If anyone come across this website, please be careful.

I am cheated by them. After spending so much time, I finally accumulate their so-called minimum payout sum of money. I wrote to them indicated my decision to withdraw the amount.

You guess what. There is no response from them and now I can’t even get to their login page. You see, they are a CHEAT……

Be careful and try to spread this information around before your friends, relatives become a victim.

Frustrated..

Amid a record number of collective sales in the past two years, some home owners have been left unhappy at the sale process over issues such as how the sales committee is formed.

En-bloc sellers have been plagued by rumours and a lack of clear information on sale procedures. Some home owners with strong emotional attachments to their homes have felt pressured to sell.

In one high-profile dispute, the sale of Horizon Towers for $500 million was blocked on a technicality – the paperwork was not in order – by the Strata Titles Board, after action was taken by owners who were opposed to the sale. They had disputes over issues including the transparency of the sale process. The developers have now taken the sellers to the High Court for failing to see the sale through.

One of the proposed changes will give more power to the board, which can disregard any technical irregularity if it is satisfied that it will not prejudice any owner’s interest.

Another key change is the introduction of strict guidelines on the currently unregulated process of setting up an en-bloc sales committee to oversee a sale. For instance, owners can only form a sales committee and elect members at a general meeting.

Another major change will provide for a five-day ‘cooling off’ period after a collective sale agreement is signed during which a home owner may change his mind.

The proposed changes are contained in an amendment to the Land Titles (Strata) Act, introduced to Parliament by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Law Professor S. Jayakumar yesterday.

He first outlined some of the changes in March. More proposals were added after public consultation in April and May – which attracted hundreds of suggestions – and talks with industry experts.

Prof Jayakumar said the extra changes will further enhance transparency and procedural clarity, and offer better protection to affected home owners. There are more than 30 proposed amendments to take effect as soon as early as October.

One change addresses an imbalance in voting rights in some mixed retail, office and residential developments – by adding a new level of owner consent by floor area, before a sale can proceed.

To ensure owners are kept in the know, general meetings must be held to look at issues such as appointing lawyers and consultants, or dividing sales proceeds.

Also, a lawyer must be present to witness the signing of the collective sale agreement, and to explain the legal terms and liabilities. Observers say this move will prevent owners from complaining that they were forced to sell under duress.

To assure owners the best price is reached, a collective sale launch must be made by public tender or public auction. If this method fails, the sales committee can follow up and negotiate with any bidder. Still, a sale by private treaty must be concluded within 10 weeks of the close of the tender or auction.

And an independent valuation has to be obtained on the date the tender closes with bids to be revealed to the owners as soon as practicable – to help them decide if the bids are favourable.

Another change will return any remaining money in a condo’s management and sinking funds to owners – not the purchasing developer.

The Strata Titles Board can increase the amount a minority owner gets from sales proceeds if, say, he spent a lot to do up his home before finding about the sale.

‘All the changes will give owners more say in a collective sale,’ said Mr Nicholas Mak of consultancy Knight Frank. ‘But they come at a price as the sale process will most likely be lengthened.’

Also, professional fees will inevitably rise, said Credo Real Estate’s managing director Karamjit Singh.

Here’s how: Equity-linked notes (ELN) promise high returns and are one of the most popular structured products. The most advertised has been Pinnacle Notes. It is now selling series 8 which will close its offer tomorrow.

It is similar to other ELNs. Your earnings are linked to eight well-known local stocks like DBS, UOB, OCBC and Singapore Press Holdings.

If the price of all eight counters declines by no more than five per cent, you earn an annual return of 8.8 per cent. It’s good.

If all eight stocks decline no more than ten per cent, you get 4.8 per cent. It’s still good.

For the worst case, if even one stock declines more than 10 per cent, your return drops to zero.

Structured products limit both losses and gains. For Pinnacle Notes, these range from 0 to 8.8 per cent per year for four years. It looks fair.

Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find problems:

1) First, if the market is strong and all eight stocks remain above their launch price (LP), you will be ‘knocked out’ after three months. Then, you get only your principal plus 2.2 per cent interest.

2)Second, to get the full 8.8 per cent per year for four years isn’t easy. ALL eight stocks must remain above 95per cent of the LP and at least one must drop to the 95 to 100 per cent range.

