UK Taxman Clamping Down On Landlords Who Failed To Declare Rental Income

Be warned!  The UK Taxman is clamping down on landlords who failed to declare their rental income.

Obviously, this is a crime.  I am not sure why these people decided not to declare.  It would not be difficult for the taxman to check.  Already, they have 'named and shamed' four landlords, owing from £29,500 to £152,000 in tax.

Remember to declare your income and pay the taxes!

Here is a link to the UK Taxman website on their latest campaign - https://www.gov.uk/let-property-campaign

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Full article from - http://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/615-landlords-named-and-shamed-by-hmrc

A week after an HMRC announcement that it was clamping down on landlords failing to declare rental income, four landlords have been ‘named and shamed’ on the Revenue’s latest list of large-scale tax defaulters.

The four - from London, Wiltshire, Ayr and Hertfordshire - owe from £29,500 to £152,000 in tax and have now additionally been obliged to pay penalties ranging from £11,850 to a staggering £168,000.

Only one landlord has previously appeared on the large-scale tax defaulters list published periodically by the HMRC.

“These are people who have received penalties for either deliberate errors in their tax returns or deliberately failing to comply with their tax obligations,” according to a statement from HMRC.

The Revenue publishes this information after completing a tax investigation and final penalties for defaulting on tax payments are imposed. The four landlords were among 25 defaulters named on the latest list published this month by HMRC.

In a piece of good timing, the UK’s largest property franchise is this week producing a 15-page guide to buy-to-let tax issues.

Martin & Co has teamed up with experts at Tax Insider to produce the guide, looking at the importance of tax planning, reliefs and exemptions. It is now being offered to landlords who take part in Martin & Co’s Big Landlord Survey.

This survey aims to produce data on landlord’s thoughts, problems and aspirations. Landlords are being invited to answer questions ranging from internet use to future investment plans.

“We know a large proportion of landlords are considering buying more investment properties but unfortunately only a select few consider the tax implications of their investment strategy before they decide to invest. Instead, they take a view that they will address the tax issues when they decide to dispose of the property” says Martin & Co chief executive Ian Wilson.

Last week the HMRC announced that computer-based seminars, purpose-built for landlords, would be made available to landlords who have so far not registered to pay tax, have under-declared their earnings or under-paid tax.

HMRC has also started writing to about 40,000 landlords about their tax as part of the campaign. So far, more than 2,500 have voluntarily contacted HMRC to put their tax affairs in order under the Revenue’s ‘Let Property’ campaign.

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Happy Investing!

HDB Starts Work On 40,000 New Homes

Singapore's Housing and Development Board HDB starts work on 40,000 new homes (BT May 27, 2014)

The new housing estates will feature thematic housing typologies - big words.  What do these mean?

Punggol Matilda will be a waterfront home.  Sounds attractive indeed.

The 3 Gen flat concept sounds interesting though HDB is only building 50.  Sounds very few, since there are 40,000 new flats expected.  Wonder why.  Is it still experimental?  Going forward, I think these 3G flats would be more popular.  Not a bad idea to have 3G living together. 

For an overseas reader, I think they must marvel at how fast our Government can built up housing infrastructure. For sure, London is experiencing a chronic housing shortage, with no end in sight.  Singapore Government has pumped up the supply in a huge way.

That said, our tiny little island is certainly getting very crowded, with many skyscrapers.   A bit ugly, but what choice do we have? 

Happy Investing! 

Malaysia most popular place for property buys

This article appeared Fri 23 May 2014, Straits Times.

Not surprising, given Malaysia's proximity to Singapore. To be more accurate, I think Johore is the most popular investment destination for Singaporeans, though I would be very interested to know which other Malaysian cities or states Singaporeans like to invest in.

Where Will The Singapore-KL High-Speed Rail Stations Be Located?
I think once the location of the new stations on the new high speed rail link between Singapore and KL are finalized, the property around those stations would become very valuable. Even buying a property in KL sounds more interesting, if indeed we can get to KL in 90 minutes or so, from Singapore, via a convenient high speed rail link.

