Don't you think singapore is getting more and more expensive

[bruinbear]

empty for 12 months?

either the owner isn't financially savvy or just can't be bothered (i.e. too rich anyway, who cares if the place is vacant!)

[durain]

wawlau... singapore is getting more and more cheap! petrol price is coming down!!!

[EADG]

my landlord said when we move out he'd be happy to not have a tenant to wait for one which would meet his price, no matter how long it took

his attitude smacked of kiasu-ism (you had to be there), I saw it as penny-wise / dollar-foolish

empty for 12 months?

either the owner isn't financially savvy or just can't be bothered (i.e. too rich anyway, who cares if the place is vacant!)

[bruinbear]

my landlord said when we move out he'd be happy to not have a tenant to wait for one which would meet his price, no matter how long it took

his attitude smacked of kiasu-ism (you had to be there), I saw it as penny-wise / dollar-foolish

empty for 12 months?

either the owner isn't financially savvy or just can't be bothered (i.e. too rich anyway, who cares if the place is vacant!)

It means that this owner has too much money.

[Jens]

actually this is quite common. Im on local terms here, but almost all the expats in my company moved to cheaper places now and their previous places are empty since then. 6 months, 12 months is not a one-time experience, it is the reality here.

I mean, just take a look at this websites property search engine. They seem to refuse to lower down the minimum of S$2500 for a condo, although in the meantime there are units available....it's just an artificial kind of trying to keep the thing up...
Seems like the crisis needs to go on like that before there is a significant drop in the rental market and they finally know it's not just the small downturn everyone (developers, landlords) is hoping for...

[singans]

About the empty apartments, in some countries the government has enforced some extra tax for empty spaces. It's helps them with the planing, if too many "stupid" LL keep the places empty then there is a lack of housing (that people want to rent) and they have to come up with plans to build more housing units when there are already many vacant ones.

I think the Singapore government is not really taking action in that space. If more and more people are supposed to come, they will most likely rent. They need to manage the LL and protect the tenants. That what happens a lot in EU.

I really would love to know what the SG ministers think about that. I guess many of them own properties that they rent to expats ... that could explain it.

[Cicilia]

Just to add
Some of the new 'condo' launches are asking 'unrealistic' amount for somewhere inconvenient location.
If you look beyond the ads, as you all say with the empty units, a lot of deals are now more 'negotiable' compare to last year but no one saying it out loud.
One RE agent I talked to last week actually admit things are slowing down.
Hope this sentiments catching on to the owner and LL.

[ksl]

Just to add
Some of the new 'condo' launches are asking 'unrealistic' amount for somewhere inconvenient location.
If you look beyond the ads, as you all say with the empty units, a lot of deals are now more 'negotiable' compare to last year but no one saying it out loud.
One RE agent I talked to last week actually admit things are slowing down.
Hope this sentiments catching on to the owner and LL.

All the agents know, because it's a fact, however this is all about getting top$ and some agents, will not reduce price, they would rather tell you to go some other place, because they prey on the naive and those that have no idea of the situation and believe me, there are many arriving each day, that never sign up or visit the forum.

[Saint]

Just to add
Some of the new 'condo' launches are asking 'unrealistic' amount for somewhere inconvenient location.
If you look beyond the ads, as you all say with the empty units, a lot of deals are now more 'negotiable' compare to last year but no one saying it out loud.
One RE agent I talked to last week actually admit things are slowing down.
Hope this sentiments catching on to the owner and LL.

That is so true, There's a new condo Development close to Parkway that have just been completed. A couple of months ago the one bed studio appartments (540sqft) were being advertised for rent for at least $5.5k! Not surprisingly hardly any (if any) were taken up and the same ones are now being advertised for $3.5 tops.

[Jens]

The agents should get a flat fee...

1 bedroom X $$
2 bedroom X $$

etc.

this would reduce the will of the agent to also rent the place at the highest price because anyway he/she would get the same comission.

