22 July 2007

$2,500 to rent a 3-room flat?

Such a transaction was cited by the Straits Times in its report, 'HDB rents at 10-year high'. But does it look credible? Full essay.

11 comments:

rezipping said...

Another questionable item in the list is Blk 462 at Crawford Lane. I don't know how much is the rental for a unit in this block, but the block only has 3-room units. There are no 4-room units in Blk 462 Crawford Lane.

Anonymous said...

ST also reported there is little change in prices of consumer products according to a study they did.

However, I have come across so many instances of huge jumps in prices after the GST increase. Egs. just from the top of my head: (Before GST Price) in brackets.

Daisy Low Fat Milk pack of 2 ($4.65) $5.05
Carrefour Walnut Cake ($4.50) $5.00
Cornetto Ice Cream pack of 2 ($2.00) $2.20

If I'd bothered to keep track , I would have a longer list. Fact is, there's nothing anyone can do about the increases - so just suck it up!

Anonymous said...

That's the point. Gov here want to be see as hero when they are the villian who make all these happen in first place !!!

They are just telling the world that there is gold in Singapore. Come , invest in Singapore and be part of cronies who make money from the poor.

Yes, indeed, a noble gov we have. 3 FARTS to them !

Anonymous said...

I've been forced to relocate my office recently and of course I was shocked by how much everyone was asking. No choice, I had to pass the extra cost down to my clients. And as part of the vicious cycle, I tried to buy another one terabyte HDD, the exact same one that I bought before the GST increase. And guess what, the price didn't just go up by 2% in GST. It was already marked up by another 20% before factoring in GST. I was shocked and asked for an explanation. The supplier cited increasing costs. Go figure.

Anonymous said...

Anon1 says:

Reminds me of a nick given to a local Chinese evening newspaper: 'Tua Pow Po'.

When a newspaper no longer makes a sincere attempt at news collecting and reporting, you get garbage like that.

Not surprising, I have long observed that the ST is really only interested in making money from adverts, the news it carried is only secondary- it helps otherwise nobody would have any reason to buy it. After all, the journalists and reporters have a very short leash as far as living up to their true professional callings.

You would have noticed how the ST constantly uses large photographs to fill its otherwise would be empty columns? The top men are both from govt, so what else can you expect?

The ST is not rated 147th for no reason.

Anonymous said...

another increasing cost eg;

PSA use to charge S$2.00 nett for a temperory entry permit pass for any delivery into PSA.
after 1-July the price one has to pay is S$2.00 + 7% = S$2.14.

Anonymous said...

Shows the terrible standards of Shit Times. I'm glad I can get access to much better news sources out there on the Web. Even I trust bloggers more than I do the Shit Times.

hackslee said...

This blog makes me believe there is still hope left in Singapore.
I found your link in the Today article which sounded gleeful that it was the ST which first published it. Is being the second idiot better?
We've been offered citizenship here after less than 4 yrs, but can't think of a single reason now why we should give up our country for it...The one reason we had was the affordable home with a view that we were renting..Now it's going out of reach, so we will leave at the first chance...If the govt is so desp as to invite us to be citizens(I dont know any other country which would do that to us) I wish it would understand that people prefer to be part of a country with an ego of its own. A country with attitude, perhaps. Not with li'l men n women endlessly scurrying around like ants.

Anonymous said...

Good on you, Mr.Au, to expose the errors/misrepresentation on rental rates. What irresponsible reporting both by the ST and the property agencies.

Anonymous said...

I reckon all rental transaction can be extracted from the IRAS. Landlord and tenant must pay stamp duty. Have all agency work together to give a more transparent figure. Cannot rely to the property agency ..... giving a 2005 figure .... How can such a big company make such a blunder.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, YB, on a job well done!

It just goes to show how low the ST has sunk, but I wont waste time flogging a dead horse. Instead, I'll point out something even more ominious.

I really don't care how many mistakes the press make. What I find really alarming is the lack of public feedback to them. In the case of your Blk 253, can you imagine how many other people are staying right next to that block? They would be very interested in the ST report and immediately realise that something was wrong. We have to reach a conclusion that none of them found it easy to alert the ST on their mistake.

The authorities have put in place a system where citizens face hurdles when they try to contact the press. This is where it backfires. It's karma, I think.

I have another comment, more flippant than this, but I think it's not the time to make it. I'll do so in a couple of days.