Bubble Alarm Bell for Iskandar

I am glad that there are more and more people that is raising the alarm for the oversupply of Iskandar. Now from a recent article from the Straits Times has clearly pointed that out and supported by numbers. Let me interpret in simple terms what it means. 

1. Severe oversupply.

In forth quarter last year, there were 118,191 homes under construction in Iskandar and another 168,371 planned. Johor has a population of 3.5 million as compared to Singapore of 5.3 million. However, Singapore only has about 67,000 homes under construction and another 6,000 planned as of first quarter this year. 

More development are coming up. Country garden launched 9,000 and developing a 2,000ha island called Forest City off Tuas. This is 3 times the size of Ang Mo Kio.  Guangzhou R&F princess Cove will build another 3,000 apartments by 2017. It may even launch as many as 30,000 in the end. Another 80ha of Iskandar land has been bought by Shanghai-based Greenland Group, Zhouda Real Estate Group and Hao Yuan Investment. 

2. Is there an economic boom to sustain such frenzy in real estate development?

As far as i can see now, the answer is clearly a 'no'. Of all the RM131.6 billion (S$51.5 billion) committed investments in Iskandar from 2006 to december last year, a quarter (RM33 billion) went into residential property development.  This is very strange as usually for such a frenzy to start first, there should at least be a boom in the economy. Not the other way around. Take china for example, the economy is booming as it has become a global factory over the past decades and thus the sky rocketing prices of the properties in some of the major cities. But what about Iskandar? It appears to be the other way around where they are pre-empting a boom in the local economy and building houses. Is there a gold rush such that companies around the world are rushing to setup factories or business there? Answer again is no. The gold rush is nothing but appears to be hype created by property developers to capitalize on our greed.

There was an interview that they did with a real estate agent. She said that she plans to rent out her condo and the rental demand could come not just from expatriates working in Johor but also those working in singapore who would like more space and the lifestyle in Iskandar. Well, i would say that's only wishful thinking. Firstly very few expatriates would want to live in Johor and work in Singapore. It is just too inconvenient having to cross the causeway twice daily. If they are indeed expatriates, the company will pay for the rental and why should they care? If they pay for it themselves, they are not viewed as 'expatriates' generally but just foreigners on local terms. Secondly, if they want more space and lifestyle, they wouldn't have rented a condo too but a house. Soundly as absurd as it is, people tend to believe what they want to believe so it is up to you to decide with all the supporting argument and data (more would be preferred but I think that little is already scary enough for me).

How many Singaporeans are working overseas?

Have you ever wondered how many Singaporeans are overseas? The latest number from Straits Times shows about 207,000 citizens overseas. 50,000 or 24% live and work in Australia. That's quite a substantial number. In 2003, there were only 157,100. However, this number doesn't tell you if they've given up their citizenship. On average about 1000 Singaporeans have given up their citizenship yearly. This is not a good sign for Singapore as we are already having labour shortage and yet continuing losing people. How do we balance foreign talent and labour shortage? This is one of the biggest challenges our government face now especially when the next election is coming very soon. 

Singapore Inflation hits 2.7% in May

Our inflation is now at 2.7% primarily due to the COE. With bank interest rate so low, looks like our money is devaluing all the time unless you can find an investment that yields more than 2.7%. 

Which car brand has the most complaints?

If you guess it is toyota, you are partly correct. Well, it is Lexus! Surprise surprise. It is true after all that the Japanese car markers are quality stuff. The most complaints are Mitsubishi and Honda is the 2nd best among the Japanese car markers. Korea cars are below the industry average. All these are pretty consistent. Good guide for car buyers.

Singapore unhappy with their salary

I read with interest the yahoo finance article that says 83% of Singapore are unhappy with their salary. Only 31% can afford basic needs and some luxuries. Only 4% is comfortable with their salary. If the statistic is correct, this is really alarming and worrying. The ruling party needs to really sit up, take notice as well as action. Or it won't spell good news for them in the next election. Why is 83% of the population unhappy with their salary? Is that because of the high cost of living? Singaporean average wage is $4998 last year and even such salary is not enough for Singapore. This is really sad. This situation may be worst for the younger generations of Singaporean as the cost of housing has shot up dramatically as compared to their salary. Let's hope we get it right to really have inclusive growth.

Number 1 in Change Readiness Index

Singapore is once again ranked number 1. This time it is in the Change Readiness Index (CRI). This index measures how ready is a country to respond to long-term global change trends in the economy, environment, demographics ,and society.

I am not going to para-phrase but will just take wholesale a certain paragraph from Yahoo finance:

That happened because of three key reasons:

1. Singapore Has a Strong Government: Unlike other nations that have numerous political parties bickering about policy, Singapore’s government is strong and unified enough to drive immediate change within a span of weeks or months, not years.

2.  Singapore Overcame Resource Challenges: Singapore’s lack of resources was the driver behind many of the nation’s biggest changes. Singapore had no real natural water resources, but it created new filtration methods and eventually developed NEWater. Singapore also had a shortfall in talented professionals, but it founded two world-class universities and brought in professionals from all over the world to overcome that problem.

3. Singapore Is Very Business Friendly: Singapore’s one of the easiest places in the world to start a business and get credit. Not only that, Singapore has some of the lowest corporate taxes in the world, has a reputation for protecting investors, and is possibly the easiest nation on earth to trade across borders.

London Airport Lounge

London Sliver Kris airport lounge? Seriously?