The power of money

There has been a rash of new measures and news from the Gov in the last few days. The main one is here:

Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty for a stable and sustainable property market
REDAS dissappointed with propert cooling measures
Cooling measures a bolt out of the blue

The Gov has been very swift to act on event of the inevitable fall of the Euro. (today being D-Day1 for talks in Brussels). I suspect so much money is flowing into the country from private wealth and fund managers (capital flight from Europe in general), money that can be parked in the purchase of new condominiums. Hot money has to go somewhere. and even if just a tiny portion of it comes here, the property market will mop it up. TheyGov is not quite trying to stem the flow but rather being opportunistic in filling their coffers. The developers can devise sweeteners to make the medicine go down. They could bump up the price and absorb the extra stamp duty.  If the 'foreign' element of purchasers was broken down by district, or even condominiums in the past 2 years , you would probably see a high concentration in the city area - where many empty new luxury blocks currently stand. The measure is being  advanced as a cooling strategy - it is that in a limited sense, but the mass market segment (where ordinary Singaporeans spend their money) will be largely untouched. As for the anti-speculation measure, it applies only to the 3rd property and only 3%.

I think I feel a new chart coming on... must download some data on the issue soon :)

As for the Euro: well, it is the Titanic in it's death throes and the politicians are still busying themselves rearranging the deckchairs instead of preparing the citizens to abandon ship.