Dear TRS,
I would like to share my story with your readers about how PAP has caused us to suffer.
A little about myself, I did not do very well in my “A”-levels back in the late 90s and ended up doing a degree in science at NUS. As I was worried about a job, I ended up signing on with the army since they paid for my degree. I left after my bond was up, since I didn't like the "scholar vs non-scholar" culture and suck-ups. Eventually, I became a property agent instead.
When I first started out in 2004, things were slow then but there was much to be contented about from the perspective of an average Singaporean. My first deal was at The ICON in Tanjong Pagar, where a 1000 sq ft condo in the CBD sold for $695,000. Upgrading was not an issue for most Singaporeans and there was hope about owning a condo. Today, there are plenty of HDB flats priced more than $695k.
What went wrong was after LHL took over. I remembered than in 2005, all of a sudden there were more and more foreigners who were looking for properties. What is radical about this change was that the foreigners who were looking were no longer looking for expat area properties, but also looking for properties in the mainland. Also, these foreigners were no longer American/Europeans but China/India sorts.
And the worst part came after 2007. These new PRs were getting increasingly noticeable and they were all middle-class looking for resale flats. One colleague told me that in the course of 3 months, the transacted price of one of her deals increased by more than $20,000. This was for a HDB flat in Bedok. All of a sudden, there was a drastic housing boom and housing prices increased so radically.
What happen later was that the government sensed that there was unhappiness, so they decided to impose restrictions on the housing market instead. But since their policy is half-heartedly implemented, there was more suffering instead. I have clients who bought condos in Geylang hoping for appreciation, but instead they are sitting of $100,000 paper losses and no rentals.
Worse, the rich now invested in industrial properties instead. As a result, the prices started going up and rents increased drastically as well. One of my clients in the F&B business saw her rental gone up from $15,000 a month to $40,000 a month in a shopping centre in a non-mature estate.
We consumers are the ones who end up paying the brunt. Compared to 5 years back, clinic bills have increased from $30 to $80 and a facial wash which costs $10 in a shopping centre can be bought for $4.50 in Chinatown. The reason is because the Chinatown shop is owned and there are no rent pressures.
Next thing you may ask is why so many foreigners? As you know, the government owns many of the big businesses in Singapore and want as much cheap labour as possible to help them. At the same time, they ultimately own their own properties so the rental does not bother them as they are driven by pure selfishness.
The worse part? These businesses are doing very well and the funding comes from our CPF monies which par so little interest. In other words, they are borrowing YOUR CPF to make themselves rich while paying you pittance and causing you so much trouble.
Thankfully, I made enough money while I was a property agent and can leave this country as quickly as I would like. I just hope that Singaporeans will open their eyes to the PAP’s evils.
Thanks for your time,
Terence
TRS Contributor