Just as flogging the HDB upgrading horse came to an abrupt end with the realization that at the end of 99 years, flats worth half to three quarters of a million $ are just turning into mere rubbles, the housing horse flogging is going to come crashing down eventually. Singaporeans can keep on buying more and more expensive HDB flats, but when the shit hits the fan, who is going to clean the fan?
Just take a look at Japan's property crash in the early 1990s, which it never recovered after close to forty years, taking the Japanese stock market with it. Japan is also a relatively small country with limited land and property prices went into outer space and people were buying with cheap loans for speculation. What happened? Oh, it will not happen in Singapore because the Government thinks far ahead. Really?
China also faces the same problem lately but has taken steps to rein in the excesses. The Chinese Government had all the leverage to do so, pivoting investments into sectors like semiconductors, shipbuilding, EVs, batteries and renewable energy, sectors that have tremendous potential for growth rather than non-productive assets like malls and homes that were already overbuilt. Commercial and home prices escalate due to speculation and Xi stressed comprehensively that homes are for living in, not for speculation. Chinese investors have already taken the cue, so the chances of a property crisis in China had already been nipped in the bud, unlike what happened to Japan in the early 1990s. But foreigners who lost their pants speculating in the Chinese property market are very pissed off and still castigating Chinese property developers.
Talking about population explosion in Singapore, people need just to travel on MRT trains in the morning to realize the consequences. Those who drove in their big cars never see the problem of what a population explosion is all about. It is the small people who cannot afford a car that have to carry the burden. With the COE, cars are reserved for the rich, not the poor.
Punggol is an example of what happens when population grows disproportionately without adequate infrastructure. Why is the Government bringing in more bus services to serve Punggol, particularly Punggol Coast with the Singapore Institute of Technology and the digital district now opening up and traffic going to become problematic. This has also affected MRT commuters further down the line in Sengkang and Hougang.
Anonymous
4 comments:
Good morning All
Mr RB posted by an Anon on this brilliant article
Cheers
Oops, will amend. Thanks.
When the papies keep putting more people onto this small island without thinking far ahead on the important of transportation/healthcare/education/jobs..etc problem bound to appear. Now papies realise that the north east side (hougang-ponggol sector) is facing the squeeze on the transportation side, they come out with this "brilliant" idea of giving "free ride" for off peak travel. They forgot why there is a "peak" period in the first place. It seem like the ruler are really happy collecting their million$$ and not really bother about the daily issues that the peasants are facing. The "free ride" thingy is just to shift the focus on the "fare increase" which is going to happen in Dec as well. For those residents in the east, enjoy your free ride and those kpkb if the problems still persist as you voted for the millionaire to rule over you.
The worse is yet to come when the Cross Island Line feeds into the Hougang Station. One point I totally disagree though cannot be about the kpkb and blaming residents along the North-East Line as voting for the PAP. Residents along three stations along the North-East Line - Sengkang, Hougang and Kovan voted for the opposition.
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