Singaporeans buy smaller London units (29 June 2014)

According to the Sunday Times, S'pore buyers were purchasing smaller London units.

CBRE found that 62% of London Property sales from Singapore in the first five months of this year were in the 500GBP to 750GBP psf range.  The first thought I had - where does CBRE get this aggregated data from?  I'm not questioning the data per se, but I do wonder.  Is it the UK Land Registry?  Or their own sample of data?  I am just being skeptical because we ought to be.

Royal Wharf Again?
Again, the article talks about Royal Wharf by Oxley (almost like free advertisement for them), but I have written before that I do not think very much of this project due to its location, noise and other issues. (see link)

Smaller London Units
We have blogged earlier that all our units belong to the 'every man's home' category.   Since Day 1 of our investment in London (which was from back in 2009), we have not purchased all the glitter and glamour units.

Rather, we have gone for down-to-earth units that are easily rentable to the masses, and that has worked very well.  The most expensive unit we have purchased in psf terms was significantly less than GBP 600 psf. In fact, other units purchased by us were less than GBP 500 psf.

In our conversations with other Singaporean investors, we have also found that a sizable number invested in similar type of units, having gone into London in the recent few years.  By similar type of units, I mean those that are less than 600 GBP psf or even less than 500 GBP psf.

Therefore, I am quite skeptical to believe the thrust of this article.  This article seems to imply that until this year, Singaporeans tended to purchase big and expensive units but now are chasing after smaller ones.  That is not the case, based on our anecdotal experience.  But who are we to say? LoL.

Short Term Gains?
If you are looking for a quick buck, I would not recommend investing in London.  You need at least a 5-year horizon, if not more.  And, the entire sale process is also rather long and cumbersome.  We have been going through a sale process.  It has taken more than 6 months already, yet not yet completed due to a myriad of reasons.  Not so easy.  Do be aware of this.

  Happy Investing!

Sentosa Condos feel the blues (28 June 2014)

Resale data show that prices at the plush Sentosa district fell 25%.  Weakening performance?  Or perhaps they were over-priced to start with!  Anyway, the prices in Sentosa tend to be volatile - too few units being transacted.  Notably, two units (purchased at $7Mil each) were up for auction, likely repossessed by the banks.

 Happy Investing!

Trilive Condo in Kovan off to slow start (ST June 25 2014)

This article appeared in the Straits Times earlier this week.

Trilive Condo in Kovan - of the 80 units released at this 222-unit project, 30 sold since Friday.   This is a freehold project by Roxy-Pacific Holdings.  Average price of $1,550 psf (after early bird discounts).

This quote by Chairman of Roxy-Pacific caught my attention:
"The market is challenging.  And potential buyers also seem to be distracted by the World Cup."

Happy investing!

Easy Group Revolutionalise Property Agency Fees

Watch out for this.  Not sure what Stelios plans to do in.  However, there is some opportunity to slash agent's fees and commissions.

 www.easyproperty.com - keep monitoring this website1

Chinese Premier's London visit yields deals worth $30b

China wants to show the world who is Boss.  They can now even dictate diplomatic protocol!

 Make sure you brush up on your mandarin.

China and Britain sign £14bn worth of trade deals

Good stuff. It is notable that China continues to invest heavily in the UK.

In an earlier post, I also highlighted that China's richest man has invested in UK. For some reason, the
Chinese find the UK to be an attractive investment destination.

Obviously, all this bodes very well for London.

As for the Scots and their desire for independence..... Not sure what they are thinking.
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LONDON: Britain and China signed trade deals on Tuesday worth more than 14 billion pounds (US$24 billion, 17 billion euros), during a visit to London by Premier Li Keqiang aimed at resetting economic and diplomatic ties.

Links between Britain and China were strained after British Prime Minister David Cameron met exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in 2012.

But Li and Cameron said they were now focused on strengthening British and Chinese economic ties after concluding deals and holding talks at Cameron's Downing Street office.

"Today we have signed deals worth more than 14 billion pounds, securing jobs and long-term economic growth for the British and Chinese people," Cameron told a joint press conference.
"Ours is truly a partnership for growth, reform and innovation."

The largest deal was a 12 billion agreement between British energy giant BP and Chinese state-owned peer CNOOC to supply China with 1.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year over 20 years from 2019.
China Minsheng Investment Corporation, China's largest private sector investment group, will open its European headquarters in London, with an investment of around 1.5 billion pounds in a range of sectors.
Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, signed a cooperation agreement with CNOOC covering upstream, midstream and downstream activities.

Last year, British exports to China averaged more than 1 billion pound each month, while more than 8 billion pounds of investment flowed the other way in 2013 to 2014.

Cameron said he would continue to press the European Union to strike a trade deal with China, and for free trade within the Group of 20 and the World Trade Organization members.

The British premier flew to China in December with a delegation of business leaders as part of his drive to bolster growth after the financial crisis by boosting trade with major emerging economies.
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London House Prices Have Stabilised (According to a Rightmove)

Data from Rightmove suggests that London house prices may have stabilised, not a bad thing for the market.

Some have been cashing in. Prices may have hit an 'affordability' cap.