Property Trends 2010

[Minority]

Originally Posted by colourbox

They are here because Singapore is run like a corporation, not a Country. You die your business.

Being Singaporean means nothing. It means when ur use by date is up. You are considered redundant and not long contributing. Retrenchment or Shelving would be inplace. If not should just go JB! Singapore can get some foreign dumping ground to dump the old.


For PR once the milk enough if they are comfortable they can stay. if shits hit the fan go home lor.. no stings attached. let the local deal with the shit.

[DRSG]

Originally Posted by Minority

Being Singaporean means nothing. It means when ur use by date is up. You are considered redundant and not long contributing. Retrenchment or Shelving would be inplace. If not should just go JB! Singapore can get some foreign dumping ground to dump the old.


For PR once the milk enough if they are comfortable they can stay. if shits hit the fan go home lor.. no stings attached. let the local deal with the shit.

" If native Singaporeans are falling behind because "the spurs are not stuck into the hide," that is their problem" - MM Lee.

In SAF translated lingo to me it means go 'FXXX' ourselves.

[Baby]

PRs already got backup plan, Citizen should also have contingency plan.

If you are already holding multiple properties in Singapore, should start think about investing in overseas if you don't have one yet.

MM Lee think Singapore will be doing okay in the next 10 years, but he was not sure thereafter.

I couldn't think of anyone in the current ministers that is as smart as PM Lee as of now.

[Baby]

You forgot to mention about the word " Stupid " which MM Lee stressed in his interview.

I think a lot of current Singaporean kids whose parents are in the middle and high income should not have problem even if they fail in their future career. This is because most parents in this calibre would had left their accumulated wealth to their kids .... 富 二代 . Ask yourself if you had bought property for your kids ? I believe most of you had if you owned multiple properties.

Originally Posted by DRSG

" If native Singaporeans are falling behind because "the spurs are not stuck into the hide," that is their problem" - MM Lee.

In SAF translated lingo to me it means go 'FXXX' ourselves.

[shctaw]

I think we are not competitive because of our over protective Govt.

We should be blame too; but Govt should hold some resposiblity.

We seriously lack a lot of X factors. Singaporean only know how to copy and steal others idea when come to business venture. We are simply not creative.

[bigbird72]

Creativity and innovation is about copying.
Why waste time reinventing the wheel.

Jia lat. u guys like more cynical abt pap govt than
me.

[sabian]

Originally Posted by DRSG

" If native Singaporeans are falling behind because "the spurs are not stuck into the hide," that is their problem" - MM Lee.

In SAF translated lingo to me it means go 'FXXX' ourselves.

The also know sinkies got no balls to stick the spurs into govt's hide...I also got no faith in the current batch of govt to when it comes to empathy, all of them are schooled in $ & cents.

[bigbird72]

so next election, vote in a few opposition?

[Minority]

Originally Posted by bigbird72

so next election, vote in a few opposition?

Well Singaporean is all NATO.

[bigbird72]

Scared property values dropped?

[sabian]

Originally Posted by bigbird72

Scared property values dropped?

Sinkies train of thought: opposition in other ward ok, not mine. Wait kenna blacklisted when it comes to estate upgrading - whether they go by alphabetical/ numerical/ age/ size etc, your estate will be last.

[bigbird72]

opposition also got credibility issues.

[sabian]

Originally Posted by bigbird72

opposition also got credibility issues.

Last GE got some ok ones.

[bigbird72]

Credit Suisse Targets Indonesia Rich as Yudhoyono Beats Karaoke
By Joyce Koh

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Sandiaga Uno, the second-youngest man on Forbes’s Indonesia rich list, says private bankers inundate him with investment pitches and have offered everything from wine-tasting and concerts to karaoke evenings and gambling trips to Macau to solicit his business.

“Almost every bank that comes here makes a courtesy call,” Uno, 40, whose fortune is estimated at $400 million, said in an interview in Jakarta, a 90-minute flight from Singapore. “I used to feel, ‘Wow.’ Then I realized it’s not only me getting it, but a lot of other people.”

