Home prices 'not at acceptable level yet'

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#1
The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Mar 02, 2013
Home prices 'not at acceptable level yet'

Tharman says some correction in prices will not be out of order

By Fiona Chan Senior Economics Correspondent

PROPERTY prices in Singapore still have "some ways to go" before they reach an acceptable level relative to incomes, according to Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

"We're still in a wrong part of the cycle," he told Bloomberg TV in an interview on Thursday.

Mr Tharman, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said the adjustment process would "happen through a combination of income improvement, as well as prices certainly not going up further".

"Some correction in prices will not be out of order," he added.

With seven rounds of property cooling measures implemented since 2009, as well as a significant increase in the supply of new homes, Mr Tharman is "pretty confident" that the Government will get a handle on the situation.

"We can prevent a real bubble from being formed which then eventually crashes, and that's our objective," he said.

Housing prices in Singapore have risen about 30 per cent since 2009, on the back of healthy economic growth, low interest rates and strong capital inflows.

The pace of price growth has slowed in recent years with the cooling measures, but home prices have yet to ease significantly.

In the hour-long interview, Mr Tharman also indicated that Singapore's economic growth this year "could come out at the lower end" of the Government's official forecast of 1 per cent to 3 per cent.

"The biggest issue is still what happens in the most developed economies," he said, referring to potential threats to Singapore's economic expansion. "As a highly open economy, as an economy that lives by being global and regional, that matters to us."

But he also indicated that there is no need for Singapore to relax monetary policy at this juncture, given the tight labour market.

"We don't have an output gap, and evidence of that is in an extremely tight labour market," he said. "In that context basically, you can't have an easy monetary policy, which in our case is an exchange-rate policy."

Economists expect the Monetary Authority of Singapore, of which Mr Tharman is chairman, to maintain its stance of an appreciating currency when it next reviews monetary policy next month.

Touching on foreign worker curbs, which he tightened in his annual Budget speech on Monday, Mr Tharman said the Government's key priority is to raise productivity "to a new level".

"If you don't raise productivity, it's hard to raise incomes," he said. "And if you can't raise incomes for the average person, for the median household and for those at the lower end of the wage ladder, your society frays."

fiochan@sph.com.sg
My Value Investing Blog: http://sgmusicwhiz.blogspot.com/
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#2
(02-03-2013, 10:15 AM)Musicwhiz Wrote: The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Mar 02, 2013
Home prices 'not at acceptable level yet'

Tharman says some correction in prices will not be out of order

"If you don't raise productivity, it's hard to raise incomes," he said. "And if you can't raise incomes for the average person, for the median household and for those at the lower end of the wage ladder, your society frays."

fiochan@sph.com.sg
Spore way of raising productivity is through longer working hours. The co. i am working now is moving to another new building. As a R&D co. it is impt for each person to have its own cubicle (lesser distraction). But the new building will see 4 persons sharing a common cubicle. Our internet PCs are those from retired office PCs. Cost cutting is placed as #1 instead of spending to improve productivity.
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#3
(02-03-2013, 10:57 PM)Bibi Wrote:
(02-03-2013, 10:15 AM)Musicwhiz Wrote: The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Mar 02, 2013
Home prices 'not at acceptable level yet'

Tharman says some correction in prices will not be out of order

"If you don't raise productivity, it's hard to raise incomes," he said. "And if you can't raise incomes for the average person, for the median household and for those at the lower end of the wage ladder, your society frays."

fiochan@sph.com.sg
Spore way of raising productivity is through longer working hours. The co. i am working now is moving to another new building. As a R&D co. it is impt for each person to have its own cubicle (lesser distraction). But the new building will see 4 persons sharing a common cubicle. Our internet PCs are those from retired office PCs. Cost cutting is placed as #1 instead of spending to improve productivity.

R&D activities emphasis on team work, rather than individual performance, thus the cubicle arrangement has changed from individual cubicle to group of 4, the high partition to low partition. Manager's room changed to open cubicle, but with window.

This seems is the trend, which will increase productivity, as group level.
“夏则资皮,冬则资纱,旱则资船,水则资车” - 范蠡
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#4
(03-03-2013, 09:00 AM)CityFarmer Wrote:
(02-03-2013, 10:57 PM)Bibi Wrote:
(02-03-2013, 10:15 AM)Musicwhiz Wrote: The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Mar 02, 2013
Home prices 'not at acceptable level yet'

Tharman says some correction in prices will not be out of order

"If you don't raise productivity, it's hard to raise incomes," he said. "And if you can't raise incomes for the average person, for the median household and for those at the lower end of the wage ladder, your society frays."

fiochan@sph.com.sg
Spore way of raising productivity is through longer working hours. The co. i am working now is moving to another new building. As a R&D co. it is impt for each person to have its own cubicle (lesser distraction). But the new building will see 4 persons sharing a common cubicle. Our internet PCs are those from retired office PCs. Cost cutting is placed as #1 instead of spending to improve productivity.

R&D activities emphasis on team work, rather than individual performance, thus the cubicle arrangement has changed from individual cubicle to group of 4, the high partition to low partition. Manager's room changed to open cubicle, but with window.

This seems is the trend, which will increase productivity, as group level.

and most bosses also have open door concept, to allow greater communication with staff.
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#5
Of course any government (even most of us) can made all sorts of promises but as we all know, actions speak louder.
Until then what can we do? Not much, but make money while your "Sun Shines".
WB:-

1) Rule # 1, do not lose money.
2) Rule # 2, refer to # 1.
3) Not until you can manage your emotions, you can manage your money.

Truism of Investments.
A) Buying a security is buying RISK not Return
B) You can control RISK (to a certain level, hopefully only.) But definitely not the outcome of the Return.

NB:-
My signature is meant for psychoing myself. No offence to anyone. i am trying not to lose money unnecessary anymore.
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#6
The question to ask is why has properties price reach such an unacceptable level in the first place. Is someone sleeping on the job despite drawing million dollar salary? Why peasants have to suffer for mistake made by office holders? I thought someone recent went on TV saying that he is confident HDB will remain affordable sine he is the one setting the price?
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#7
Who are the owners of the properties HDB, JTC, URA............................?
They hope to sell low to buyers ?????
“risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”
I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.
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#8
(03-03-2013, 11:00 AM)Temperament Wrote: Of course any government (even most of us) can made all sorts of promises but as we all know, actions speak louder.
Until then what can we do? Not much, but make money while your "Sun Shines".

Make money and save as much as possible for stormy days. The wind is howling and i think a storm is on the way and may last for quite some time.
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