[bruinbear]

According to one of the daily papers (27 Jul 08), rentals should be heading southwards.

Hopefully the owners read the article and lower their asking prices!

edited by moderator to remove name of the newspaper - see sticky regarding same.

[Jens]

in the transactions from the government you can clearly see the downturn, so eventually the units go off at a lower price. They are only advertised higher.

For my condo, the average psf dropped from 2.28 to 2.05 comparing Q1 and Q2 of 2008. That is good since my lease is ending end of this year. I just hope it will drop further so I can still afford it.

[kimtaymour]

I will just contribute with few wors here... i hope renting price in Singapore don't follow Dubai's one.. that will be jsut crazy... in dubai a small single studio can cost you 1800 to 2000 SGD.. that hell in its own eyes

I will really pray they can control..though aware of the price raise..let them raise it but raisonably where it can be swallowed

P.S: SMS didn't say some....yet

[ScoobyDoes]

I will just contribute with few wors here... i hope renting price in Singapore don't follow Dubai's one.. that will be jsut crazy... in dubai a small single studio can cost you 1800 to 2000 SGD.. that hell in its own eyes

Bearing in mind i have a friend renting a one bedroom studio in town for nearly S$4k per month i think that still looks a bargain compared to here regardless of how much we know rents have gone up there as well.

[EADG]

it is crazy

I've learned from experience not to underestimate how weak some people here are to the power kiasu has over them. And how willingly they allow their character to be diminished and defined by this less-than-honourable and sophomoric trait. And I've only seen it in Singapore.

Ironic how it's about being afraid to loose, when a bigger person would rise above such triviality, and instead actually choose to be seen as the smaller person. Anywhere else it would be like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

I've personally seen otherwise intelligent-seeming, mature, sensible-looking landlords who are surgeons, businessmen, and heads of housing boards succumb to this* on three occasions.

i understand ours was empty for 12 months before our offer (about 3K less than asking price) was accepted. crazy.

*Here's just one story - my first apartment, about four years ago, when the market was not as artificially "hot" as it has been before it started cooling off a few months back.


Looked at an apartment, it was about 6pm and the sun was just going down. It was on the 3rd floor, so hard to see how much sun it got. The owner was there, he seemed like a nice guy, and I gave him nothing but respect. Of course.

That was the first time to see the apartment (I always see more than once).

Next day I told my agent I wanted it, she went to the landlord's agent.

Landlord said it had to be a company contract, not a personal rental lease. This was for a 2.5k 2br on Grange Road, and, I work for a famous, large MNC, so not about to fly the coop and not pay or whatever. And my company does not do that kind of lease.

The landlord is an early 60s intelligent-looking Chinese gentleman, and the head of that condo's board. Apparently he whined and moaned and made a big deal about the contract, giving my agent a really hard time.

According to my agent, that kind of contract, even three years ago, was almost a thing of the past, and not common for this condo.

Finally, after much negotiation, he conceded to let me have a personal contract (like absolutely everyone else I know here).

I asked to see the apartment a second time as I did not see it in daylight, and gave that as my reason.

He adamantly refused, saying that he had already lost face by "allowing" me to have the personal contract, and therefore would not let the agent show it to me again. And rescinded his offer.

What is this, some kind of weird children's game played by adults? I mean, seemingly intelligent, well-educated, level-headed, rational adults? Do they have the Emotional Intelligence of children?

What has he lost? Nothing in my book. Jeeze, grow up people.

I can't tell you how much respect I lost for that guy and every guy like him who is that weak of character. Actually I felt embarrassed for him, and he is not alone, not by a long shot.

My agent, a local Chinese lady, felt the same. It's not hard to find an apartment, harder to find good tenants.

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The landlord of the place I got after this bout of silliness, a Chinese gentleman in his 40s, was quite a decent guy. And when I checked out he said the place looked like the day I moved in and that I was the best tenant he'd ever had.