Private banks including Credit Suisse AG and Julius Baer Group Ltd. are expanding in Indonesia as political stability and economic growth persuade the rich to keep more money in the world’s fourth-most populous country. That’s posing a challenge for wealth managers in Singapore, where Merrill Lynch & Co. and Capgemini SA have estimated Indonesians held more than $90 billion in 2006.

At a time when private banks are shifting their focus to faster-growing markets in Asia, Indonesia’s richest people are accumulating wealth more rapidly than anywhere in the region outside China. The assets of Asian millionaires will exceed those of their North American counterparts by 2013, according to the annual global wealth survey by Merrill and Capgemini.

Irreversible Trend

Indonesia’s economy may double in the next six years as the world’s biggest exporter of power-station coal and the largest producer of palm oil taps surging demand from India and China, according to a July report from CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, which said Indonesia, China and India are Asia’s “next growth triangle.” The Jakarta Composite Index jumped 123 percent last year in dollar terms, making it the best-performing Asian benchmark, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“In 10 years’ time, when we look at GDP, average wealth and concentration of wealth, this will be one of the major markets in the world,” said Francois Monnet, Credit Suisse’s head of private banking for Southeast Asia and Australasia. The country’s 40 richest people doubled their combined wealth to $42 billion last year, according to Forbes. Among 12 countries Forbes tracks in Asia Pacific, only China equaled that growth.

More of that wealth is staying home, as investor confidence is buoyed by political stability under the country’s first popularly elected president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. That marks a turnaround since the ouster of former dictator Suharto in 1998, when the economy collapsed during the Asian economic crisis and thousands of rich Indonesians fled the country.

“More and more wealthy Indonesians would like to bring their money back into Indonesia,” said Rizal Prasetijo, managing director of PT J.P. Morgan Securities Indonesia. “At this juncture, unless something really big happens, the trend cannot be reversed.”

Private Banking Hub

Most international private banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co., UBS AG and Merrill Lynch & Co. still serve Indonesia from Singapore, which has sought to build a reputation as the region’s wealth management center. The city-state, located off the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula, has relied on low taxes and sophisticated financial services for the rich to create a financial hub rivaling Hong Kong.

While banks in Hong Kong reaped billions of dollars of fees in the past decade managing initial public offerings by Chinese companies, Singapore targeted Asia’s burgeoning wealth.

In 2004, the government made capital gains on domestic and overseas investments tax exempt, and foreigners can apply for residency if they place S$5 million ($3.6 million) in a financial institution registered with the central bank. The state in 2003 set up the Wealth Management Institute, the first educational institution in Asia focused on private banking.

‘Giant of Small Nations’

Assets managed in Singapore, including by private banks, surged to S$864 billion in 2008 from S$280 billion in 2000, according to the central bank.

Singapore’s proximity to Indonesia helped make it a haven for the capital exodus that followed the Asian financial crisis. The economic collapse focused public anger on ethnic Chinese, who accounted for less than 5 percent of the population but controlled more than 70 percent of Indonesia’s economy.

About a third of Singapore’s millionaires were actually Indonesians living in the city-state, according to a 2007 study by Merrill and Capgemini.

“If I were building a wealth management business, I’d first build a good Indonesia business and look after it,” said Roman Scott, managing director of Singapore-based Calamander Capital. “Indonesia is the giant of small nations.”

No Buffett

Lingering resentment in Indonesia against rich individuals will likely prompt them to keep stashing money in Singapore, said Sofjan Wanandi, 68, founder of the Gemala Group, which has businesses ranging from automotives to insurance.

“In Indonesia, you better keep a low profile because the appreciation of big companies here is not well compared to other developed countries where they would be proud of you,” Wanadi said in an interview. “In the U.S., you have Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, but not here.”

Even so, some foreign banks are boosting their local operations. Zurich-based Credit Suisse plans to double the number of relationship managers at its Indonesia investment management unit, which now has less than 10, and expand client coverage outside Jakarta to central and eastern Java, Monnet said. The local subsidiary of Julius Baer, the Zurich-based wealth manager, in 2008 became one of the first companies to get a license in Indonesia to provide investment advisory services to private and corporate clients in the country.