Student Accommodation - Beware!
On London, the article quotes this chap from ECG Holdings who reportedly said that once Singaporeans go to Zone 3 and further out, they tend to invest in student accommodations that give a rental guarantee. He then cites some pricing numbers for such student accommodation.

This is not true, in fact, potentially very misleading. I do not know where this chap got his data from and I stand corrected if he can show the data to support his statements. More cynically, he may just be trying to attract some attention to student accommodations, which I have blogged a lot about in earlier posts. Beware of them!

There are decent residential deals in Zone 3 and beyond. And all of them don't come with rental guarantees simply because the rental stream is strong. Which developer would need to give a guarantee? Only those that are un-confident of how well their units could rent out.

Developments like Stratford, Hoola, Royal Wharf etc are all in zone 3. We own units in Zone 3 and they are doing fantastically well from a yield perspective, and they are definitely NOT student accommodation.

Happy investing!

London Property a Market cycles - crowd sourcing views

Crowd sourcing views on these articles - London Housing market cycles.

Next article.

Next.

Next article-

Please give me your views on where you think the London market is headed and why in the community forum and I will collate and do a blog piece on the topic of London property market cycles.

http://londonproperty.vbulletin.net/forum/uk-economy-news-trends/526-london-property-market-cycle-crowdsourcing-views

 

Some Projects Unsold - Singapore Property (HSR Research)

It was reported in the ST 20 May 2014 that some housing projects were seeing little or no demand.

Here is the second page of the news report. The news report makes reference to a research report by HSR.

HSR Article
I managed to find the source article, which is available for free download here.

This is the highlight from the HSR report - Home Prices Set to FALL in 2H2014.

50 Projects with Less Than 50% Take-Up Rate
HSR went on to compile a list of 50 projects with less than 50% take up rate.

Treasure on Balmoral and Victory Ville
Treasure on Balmoral and Victory Ville, both at 0%, not a single unit sold since launch.

How do you think the developers are going to move these units?  HSR is recommending that they cut prices but I guess the developers would be loathe to do that.  Imagine all the buyers who had already bought coming back to hound them.

Anyway, it would be very interesting to see what happens next.  Clearly the market has softened and this piece of research by HSR is certainly useful for all to observe.  As many commentators have noticed, there is a lot of supply coming online in Singapore.  See my previous blog post on this issue - Singapore Property Prices Coming Down.

So, is it time to enter the Singapore market again? Do share your views on your community forum.

Happy Investing!

Singapore ahead of London as convention centre

In a ranking of world's best convention cities by the International Congress and Convention Association, Singapore ranks ahead of London. Singapore is 6th, London is 7th.

According to the BT article, last year, Singapore held 12 World Congresses and several key meetings, many of which were held for the first time in Asia or in Singapore.

In London, an important convention centre would be the London Excel arena.  I took a walk there not too long ago, see this post for some photos.

Number 1 city in the world is Paris, followed by Madrid and Vienna. The top 5 cities are all in Europe; not surprising since the Europeans have a large common market and industry conventions are the norm. It would be extremely expensive and inconvenient for them to host a convention in Asia.

I never knew that Paris and Vienna were top cities where conventions are concerned.  I don't know anything about the property market there.

Only 2 Asian cities in the top 10.  No American cities.

Happy Investing!

Arrowhead Quay, Canary Wharf by Ballymore - 500M to Canary Wharf Tube

Ballymore has announced that they are looking for joint venture partners to develop three largescale waterside residential developments in London.  One of these developments is Arrowhead Quay, Canary Wharf.

The finalised design proposes two slim towers of 50 storeys (172.4m AOD to top of plant screen) and 55 storeys (188.4m AOD to top of plant screen) in height, to provide a residential-led mixed-use scheme. There will be a total of 792 residential units.  As expected, there will be penthouses on both towers (surely very expensive!)

The towers have been carefully designed so as not to appear as one single mass, however they will be linked at ground floor level with a double height, glazed lobby.

The towers contain:
 • Private and Intermediate residential units;
 • Ancillary residential indoor and outdoor amenity space including podium level amenity space and sky garden, a gym/swimming pool, cinema, residents’ lounge, business suite; and
 • Ground floor retail units and café.

