House hunting

1 June

piggy and i embarked on a house hunting action in the past 2 days in Spore. We viewed 2 hi end condo in the central of Singapore with the intention of investing. And to my surprise, the cost of these small condo units can go up to more than 800K Sin for a 2 room unit( i.e 2 bedrooms ). It is as small as the Hongkong condo units and I feel that any owner will definitely feel that he is shortchanged on the space given the amount of cash that he has to put in. I have been paying attention to the housing in JB. For about 300K RM ( 150K SGD ), you can buy yourself a single storey terrance house with courtyard in JB town near Pelangi. In Singapore, that same amount will only fetch you a small 2 bedroom HDB flat. But of course, private housing in JB does not provide you with the same facilities that Singapore houses or condos can offer nor the security.

The housing in JB is dropping for the past 4 years. You may buy a house that cost 300K RM in Y2004 and now it may cost only 280K RM. But in Spore, the prices are only going up and up. By comparison, it is only reasonable to invest in Spore properties, but the problem is we do not have enuff money for that, even for a 2 bedroom unit. We did our calculations and the monthly instalment can be as high as 6000 SGD if we want to keep to a 10 year installment plan. That means we will not have our yearly trips to overseas countries and we will live pathetically as a slave to pay the mortgage for the house.

So, to choose a right house at the right cost, and one that is good enuff for our own use and with a good investment potential is really a challenge. We were thinking about this and hope to make some money out of the house so that we can enjoy our retirement life. Then piggy can go BKK every now and then to watch his fav agogo show. But now is not the right time to buy, as we both are not ready to fork out the money to buy the house at current prices. So i guess we will put it on hold , and piggy will continue to monitor the market.

Looking at the real estate market in JB, i am not worried about the cost of housing in JB. I think i will defer my purchase in JB till i am back for good. A private house in JB is not secure if you are not staying in the house yourself, and when i do purchase the house in future, i believe the cost is not going to vary very much from now.

Darby