who was found guilty of helping an illegal moneylender and sentenced to nine months in prison -- was caned eight times instead of five, according to reports.

Caning is a judicial practice in Singapore and is meted out for offences ranging from vandalism to illegal possession of drugs. Law Minister S Jayakumar reportedly said the error arose after a court clerk entered the wrong sentence. Dickson's mother is in talks with the government to seek compensation of up to S$3 million over the mistake, according to local media.

This translates into S$1 million for each wrongful stroke! Not bad if Dickson's family wins the case. :-)

Of course, the most famous caning case in Singapore was the Michael Fay incident back in the early 1990s that even involved former US President Bill Clinton.

Although the American boy was convicted of vandalism and ordered to be caned six times, he only received four strokes in the end. This came after Clinton and the US government argued that the Singapore punishment was too extreme.

According to a Wikipedia entry, the Singapore government felt that if the US viewed caning of juveniles as a human rights issue, then it should actively try to stop the caning of other juvenile offenders in Singapore other than Michael.

That's the right position but why did Singapore still give a discount to Michael? Did anyone else -- local or foreign -- ever get a caning discount in Singapore?

Although the two caning cases are totally unrelated, it's ironic that a foreign white boy got a caning discount, while a Singapore Chinese boy got three extra strokes in his own backyard.

Singapore's sixth richest man?

Both The Straits Times and The Business Times have an interesting profile of a man dubbed the remisier king in Singapore. BT estimated Peter Lim to be worth S$2 billion. The bulk of his wealth is a stake of under 5 per cent in plantation play Wilmar International, which has a market capitalisation of over S$22 billion.

That would easily put him in the league of the top ten richest men in Singapore. Oddly, I don't recall Forbes ranking him as one of the richest men in Singapore. The latest Forbes survey put the family of the late Khoo Teck Puat as the richest people in Singapore with a total wealth of US$5 billion. Other old money folks in the Forbes list in Singapore include property developers Ng Teng Fong and Kwek Leng Beng, and bank owners Wee Cho Yaw and Lee Seng Wee.

At S$2 billion, Peter is easily ranked the sixth richest man in Singapore. Not bad for a remisier-cum-deal maker, who made it big in the 1990s, according to ST, with clients such as then Indonesian president Suharto's son, Bambang, and then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad's son, Mokhzani.

Malaysian maverick blogger arrested

While Singapore has been abuzz over the Li Hongyi incident, the Malaysian blogosphere has been spooked by the arrest of a maverick blogger.

The blogger is Nathaniel Tan (left in the pix on polytikus (right), who is his close friend). He is known to be an aide of Parti Keadilan Rakyat Anwar Ibrahim and the man in charge of the Opposition party's website.

The Star said the arrest was believed to be in connection with a doctored picture of Deputy Prime Minister which was posted on the Internet.

Malaysian bloggers have launched a petition urging the release of Nat.