The amenity space proposed at podium level (located at the second floor) provides both communal residential space as well as child playspace. A sky garden is proposed at level 53 of the east tower. Private balconies are provided for all residential units. Further amenity space is provided at ground floor in the form of a publicly accessible ‘western garden’.

Location
The site is bounded by Marsh Wall to the south, the Britannia International Hotel to the west, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to the east and West India South Dock to the north.

Zooming out a bit more, the location is very good, even nearer than Dollar Bay Tower, Canary Wharf.

This aerial photo shows you the plot - the red part.

Transport Links - Excellent

• Canary Wharf Station on the Jubilee Line Extension, approximately 500m from the Site
• Future Crossrail station approximately 600m from the Site (2017/18)
• DLR at South Quay Station located approximately 220m east of the Site;
• DLR at Heron Quays Station located to the north of West India South Dock;
• Several bus services within approximately 300m (5 minutes walk) from the site.

Pricing?
Ballymore is now in the midst of looking for a JV partner.  So this project is not about to be launched anytime soon.  However, given the type of pricing seen in Dollar Bay, this one will surely be priced even higher.  Perhaps they hope to entice some rich Chinese developer to partner with them.

Views?  Do share them on our community forum.

Happy Investing!

London Asking Prices Still On The Rise (May 2014)

There is some data to indicate that prices in Prime Central London are tapering off. But what about the rest of London? According to latest data from Rightmove, these prices are still heading northwards. New seller's asking prices up by average of 3.6% in May.

Annual Change Since May 2008
The next chart shows you the annual change in average asking price since May 2008. Greater London has powered ahead relative to the rest of England and Wales. No wonder that commentators say the UK is 2-country market, London and the rest.

Regional Differences
Let us take a look at the various London regions and their asking prices. Greater London stands out for its high prices, followed by the South East. Maybe there are better opportunities in other regions. I had looked at Liverpool in another blog post but that didn't me too excited. Time to look at other major cities perhaps.

Now let's focus on London. Here are top 5 and bottom 5 where asking prices are concerned. Right on top was Haringey, that is quite surprising. At the other extreme, Greenwich fared the worst. But there is plenty of new builds coming up in Greenwich, so I expect prices to go up.

London Boroughs
Let's look at London by boroughs. At one glance, you can get a good feel which are the more expensive areas.  Right on to is Kensington and Chelsea.  At the bottom - Barking and Dagenham.

Take note that Rightmove data is asking prices, which is different from the actual transacted price. 

Rightmove claims that their website advertises 90% of all homes for sale via estate agents in UK and they get 80 million visits a month.

Happy investing!

One Hyde Park - The Costliest Flats In the World - £10,000 psf

The full address is One Hyde Park: The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, 100 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7 LJ.  Here is the development's website. 

The four 13-storey towers of One-Hyde Park, Artist's Impression

This place has been touted to be the costliest flats on this planet.  They started selling in January 2011, and the last luxury penthouse (penthouse D - 16,000 sq ft duplex apartment) has just been reportedly sold for a whopping £140mil to an unamed buyer likely of Eastern European origin.

Together with the renovation works and other fittings, the total deal value is expected to be between £160mil and £175mil.  This will put the sale price at more than £10,000 psf, shattering all records.


DevelopmentTouted as the most prestigious luxury apartments ever, facilities include 21m stainless steel ozone swimming pool, two saunas and two steam rooms, state of the art gym, squash court, virtual games room with golf simulator.  There is also a private cinema and library. The spa facilities are serviced by staff from Mandarin Oriental.  There is even a house Rolls Royce for the resident's use.

One Hyde Park is the first residence at Mandarin Oriental in Europe.  A 60-strong team is on-site to take care of all the needs of the residents, including housekeeping, operational maintenance, entertainment etc.

The concept is fantastic for the fabulously rich - Mandarin Oriental taking care of your luxury home! The service charges and ongoing maintenance charges must be mind-boggling.  Then again, if you are a billionaire, these would be small change.  Take a video tour of the show-flat here. 