3) Third, if just one of the shares drops into the 90 to 95 per cent range, you get 4.8 per cent.

4) Fourth, if just one of the eight stocks falls below 90 per cent of the LP, your return falls to zero.

5) Fifth, ELNs and Pinnacle Notes do not disclose costs. Sales people may tell you there are none.

Don’t believe it. The costs are significant and higher costs increase the likelihood of your receiving the lower end of returns (0 per cent).

6) Sixth, Pinnacle Notes are ‘principal protected’. It sounds reassuring, but the protection can be withdrawn when you need it the most, as I will explain.

PRINCIPAL PROTECTED?

Pinnacle Notes invest about 90 per cent of your money in high-rated corporate bonds and 10 per cent in options.

The options do well when the Notes’ 4.8 and 8.8 per cent payout conditions are met. Otherwise, they expire worthless. That is okay since the bonds earn enough to pay expenses and repay your investment.

It gives you principal protection.

If even one bond defaults, however, the issuer can cancel your protection. It is all explained in the 242 pages of prospectus and pricing statement. It is heavy reading. Here are two key excerpts:

(i) The principal protection can be withdrawn if a bond’s interest payment is late. The word ‘late’ is defined rather strictly in the prospectus.

It says: ‘reference to any grace period will not be applicable’. (page A-26)

(ii) The pricing statement says: ‘the amount the Issuer will pay back… could be significantly less than the principal amount of the Notes. Accordingly, it is possible that investors could lose all of their investment.’ (page 13)

Lose your investment? What about the principal protection?

Well, it is there for you in good times. In bad times, when you need it the most, the protection can be withdrawn by the issuer.

A Pinnacle Notes salesperson explained it to me this way: ‘It’s not as safe as government bonds, but it is still safe.’

That brings us to the billion dollar question: If the risk of the bonds defaulting is really so small and hardly worth mentioning, why pass it on to investors?

Why doesn’t the issuer avoid this matter by simply taking the risk itself?

The only answer I’ve received so far is: ‘It’s the industry practice.’

The more, the merrier? Not for these equity-linked notes

THE previous series of Pinnacle Notes, series 6 and 7, required six bonds to stay within a prescribed price range. Now, to earn a return you need eight stocks.

Normally, adding more shares to your portfolio is good. It provides diversification.

With structured products, however, the investment rules get turned on their head. Now, owning more stocks is bad.

Why? It’s because the chance of six stocks staying within a given price range is somewhat of a long shot.

The chance of eight stocks doing it is even more remote.

The sales people I talked to never mentioned this.

Their focus was entirely on earning the top return of 8.8 per cent. No one said a word about the probability of achieving it.

As at end-June, housing and bridging loans as well as loans to the building and construction sector made up nearly half – a high of 47 per cent – of the more than $200 billion loan portfolio of commercial banks here, according to preliminary figures obtained from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

This has been a steady increase from the 33 per cent from about a decade ago (end-1996) around the height of the last property boom, and the 42.5 per cent at the start of the current property boom at the end of 2002.

In absolute terms, the housing and bridging loans were worth some $64 billion as at end-June, compared to about $63 billion six months ago.

Loans to the building and construction sector stood at about $30 billion as at end-June, an increase of 21 per cent from a year ago, said MAS.

Not surprisingly, the run-up in property prices has led to an increase in housing and bridging loans (the consumer loans), but this rise has slowed dramatically from the early years of the current boom.

Right after the current property boom started, housing and bridging loans surged 17 per cent between end-2002 and end-2003 to reach $52.2 billion. Since then, the increase has slowed to about 2 per cent for the first six months of the year and from end-2005 to the end of last year, the value of housing and bridging loans increased by only 2.2 per cent.

Housing and bridging loans’ share of the total loans of commercial banks – while still the biggest – has also declined over the last couple of years. Their share of total loans, after building up over the years to a peak of 33.8 per cent at end-2005 has dipped over the last one-and-a-half years to about 32 per cent as at end-June this year.

What is perhaps more significant for the financial sector is that the loans to the building and construction sectors including loans made to developers have been expanding much faster over the past few years and have been taking up a bigger share of total loans extended by banks.

Loans to developers have an added element of risk because of the deferred payment scheme which allows home buyers to pay only a fraction of the property’s price upfront.

