“It is not an individual have buy but when you sell that makes principal to your profit”.

Hence I consistently advise my investors to take care that they have gone through their financial plans thoroughly as they will be entering into a 4-year commitment – after taking into consideration the 4-year Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) that they will have to pay if they sell their property before 4 years.

Once they have determined the amount of finances they are willing to outlay, they will set themselves at a boon by entering the property market and generating a second income from rental yields instead of putting their cash in the bank. Based on the current market, I would advise they will keep a lookout for any good investment property where prices have dropped an estimated 10% rather than putting it in a fixed deposit which pays 0.5% and does not hedge against inflation which currently stands at some.7%.

In this aspect, my investors and I are on the same page – we prefer to reap the benefits the current low price and put our make the most property assets to generate a positive cash flow via rental income. I myself have personally seen some properties generating positive monthly cash flow of of up to $1500 after off-setting mortgage costs. This equates to an annual passive income as high as $18 000 per annum which easily beats returns from fixed deposits and also outperforms dividend returns from stocks.

Even though prices of private properties have continued to go up despite the economic uncertainty, we are able to access that the effect of the cooling measures have result in a slower rise in prices as when compared with 2010.

Currently, we observe that although property prices are holding up, sales are starting to stagnate. I will attribute this on the following 2 reasons:

1) Many owners’ unwillingness to sell at lower prices and buyers’ unwillingness to commit to some higher price.

2) Existing demand unaltered data exceeding supply due to owners being in no hurry to sell, consequently resulting in a embrace prices.

I would advise investors to view their Singapore property assets as long-term investments. Dealerships will have not be excessively alarmed by a slowdown your market property market as their assets will consistently benefit in the longer term and increased value due to the following:

a) Good governance in Singapore

b) Land scarcity in Singapore, jade scape and,

c) Inflation which will set and upward pressure on prices

For buyers who would like invest some other types of properties apart from the residential segment (such as New Launches & Resales), they might also consider purchasing shophouses which likewise support generate passive income; and thus not controlled by the recent government cooling measures such as the 16% SSD and 40% downpayment required on residential properties.

I cannot help but stress the need for having ‘holding power’. You shouldn’t be required to sell house (and create a loss) even during a downturn. Be aware that the property market moves in a cyclical pattern and require to sell only during an uptrend.