Location
Just where is this place?  From Google Maps, check out 100 Knightsbridge London.  You can see the 4 buildings.  Not surprisingly, the development is just next to the Mandarin Oriental at Knightsbridge.

Zooming out a bit more, so you can see the area better.  Mayfair is to the northeast of Knighsbridge. Belgravia is just to the Southeast.  Recall another blog post where the Grosvenor Group was selling off their Prime Central London assets in Belgravia, see this link.

Thanks to Google Street view, I can see that the buildings are all completed and this is how they look like from the outside as we travel along Knightsbridge.

This is called a modernist design.

So modern, they actually look quite forgettable.

Well, there is nothing very special or spectacular about this, really.  Just a bunch of very expensive flats.

Indeed.  The Battersea Development looks much more attractive from an architectural point of view.

Which Market Is One Hyde Park Targetting At? 
The billionaires, or at least the very ultra high net worth.  Apparently, 60 apartments are owned by companies residing in tax havens and the owners of the companies remain anonymous.  Many owners are reportedly from Eastern Europe, but nobody can confirm this.

Of the owners that are known, they are:

1. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, former Prime Minister of Qatar
2. Rinat Akhmetov, Ukrainian Business Tycoon (est. net worth US$16 bn)
3. Vladimir Kim, Kazakh Businessman of Korean descent (est. net worth US$5 bn)

You can see that these are billionaires that we are talking about.  It is also well-known that many Hyde Park apartments are left empty, at least most of the time.  The owners wouldn't rent them out.  Why would they need to anyway?  It is more like a private hotel to them, when they holiday in London or visit London on business.

Any views?  Do share them on our community forum.  Have a great day ahead.

Happy Investing

ASEAN Decorum Rudely Shattered - All Hail China!

The Economist Magazine, May 17th 2014, carried a very sharp article on page 28, about the inadequacies of ASEAN and the ASEAN way.

Recall, I had blogged about China's provocative act of building oil rigs 200 miles off Vietnam's shores and Vietnam's mobs burning the wrong factories. (most incompetent!)

However, one should ask, what about ASEAN?  Is ASEAN standing by and watching China take over the South China Sea?   China is now so big and mighty that there is no way a single ASEAN member can take her on alone.  United we stand, divided we fall.

Nothing more than a talk-shop, maybe.

The Economist article is worth reading in full,   I will just quote the last paragraph.

"The association's founding in 1967, in a region where the cold war was raging hot in Vietnam and conflicts between its founder members seemed possible, was a visionary act. Its ten members could hardly be more diverse: communist dictatorships, new democracies and, in Brunei, a tiny Islamic sultanate which is introducing medieval punishments into its legal system.

"A step-change in regional integration now would once again require visionary leadership, and it is hard to see where it would come from.

"Indonesia, the regional giant, is preoccupied with a political transition and seems likely in July to elect a new president, Joko Widodo, with little experience or known interest in international affairs.

"Thailand is intent on political self mutilation, unable to govern itself, let alone wield regional influence.

"Vietnam and Malaysia have governments distracted by their own unpopularity, focusing on problems at home.

"Myanmar is on the throes of a transition from military dictatorship to an as yet undefined destination.

"The Philippines's president, Benigno Aquino, has surprised many with his competence.  But already eyes are turning to the election for his successor in 2016.

"Singapore has long punched above its weight in regional affairs, but can hardly shephard such an unruly flock into a pen most would rather avoid.

"As China presumably understood when it staged its latest provocation in the South China Sea just before an ASEAN summit, it does not even have to try to divide and rule.  It can leave that task to the ASEAN way."

As ASEAN flounders, all hail CHINA!

 我会讲华语,你会吗？

Happy Investing!

Who Says Obama is A Weak Leader

I enjoyed reading this letter to the Straits Times by Prof Tommy Koh, Singapore's Ambassador-at-large.

Prof Koh made a strong argument that US President Obama was not weak, but he was realistic and pragmatic.  I agree with Prof Koh that the Western democratic states have been highly irresponsible in encouraging Ukraine (which is pretty much at Russia's backdoor) to move closer to the West and NATO.

I'm just being pragmatic, ok?

Such moves would give Putin no choice but to do what he did, i.e. annex Crimea.

