Condo prices are rising again, despite the fact that the economy has yet to recover. With speculations about the next round of cooling measures and low interest rates, buyers are entering the market thick and fast. If you’re all ready to put down that cheque, calm down a bit, and make sure you don’t make…

With the government likely to cease its relief measures for homeowners in 2021, there’s a real chance we’ll see more mortgagee sales this year. As buying a property that’s under a mortgagee sale is somewhat different from a standard resale unit, here are the steps to go about it, and what you should bear in…

Go back a few decades, and property was all about rental yield and nothing else. People were happy to buy 50 year-old properties with no elevator and half a working toilet, just because rental income was enough to make the place “practically free”. But today’s real estate market has begun to raise questions about the…

Have you been looking into property investment, and being a landlord? If so, you have been told approximately five gazillion times at this point, to pick a two-bedroom unit. But have you ever considered why this is the “best size” for renting out a unit? Or what goes into deciding the best size in the…

If your only concern is rental yield, then an HDB flat will come out ahead of a private property simply because a HDB flat costs less. Many HDB flat owners will tell you about yields as high as 5 to 7%, about two percentage points ahead of private properties. But is this accurate, and does…

Decoupling is a uniquely real estate buzzword, just like “sell one, buy two”. Although it’s often bandied about as a way to avoid paying the Additional Buyers Stamp Duty (ABSD) when buying a second property, decoupling isn’t a sure-win. In fact, there are scenarios where decoupling would cost the buyers even more than the ABSD….

We’ve discussed the Total Debt Servcing Ratio (TDSR) before on 99.co. But what can you do if you can’t meet the loan amount you require because of TSDR limits? Here’s some helpful tips: What is this TDSR thing that’s getting in the way of my dream home? You can find a quick description of the…

Private property is often seen as an unattainable goal by a fair number of Singaporeans, but in reality it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, private housing in Singapore may be more affordable than you imagine, and here are seven reasons why: Reason #1: Due to high leveraging and your CPF, the minimum…

There isn’t a need for another “pros and cons” article on this, so let’s focus on the con that they both have. Which is, you know, having to pay out the wazoo for either of them. As you may expect, how you pay for your million-plus dollar purchase is going to have a massive effect…

Good Class Bungalows (GCBs) have long been a status symbol in Singapore; and there are many near-mythical qualities associated with them. People whisper about how their values never fall, how every single one is a gold mine, and how the government will never demolish them. Do we put too much stock in Good Class Bungalows,…