Warning on Iskandar from Monetary Auhority of Singapore

Reported in an online daily. Oh dear, even the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has something to say about Iskandar. It said that it is concerned about the rising oversupply of new properties in Iskandar and it will try its best to raise awareness of the risks involved in buying overseas property. Fortunately, it said, ‘overseas’ property and not just Iskandar. Then again, the major overseas property investments by majority of the middle income Singaporeans are definitely in Iskandar. Not many can afford the AUD650,000 high-rise units in Australia anyway.
It (MAS) also said that there are about 336,000 new units planned in Johor alone and this number is already higher than the total number of private homes in Singapore. Yet, this number has yet to include the 1,400ha of reclaimed land near the Tuas Second link which would be developed from 2020 onwards. Fortunately, 2020 is still 5 years away and please do take note that no timeline was mentioned as to the completion of this 336,000 new units.
The truth is, interest from Singaporean buyers for Iskandar properties has already dropped tremendously in 2014. From a total of 2,609 units in 2013, this has dropped nearly 70 percent, down to just 838 units in 2014. This is based on a survey of real estate agencies. In fact some property guru friends are joking about how hard it is to catch a Singaporean buyer today. Another facebook comment said that some Singaporean buyers are getting jittery because they could not rent out their units even after 6 months of getting the key.
There are way too many uncertainties currently. Of course, the fact that supply are coming in way too fast compared to demand plus the negative sentiment meant that everything suddenly happen all at once and left every potential buyer ‘breathless.’ I think more time is needed and HSR is certainly not going to help today because it will be completed only beyond 2020 even if the Chinese government official said that if they win the tender, they can still build the HSR in time for 2020. It may be better for whatever planned to happen first and perhaps an announcement of a new link may create a tiny bit of positive excitement. We wait.
written on 13 May 2015
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