Well, the world is not a safe and peaceful place, that's for sure.

Happy Investing!

Thinking of leaving your UK properties for your kids? Don't forget about Inheritance Tax!

While having a chat with fellow investors in the London Property market, one said, "I am buying my London Condos to leave them for my grand-kids!"  This congenial chap was on a high because he was 'promoted' in rank not too long ago, i.e. his daughter just gave birth to his first grandkid.

Nice Thought - But What About Inheritance Tax?
My response was that this was a very nice gesture, however, our plans were to liquidate our London properties completely, by the time we were 65 or maybe a bit earlier since we can't fully predict how long we will live.

Why?  The answer is UK Inheritance Tax.

The Basics of UK Inheritance Taxes
The UK HMRC Website has comprehensive information here.  I shall just highlight the main points..

Scope of Inheritance Tax
Inheritance Tax (some countries call this Estate Duty) is usually paid on an estate when somebody dies. It's also sometimes payable on trusts or gifts made during someone's lifetime.

Definition of Asset 
What constitutes assets of an estate?  Assets are anything that has a value, such as:

"money in bank, building society or savings accounts houses and land, including farmland businesses, or business assets owned by the deceased, investments such as stocks and shares, including family shares personal belongings, including jewellery, antiques and other collectibles furniture, fixtures and fittings in a house motor vehicles pensions that include a lump sum payment on death, assets in a trust from which the deceased benefited payouts from life insurance policies foreign assets held abroad including foreign bank accounts, property or shares." (from UK HMRC website)

Take note that any asset given away within 7 years of the person's death will also fall into the scope of UK Inheritance Tax. 

Oh, you mean the UK Tax Authority will tax Singaporeans on all the above assets?  Fortunately not.  

As long as you are not domiciled in the UK, the Inheritance Tax will only apply on your UK assets.  Put in another way, if you are domiciled abroad, inheritance tax applies only to your UK assets. 

Inheritance Tax applies to your UK assets only, if you are non-domiciled in the UK

Phew!  So, the point here is that for overseas investors, you are likely to get hit with Inheritance Tax only on your UK assets and not your assets elsewhere in the world. 

Inheritance Thresholds in UK 
The threshold is £325,000 in 2014 to 15. The tax is payable at 40% on the amount over this threshold, generally speaking.   The estate has to be valued after the person has passed away.

For land and buildings, the executor needs to get a professional valuer to get an accurate valuation that reflects the value at the time of the death.

To make sure you get an accurate valuation, you should use a professional valuer. The valuation should reflect the value at the time of death.

How Much Inheritance Tax Do You Have To Pay If You Gift Properties To Your Kids? 
Let's use a simple example.  You have just one Battersea Condo, full paid up, worth £2Mil.

1 X Battersea Condo valued at £2Mil

Total value subject to tax = £2,000,000 - £325,000 = £1,675,000

Tax Payable = 40% of £1,675,000 = £670,000

Very pricey properties!

What? How is my Kid Coming Up With £670,000?
I don't think the HMRC will give you interest free instalments.  Tax to be paid up in full upon demand. So either your kid coughs up the £670,000 in cold hard cash or sell away the property to raise the cash.

Sounds dire?  Very much so.

I highly doubt that the UK will remove her Inheritance Tax structure anytime in the future.  Therefore, with such a punitive 40% rate in place, I think the best approach is to sell off all our properties more than 7 years before we pass on.

Hold On... How About Buying Properties Using Corporate Vehicle? 
The idea here is to set up a company (usually in one of those tax havens like British Virgin Islands), and use the corporate vehicle to purchase properties in the UK.  Apparently many rich overseas investors do this, especially the Russians.  Doing so will avoid revealing the true identities of the owners of the properties, at least it takes a lot more work to find out the owners.

Perhaps in the past this was a viable option.  However, the UK Government has started to clamp down on this approach, not least by imposing a punitive 15% Stamp Duty rate on all properties purchased by a corporate envelope worth above £500,000 - see this article.

Anyway, I am no expert on using corporate vehicles to buy properties.  If you have comments on this topic, do contribute your views on our community forum!