Loans to the building and construction industry, after contracting between 2004 to end-2005 as the construction industry went through the doldrums, surged 14.4 per cent to $26.3 billion as at end-2006. The further growth to $30 billion as at end-June this year represents a growth of 21 per cent from end-June 2006.

‘As MAS has previously said, the use of the deferred payment scheme by property developers introduces additional risks to the developers, and to the banks which finance these developers, because property purchasers under this scheme are not subject to credit checks by developers.
Work in progress: Loans to the building and construction industry jumped 21 per cent to $30 billion from about a year ago

‘This is unlike property purchasers who apply for housing loans and are subject to credit assessment by banks. MAS expects banks to exercise prudence in their financing to the property developers and be fully cognizant of the additional risks from the use of deferred payment schemes,’ a spokesperson from MAS told BT.

Last week, during the release of MAS’ annual report, Heng Swee Keat, the authority’s managing director had said that MAS is keeping a close eye on developments in the property boom. As Singapore’s central bank and the regulator of the financial industry, MAS’s concerns with regard to the property boom are how rising prices impact inflation and the risks posed to the stability of the financial system.

Mr Heng had noted that the banking sector’s exposure to the property and construction sectors is ‘significant’ and that housing and related loans have grown over the last few quarters. ‘So for both of these reasons, we will be watching developments in the market very carefully.’

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) price index for private homes, released on Friday, has risen 13.5 per cent for the first half of this year.

URA figures also revealed that developers sold 9,385 uncompleted private home in the first six months of this year, less than a thousand units shy of the record 10,363 units sold through all of last year.

This assurance came yesterday from National Deve- lopment Minister Mah Bow Tan, who said the Government was more inclined towards applying a light touch.

It will depend on ‘non-interventionist’ measures like providing more information to the public on prices and rents while ramping up the supply of homes and offices.

The Government sees this shortage of space – which has resulted in rising home and office rents – as a short-term problem that is best tackled with like-minded measures.

‘We don’t want to use long-term solutions to try to solve short-term problems. If you do that, you might create problems in the long run,’ said Mr Mah.

He added that the Government will look into releasing temporary premises as a way of helping the supply side of the equation.

The HDB is also rolling out a pilot project to lease 120 vacated flats under the Selective En-bloc Redeve- lopment Scheme for terms of one or two years, depending on public response.

A ‘few thousand units’ would be available to help tide the market over the interim period before long- term supply kicks in with the completion of new residential projects, said Mr Mah.

Another initiative announced recently involved the launch of ‘transitional’ office sites by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), which can be built on quickly.

The other weapon in the Government’s approach is to provide buyers and sellers with information – a lot more of it, and data that is more up to date.

Such data is seen as particularly important, given the headlines that rising prices have commanded of late.

Figures by the URA last week showed private home prices climbed 8.3 per cent in the April to June quarter, while the Housing Board revealed that resale prices for flats jumped 3 per cent in the same period.

Both increases are the highest in almost a decade.

Mr Mah maintains that in such an environment, providing useful data can clear the air for buyers and sellers.

He said he preferred to ‘let the market forces work’, but for them to work effectively, ‘there must be sufficient information’.

A wealth of information on sale prices and rent levels for both residential and HDB homes, HDB resale prices and offices has already been released and made available online.

It allows buyers and sellers to get a better handle on how the market is moving in particular areas.

Mr Mah cautioned the public to ‘make a distinction’ between data analysis reports or projections by property analysts and the hard facts provided by the authorities.

‘You can have many different reports, but you should take URA and HDB reports as a snapshot of what is really happening on the ground,’ he said.

Mr Mah added that he was confident that with these measures – comprehensive data and temporary supply – ‘we will be able to moderate the prices’.

Mr Mah was speaking on the sidelines of a Ministry of National Development joint scholarship presentation ceremony, where 36 awards were given out.

This is the first time the ministry’s agencies – such as the National Parks Board, HDB and URA – have award their scholarships in a single ceremony.

‘This was possibly due to the strong economy, a favourable property market and interest in Sentosa Cove,’ an SLA spokeswoman said.

Foreigners including PRs face restrictions in buying landed properties in Singapore and need prior approval from the authorities before they can purchase such properties. Foreigners have to be PRs before they can receive permission to buy landed homes on mainland Singapore; Sentosa Cove is the only location where foreigners who are not PRs are allowed to purchase landed property.

