One Pinnacle crumbled, one more to come

The announcement of Pinnacle Notes 9 and 10 becoming worthless is another bad news to hit the Singaporean investors. Another 700 investors are hit this time, adding to the earlier lists involving minibonds and high notes and low notes. These are events that have come to fruition and now it is only about picking up the pieces. I am looking at another Pinnacle that may hit the innocent Singaporeans. This one is waiting to happen and can still be avoided. I am referring to the Pinnacle at Duxton. The HDB has happily added another $200k to the prices of the flats on offer in the second round. It claims that it is justifiable as the market prices of similar flats in the same area have gone up much higher. Actually it could be more than $200k if not of the subsidies against market prices. Now, given the recession, people losing jobs, losing money in investments, property prices coming down, there is a high possibility that if these new buyers are going to pay $200k more, they could find themselves paying much more before they move in should the market turn down. So there will be another batch of eager buyers going in with their eyes wide open. Should that happen, it probably may not, Tan Kin Lian would be very busy again. And Hong Lim Park will see more activities and visitors, this time from new home buyers. Would this Pinnacle crumble like the Pinnacle Notes 9 and 10? The flats would not become worthless for sure. But if the price drop is substantial, the new flat owners would not be too happy either.