Back to Buying a New Build in London landing page.

Happy Investing!

London Property Adverts, Hoola, Fulham Riverside, Stratford

3 full page advertisements appearing in the Straits Times today, 16 May 2014

Stratford Central Launching the Penthouse,  I blogged about Stratford Central here.

Another full page ad on Hoola which I blogged about here. 

Full page advert on Fulham Riverside which I blogged about here.

Happy Investing!

Vietnam Mobs Burn Factories - A Tongue-In-Cheek Analysis

Couldn't resist commenting on the on-going mob situation in Vietnam.  Here is what I think happened.

Factory on Fire in Vietnam

China's Ploy
China, being big brother China, the Center of the World China, is now keen to assert her sovereignty over the disputed territories in the South China Sea in a forceful and unambiguous manner.

Chinese oil rig Haiyang Shi You 981(C) is seen surrounded by Chinese Ships

What better way to do this than to place an oil rig about 200 miles off the coast of Vietnam and surround it with many Chinese Government ships? It was an 'in-your-face' move that cried out, "So what-cha gonna go about it?"

China had calculated that the Vietnamese probably couldn't do much. Yes, the usual diplomatic protests, but that would be about it. After all, the Vietnamese don't have have much military clout to start. This was woefully demonstrated in the search for missing MH 370. The Vietnamese Navy is small and somewhat antiquated. For a country with the length of her coastline, Vietnam has just 7 Frigates of which 5 are extremely old (Petya Class light frigates, designed in the 1950s and build for Soviet Navy in the 1960s) as well as 2 newer Gerpard 3.9 Class Frigates (delivered in 2011).

Sea-worthy?

China's Attitude Towards Vietnam
Such an attitude towards Vietnam is not new. Few may remember the 1979 Chinese invasion of Vietnam (the brief Sino-Vietnamese War). China launched this offensive in response to Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia in 1978. It was a punitive mission by the Chinese - to punish the Vietnamese for not "kow-towing" to China's might. After capturing a few border cities, China pulled back.

Fast forward till today, China can afford to be even more recalcitrant with her Southern Neighbour. Why? Chinese economic might has grown tremendously in the past 3 decades since 1979. Vietnam has fallen back far behind. China, still Communist in name, is in reality one of the most capitalist countries in the world. Its economic dominance can also be seen by the huge rise of a very rich upper middle class who are now investing in prime property all over the world, including London and New York.

They are rich, and there are so many of them. 

Listening to China's richest man - Wang Jian Lin - deliver his lecture at Tsinghua University, I find his talk no different from all the other Western CEOs or Business Professors that I have heard before. It is all about understanding the market, innovate new products, deliver and selling them for a hefty profit.

What Happened to Vietnam?
What happened to Vietnam from 1980 to 2014? Well, they are developing, but in relative terms China has pulled ahead in no uncertain terms.

Many motorbikes in Vietnam today

I figured that the Vietnamese ex-Generals leading the country must have been rather slow and timid to change, unlike Deng Xiaopeng, who must have been so impressed by his visit to Singapore in 1976 that he unilaterally decided that China MUST do better than our little red dot. Given his clout as China's supreme leader back then, Deng laid the foundation for all of China's economic progress to happen.

Remember Deng's famous quote - "It doesn't matter whether it is a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice." This is the supreme lesson in pragmatism.

China's Oil Rig
So, time to bully thy neighbour again. Plant a rig and watch the fun.

Lesson number 1 - In Life, The Strong Bully The Weak. Get Used To It.

Vietnam's Response Wasn't Too Bad In Theory
Now this part is exciting. Vietnam knew she couldn't do anything to stop the rig. If her Navy were stronger, perhaps she could send out her ships to harrass the rig and use all sorts of other tricks to impede the progress. But the Vietnamese Navy isn't capable of that, and China knows it.

So Vietnam decided to burn Chinese factories in Vietnam.  Yeah baby, let the mobs and the hordes loose. Fuel their anger. It is a logical move. Vietnam was prepared to use civil unrest, within its own country, to try to make a statement to China. Burn their factors, hurt their private sector and state companies even if it meant that Chinese would cut back on investments.