Regulatory Attention

Morgan Stanley, which serves Indonesian clients with at least $20 million in assets from Singapore, may set up local operations when the number of people worth at least $1 million has grown more, said Nick Chan, head of the New York-based firm’s Indonesia private-banking business.

“For sure, that is something to focus on over the next three to five years,” Chan said. He plans to double his team over the next three years, from more than 10 people now.

The role of offshore bankers attracted attention from Indonesia’s securities regulator after locals suffered losses on financial products such as bonds linked to the failed Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. during the first global recession since World War II. The number of Indonesian millionaires shrank by 20 percent in 2008, according to the Merrill/Capgemini study.

The regulator, known as Bapepam, plans to work with the central bank to tighten oversight this year of what products private banks can sell and how they sell them, said an official at the agency who declined to be identified.

Mandiri Challenge

Indonesia is moving to retain more wealth. The parliament said Sept. 2 it plans to cut the corporate income tax rate to 25 percent from 28 percent. To encourage Indonesians to become taxpayers, locals who are registered with the tax office will be exempted from paying a 1 million rupiah ($105) airport levy for overseas flights.

About 11 million Indonesians are registered as taxpayers compared with 1.3 million in 1999, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in March. That still amounts to less than 5 percent of Indonesia’s population of about 248 million people.

As Indonesia’s ranks of millionaires grow, local banks are getting into the fray. PT Bank Mandiri, Indonesia’s biggest, plans to set up a private banking unit this year after a pilot project during which it increased assets under management by 50 percent in five months by targeting wealthy clients.

Inkawan Jusi, who will head the unit, said he’s identified 300 of Indonesia’s richest people -- with assets of at least $20 million each -- who are mostly clients of Bank Mandiri. Jusi plans to hire 10 relationship managers early this year to double the amount of money each of them park with the lender.

‘I Don’t Gamble’

“We give them sponsorship if their company wants to have a gathering,” he said. “We invite them and take them abroad for golf trips. Whatever they want, we give them as long as they give us more money.”

Private banks, whether local or foreign, still have to convince the likes of Uno, whose private equity firm PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya owns a stake in Indonesia’s second-largest coal miner.

“It’s very difficult to make me sit up because my business is investments, and I constantly beat all of them in terms of their returns,” he said. “They try new things, like karaoke, wine, trips to Macau. But I tell them I’m not into wine, and I don’t gamble.”

[Baby]

Those who moved to Sail, Icon, MBR, Duxton can forget about voting in the coming GE.

I didn't had a chance to vote in the last 10 years since I moved to D2.

Nobody had challenged MM Lee at least for the past 3-4 elections.

[bigbird72]

Orchard area also under LKY?

This year got more single wards....less backdoor entries...hahaha....

[Baby]

If you can do better, why pay somebody to do the job at a high cost for a small token...

Anyway, Indonesian Chinese rich will continue to divert their wealth into Singapore. They will not risk leaving everything in Indonesia. The native Indonesian may do otherwise though.

Originally Posted by bigbird72

“It’s very difficult to make me sit up because my business is investments, and I constantly beat all of them in terms of their returns,”

[bigbird72]

Originally Posted by Baby

If you can do better, why pay somebody to do the job at a high cost for a small token...

Anyway, Indonesian Chinese rich will continue to divert their wealth into Singapore. They will not risk leaving everything in Indonesia. The native Indonesian may do otherwise though.

Not only that, private bankers may steal your ideas to make themselves look smart.

[bigbird72]

Stock mkts looking good so far.....

High-end prop stocks performing quite well.....

Quite a few stocks breaking out from baseline or triangle.....
...but I dont believe in technical analysis.....

[Baby]

today everything seem to breakout

Originally Posted by bigbird72

Stock mkts looking good so far.....

High-end prop stocks performing quite well.....

Quite a few stocks breaking out from baseline or triangle.....
...but I dont believe in technical analysis.....