Apart from an applicant’s PR status, sanction to buy landed property depends on his qualifications and economic contributions to Singapore, SLA’s spokeswoman stressed.

SLA declined to say how many applications were made by foreigners/PRs to buy landed property, and how many were approved.

However, based on DTZ Debenham Tie Leung’s analysis of caveats captured by the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Realis database, foreigners including PRs bought 93 landed homes or 8.4 per cent of the total 1,108 landed homes transacted in Q1 2007, covering both primary and secondary markets, as well as completed and uncompleted properties.

These figures are higher than those for Q1 2006, when foreigners including PRs bought 43 landed homes, or 6.1 per cent of the total 706 landed homes that were transacted. During Q2 1996, at the height of the 1990s property bull run, PRs/foreigners purchased 31 landed homes, or 2.6 per cent of the total 1,188 landed homes that changed hands during the period.

DTZ’s analysis showed that for Q1 this year, PRs bought 86 landed homes while non-PR foreigners purchased seven such homes. The most popular landed homes among foreigners as a whole were terrace houses (45 units), followed by semi-detached (26 units) and detached houses (22 units).

Private apartments/condos – a class of properties where there are no restrictions on purchases by foreigners/PRs (unless they want to buy up an entire development) – made up the majority of private homes bought by foreigners in Q1 this year. In all, foreigners/PRs bought 2,008 non-landed private homes, accounting for 30.3 per cent of the total condos/apartments bought in the period.

In Q1 this year, foreigners/PRs bought 27.2 per cent of the overall 7,731 private homes (comprising both landed and non-landed homes) that changed hands. This share is almost double their 14.1 per cent share back in Q2 1996, when foreigners/PRs purchased 975 of the total 6,932 private residential properties transacted.

DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah said the growing foreign buying of landed homes in Singapore reflects that many foreigners/PRs are raising their families here.

‘They may find that condos are too small. Very often they buy landed homes in locations close to the foreign/international schools that their children attend, for instance, in Lorong Chuan, where the Australian International School is located, and in the West Coast near the Japanese School,’ she added.

‘Many of these foreigners and PRs say Singapore is a very ‘liveable’ place. If they believe in the future of Asia, they’d want to raise their families in Asia, and Singapore is a good location, from which they can get exposure to China and India because of our connectivity,’ she added.

Since 1973, foreigners (including PRs) have been prohibited from buying landed property without prior government approval. All would-be buyers must seek permission from the Land Dealings (Approval) Unit under the SLA. Typically, it takes about four weeks for approval to be granted, but in the upscale waterfront locale of Sentosa Cove, the time has been fast-tracked to less than 48 hours.

Whether on mainland Singapore or Sentosa Cove, foreigners including PRs can at any one time own only one landed home in Singapore and must occupy it themselves rather than rent it out.

However, being a PR does not automatically mean one’s application to buy landed property will be approved. For instance, if the PR does not have the recognised qualifications or expertise/working experience required by Singapore or has not made any investment in the type of industry/service sector being promoted in Singapore, the application may be turned down. Even PRs who have set up businesses promoted by Singapore may find their applications rejected if their company’s paid-up capital and turnover do not meet certain requirements.

I will be out of action for a period of time as my wife gave birth to a baby girl.

Nevertheless, please feel free to come to my blog site and look around.

Ciao

PRIVATE home prices have shot up across the board with everything from luxury condos to humble suburban homes reaping the benefits.

Figures out yesterday – still just estimates at this stage – for the April-June period show that private property is on a dramatic upswing with plenty of momentum.

Prices rose 7.9 per cent – the biggest jump since the third quarter in 1999, when the market staged a brief recovery before sliding into a lengthy slump.

The increase comes on top of a 4.8-per-cent rise in the first three months this year.

‘We are clearly in the middle of a property boom now and the growth is escalating,’ said Knight Frank head of research Nicholas Mak.

The central core region, scene of some eye-catching condo launches and collective sales, turned in another solid performance, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday.

Prices of non-landed private homes in the core zone – it includes districts 9, 10, 11, downtown and Sentosa – rose 7.6 per cent in the second quarter, compared with a 5.5-per-cent rise in the first.