Yes, Vietnam was desperate, I think. They couldn't think of any other way and decided to use this somewhat risky method. Either that, or they were foolish and didn't think through the consequences of using a mob of 10,000 people.

Lesson number 2 - Policy is only as good as execution.
The execution was utterly dismal.  Turns out that their mobs and their hordes were either insufficiently briefed, or got carried away, or were just plain stupid that they indiscriminately burnt the factories they came across, including those belonging to countries like Singapore.  Some reports indicate that they mistook

There is absolutely no reason at all why the Vietnamese Government would have asked their mobs to non-Chinese factories. It is shooting themselves in the foot many times over. But it happened. Why? We can only speculate what caused this snafu, but my pet theory is poor execution.

It could have gone like this. The top man could have passed down the orders to burn Chinese factories. The middle man told his ground commanders to rally the wokers to burn Chinese factories. The ground commanders rallied their troops and started to burn factories. Chinese or not? Who cares. Talk about careful target selection.

China Has The Last Laugh
I can only imagine the Chinese leadership falling out of their chairs, shrieking in laughter at the scale of absolute incompetence that their Vietnamese counterparts have shown.

Whoever proposed this daring ploy to place the rig would now be in line for a double promotion. Not only has the mission succeeded, it has had the knock-on effect of showing to the whole world how useless the Vietnamese Government and bureaucracy is. They can't even if organize a proper factor burning without burining the "correct" factories.

And The Joke Is Not Just on Vietnam 
Lest we in Singapore think that this event has little impact on us, be mindful that the joke is not just on Vietnam, but on the whole of ASEAN.  Be aware that China staged this provocation a week before an ASEAN summit.  Who cares about ASEAN anyway.  Check out this next blog piece, citing some sharp insights from the Economist magazine, where the "Asean Way" has been mocked.

Geez.

At the rate this is going, we'd all be speaking Mandarin-Chinese very soon.

 我会讲华语,你会吗？

Happy Investing!

X1 Developments Studios, Liverpool

X1 Developments is an investment company based in Liverpool.  From their website, it looks like they have new-builds in cities like Liverpool and Manchester. In an earlier blog post, I talked about why I thought there wasn't much going on in Liverpool.

Here are some screenshots from their website on the X1 the Quarter development.

We are interested today to take a closer look at the X1 The Studios that are being advertised in Singapore. This is Phase 3 of the X1 development, comprising 221 Studio Apartments, estimated completion in Sep 2015. From the advertisement in the Straits Times, prices start from £64,950 for these studio apartments.

Location, Location & Location
Let's take a closer look where this development is located.   First, some pictures of the completed phases. The good news is that the building is up.  See the four pictures below, from Google Street View.

Looking down Sefton Street.

Not very tall, but new building.

Looking at the plot from the junction.

The immediate area seems rather quiet.  It is not that near the City Center as I will show you in the next few screenshots.

1 mile to Liverpool City Central
On foot, the distance is 1 mile.  Not sure if there are buses or public transport, but I think 1 mile is really quite far out.

1.3 Miles to University of Liverpool
Again, rather far from the main University.   This point is very important because Liverpool has a large student population and one good source of tenants, especially for studio apartments, would be students.  It goes without saying that students would much prefer to live close to the University.

Toxteth
What?  Yes, Toxteth.  The X1 development is in the area called Toxteth, south of Liverpool City.  Two of the City's largest parks, Sefton Park and Princes Park, are in this area.   Sefton Park is home to the Sefton Park Palm House.

The not-so-good thing about Toxeth is that crime rates have been high for many years and the place has suffered from urban degeneration.  This is reflected in the property prices, i.e. they are low. Click on this link for an idea - http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/property/toxteth/

Verdict 
Looking at the prices of the existing stock, it is very clear that the studios being advertised for £64,950 look to be rather expensive.  Readers ought to be aware that this practice of pricing high for overseas investors is not uncommon.

Based on the location alone, I would rule out this development.

I will continue to look at the Liverpool market to learn more about it, so maybe I will re-visit this verdict after I have found out more.

Stay tuned & Happy Investing!