Singapore Property Investment - Looking at North West Side - 3 December 2012

I believe a lot more readers have invested in at least 1 property compared to at least 1 counter in shares market. Yesterday I just went to visit properties in Singapore West side, including Jurong East, Bukit Batok, Chua Chu Kang, and Yew Tee. I met two group of property agents there.

Just a rough summary, the common room rental market there is about S$400 - S$600 depending on the demand and supply theory. The most expensive area would be Jurong East, following by Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang, and the least expensive area would be at Yew Tee. I believe this is due to the location factor, where most of the higher paid workers working in CBD area are demanding the properties near to town. And you may not find a higher paid salary job at North side, in general. The monthly rental for 4 Room Flat (3 Bedrooms) is around SGD2,000 to SGD2,300, also depending on the location as well as the price the landlord is targeting for.

Currently, the 4 room flat costs about S$400K to S$700K, also depending on the location you are looking at. The COV is around S$1xK to S$30K, depending on the size of the flat as well as the willingness the buyers are paying for this, as this amount cannot be paid via Loan / CPF but via money from your own pocket. I am also noticed that the lawyer fees and the stamp duty can be paid via CPF, and the sales proceed will be returned back to CPF for its portion (including Accruing Interest and proceeds from CPF Board).

One of the agents roughly calculated for me, if I could get a 4 room flat at 430K and get a 344K loan. With 2% interest rate, I would have to pay for S$1,2xx for 30 years loan. So, if I can rent out 2 rooms with average S$600 each, then I could cover most of the loan payment. What I need to do is just to pay for the electrical and water bills, and the remaining balance. Of course, I have to calculate the possibility of the interest rate rise in future.

So, I believe the property market is still stable in Singapore at this moment, until year 2015 as more BTO units have been built up. It also depends on the global economy as Singapore is a small open economy and will be largely affected by the global economy.

So, the next step I could think of is to get the best mortgage loan package that suit us most, as well as to find a better invested property in Singapore market, as I understand that more Singaporean are trying to go to Iskandar Malaysia to "Flip" the property there.

As the public transport getting better there, I believe more Malaysian working in Singapore are willing to return to JB and traveling in between JB and Singapore everyday.