But for all this area’s golden glow, the figures that stood out were from areas outside the central core. Non-landed homes in the rest of the central region – this includes areas like Toa Payoh – saw prices leap 7.9 per cent, well up on the 3.7-per-cent increase in the first quarter.

Rises were even more impressive outside of central, where non-landed home prices surged 6.5 per cent in the second quarter, trumping the anaemic 2-per-cent effort in the first.

There was occasional panic buying as some feared they could miss bargains, said agents.

Yet despite the positive numbers, private home prices are still about 18.8 per cent below the 1996 peak.

The positive sentiment has also spilled over to HDB resales, where prices rose 2.85 per cent – again, the highest growth since the third quarter of 1999 – and up from a 1.25-per-cent rise in the first.

‘We’re seeing a broad-based recovery plus a tiny spurt from the HDB side,’ said Savills Singapore marketing director Ku Swee Yong. The climb in the high-end market, where prices have hit $5,100 psf, is likely to be sustained, he said.

Property experts are looking at a 20- to 25-per-cent rise for private homes for the whole year. They said the strong collective sales market – with about 30 to 40 more estates waiting to hit the market in the next year – will keep demand for suburban and HDB flats chugging along.

PropNex chief executive officer Mohamed Ismail expects HDB prices will clock up a 10-per-cent rise this year.

The URA statement yesterday also touched an issue vexing many – is the market overheating and should some cold water be thrown over it?

It said the Government would continue to monitor the market ‘very closely’ and ensure there is sufficient supply to meet demand.

Many residential sites have been released in Government land sales (GLS) programmes with more earmarked for next year if there is a need.

The URA said the good stock of private housing and more GLS sites in the pipeline means supply should keep up.

Or as Mr Mak puts it, there is no need to rush in.

The price index of private residential property rose 7.9 per cent to 147.3 points in the three months to June 30 from the previous quarter, which went up by 4.8 per cent, according to the flash estimate released by URA. This the fastest pace in almost eight years and the highest level since the fourth quarter of 1997.

The index rose 9.8 per cent across Singapore for the whole of last year.

The advance estimates are compiled from transaction prices lodged during the first 10 weeks of the quarter, as well as data from new apartments that have been booked.

Singapore’s economy is enjoying its longest expansion since 1994, allowing developers to sell apartments at record prices. SC Global Development Ltd. sold its “The Marq” apartments for as much as $5,100 a square foot at the end of June. Home prices in the city could rise as much as 25 percent this year, Citigroup Global Markets said last month.

The URA will release the official price index for the full Q2 in four weeks time when more data on the caveats lodged and take-up of new projects are captured.

“Past data has shown that the difference between the quarterly price changes indicated by the flash estimate and the actual price changes could be significant when the change is small. The public is advised to interpret the flash estimates with caution,” said the URA statement.

On the rising property market, URA said the increase in private housing prices in recent quarters “is in line with greater economic growth and rising confidence.”

“Private housing prices are now increasing at a faster pace because of good economic prospects going forward and the increasing attractiveness of Singapore as a global city,” it said.

“The government will continue to monitor the market very closely. It will ensure that there will be sufficient supply of residential space to meet demand.”

Singapore’s property sector recovery gained momentum after the government introduced measures in July 2005 to ease real-estate financing rules and foreign investment.

To increase demand, the government recently announced that 20 residential sites and five other commercial and residential and white sites would be released, adding a potential supply of about 8,000 units of private housing and executive condominium housing.

The government is also building an Executive condominium site to give more housing option to Singaporeans.

“If necessary, the government will make available even more sites for private residential development through the Government Land Sale programme next year,” said the URA .

In addition to the new GLS sites for development, about 42,200 new units of private housing will be completed in the second half of this year to 2010. Of these, about 22,700 units have not been sold by developers yet.

Said the URA: “Prospective home-buyers should take into consideration the sufficient pipeline supply of private housing, as well as the potential supply from GLS sites, when deciding to make a property purchase.”

Commenting on the outlook for the Singapore property market, Mr Ku Swee Yong, director at Savills Singapore Pte, told Bloomberg news: “Based on some of the funds we are bringing and the deals we are seeing, Singapore’s attractiveness has increased tremendously. There’s a lot of wealth growth and a very important indicator is the confidence going forward.”

He forecast that at the end of last year that home prices in Singapore could rise 20 per cent in 2007.