Saturday, 19 April 2014

Singapore ranked 2 in safety

Singapore is ranked 2 in the world for order and security. This is according to the world justice project (WSP). Other areas that it did well includes criminal justice, civil justice, regulatory enforcement and absence of corruption. What it did not do well is fundamental rights, constraints on government powers and open government. I would say pretty fair assessment.




Singapore 5th costliest city to work

This is interesting. Now Singapore is ranked the 5th costliest city to work. I guess this is a separate category as compared to the expatriates. For expatriates, Singapore is ranked number 1.



Iskandar losing shine due to rising labour costs

At least there's some responsible reporting by the media recently. The article says Iskandar is losing shine due to rising labour cost. Also, hiring has become difficult as most malaysians want to work in Singapore for the stronger currency. Better stay tuned to such warnings as if the Iskandar region doesn't attract enough manufacturing, what will it become?

Then few days ago, the media also reported that property investor clubs are responsible for distorting the property price. The idea of a property investor clubs are to pool together resources and volume to get bigger discounts by negotiating in bulk. However, the developers are not stupid so they markup a few percent before given such a bulk discount. Thereby distorting the property prices there. That's greed at play again. It is the same story repeating around the world and i don't see Iskandar any different.

It was also reported a recently that Puteri Cove is selling at RM1100-RM1500psf. This is at least a 40-60% rise in prices over a period of 2-3 years. The Somerset Puteri Harbour (a better location) was launch at only RM700-800 psf.  Once again, just buy for your own stay as a weekend home and better don't speculate.