Not Just Housing rentals on the increase .........

[Barnsley]

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/bishan-prawnin ... 23367.html

[AngMoG]

Saw that the other day... crazy stuff.

Methinks they should implement some regulation here of a max 10% increase in rent per year, no matter if residential, commercial, new tenant or renewing. That would hopefully weed out the worst offenders.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Saw this today so while it's not the issue here, it confirms what I been sayin' before.........

Rising numbers of holidaymakers around the world are using Internet booking sites to stay in homes as a cheaper, more interesting alternative to hotels, including in Singapore.

But this is illegal here, the authorities have warned home owners. Renting out a room or a whole unit short-term is in breach of private and public housing rules, and owners can face tough penalties if they are caught doing so.

The Housing Board, which has stepped up enforcement on what it called "transient subletting" since the start of last year, noted that short-term home rental is a recent phenomenon.

Last year, it received 20 complaints from the public on short-term leasing. This year, in the first seven months, it had another 11 cases.

[PNGMK]

Saw that the other day... crazy stuff.

Methinks they should implement some regulation here of a max 10% increase in rent per year, no matter if residential, commercial, new tenant or renewing. That would hopefully weed out the worst offenders.

free market buddy - charge what the market will bear

[Strong Eagle]

Saw that the other day... crazy stuff.

Methinks they should implement some regulation here of a max 10% increase in rent per year, no matter if residential, commercial, new tenant or renewing. That would hopefully weed out the worst offenders.

free market buddy - charge what the market will bear

Except it's not really a free market. It's a government controlled land market.

[PNGMK]

Saw that the other day... crazy stuff.

Methinks they should implement some regulation here of a max 10% increase in rent per year, no matter if residential, commercial, new tenant or renewing. That would hopefully weed out the worst offenders.

free market buddy - charge what the market will bear

Except it's not really a free market. It's a government controlled land market.

Well most countries are actually - it just they are a lot bigger so there is 'slack' in the system and land releases are not so drastic.

[the lynx]

Probably just another way to force a tenant to leave (or to make way for a new favoured tenant). Seriously it is NOT a good business strategy to go around raising rents by 300%.

[PNGMK]

Probably just another way to force a tenant to leave (or to make way for a new favoured tenant). Seriously it is NOT a good business strategy to go around raising rents by 300%.

I've seen it a bit with successful businesses here though. Someone starts a business, it just gets going well and making money and the Landlord decides "I'll have a bit of that" and whacks on a great big increase which kills the business. Rocky's Pizza is one example.

We should ask JR8, he is a landlord after all.

[AngMoG]

Probably just another way to force a tenant to leave (or to make way for a new favoured tenant). Seriously it is NOT a good business strategy to go around raising rents by 300%.

I've seen it a bit with successful businesses here though. Someone starts a business, it just gets going well and making money and the Landlord decides "I'll have a bit of that" and whacks on a great big increase which kills the business. Rocky's Pizza is one example.

We should ask JR8, he is a landlord after all.

Yup, that's free market for you. Would you still be in favor of it, as such a business owner?

It is also just greed. Same thing that has landlords rather leave an apartment empty than collect a bit less money on rent on it.

[Wd40]

The free market thing is interesting. What it means is businesses that are of low margin will just disappear, if they cannot pass on the cost to the customer. Already lots of kinds of industries are unviable in Singapore and stuff needs to be imported. As rents increase, we will only have the highest of margins business survive in Singapore, like the RollsRoyce manufacturing.

But restaurants are something that cannot dissappear from Singapore totally. I think in future you will have restaurants cost here in line with the UK for example and people will start cooking at home, after all.

[PNGMK]

The free market thing is interesting. What it means is businesses that are of low margin will just disappear, if they cannot pass on the cost to the customer. Already lots of kinds of industries are unviable in Singapore and stuff needs to be imported. As rents increase, we will only have the highest of margins business survive in Singapore, like the RollsRoyce manufacturing.

But restaurants are something that cannot dissappear from Singapore totally. I think in future you will have restaurants cost here in line with the UK for example and people will start cooking at home, after all.

It's called 'Dutch Disease' - google it.

[Barnsley]

The free market thing is interesting. What it means is businesses that are of low margin will just disappear, if they cannot pass on the cost to the customer. Already lots of kinds of industries are unviable in Singapore and stuff needs to be imported. As rents increase, we will only have the highest of margins business survive in Singapore, like the RollsRoyce manufacturing.

But restaurants are something that cannot dissappear from Singapore totally. I think in future you will have restaurants cost here in line with the UK for example and people will start cooking at home, after all.

I was in UK a couple of weeks ago and I found that the Pub food prices in UK were pretty much the same as they are here in Singapore. In fact I think some of the stuff in Singapore is considerably cheaper here than in UK.

A platter for 4 was £25 in UK , something similar from Penny Black on Boat Quay is around $40

The beers were cheaper in UK though.

[Mi Amigo]

So going back to the thread title:

Not Just Housing rentals on the increase .........

Is there evidence to show that housing rentals have actually been increasing? That's not the case in my experience and I thought there was a fairly widespread view that residential rental rates were softening, due to the large supply of new units, less EPs & PRs being granted, companies moving part/all of their oprations out of Singapore to lower cost countries, etc. But maybe I've missed some new information (entirely possible since I don't read the BCL very often)?

[Wd40]

You are right that housing rentals havent increased, but they haven't fallen a lot either and they are still exceptionally high, considering that our salaries haven't increased either and our jobs look more vulnerable than ever.

[PNGMK]

I'm becoming convinced that we are on the tip of a new trend of high end expats moving in again.

I've met quite a few recently. Companies (and individuals) still prefer Singapore to almost anywhere else in both Oceania and Asia.