Never go short on property, ever

This is a mantra that should be taught to everyone, unless he/she lives in the heart of th Amazon or Gobi Desert.

I'm reminded of this again when I found a flyer in my mailbox from a property agency/fund manager wannabe.

The flyer says:
Why Invest In Real Estate?

Then goes on to list out the reasons

• 50% of the names mentioned on The Times Rich List made their money through real estate
• A stable & simple wealth building vehicle through rental yield &/or capital appreciation
• Hedge against inflation
• Power of Financial leveraging
• Land is scarce in Singapore
• Population will grow

Actually, except for the first fact, the rest are really points that could be debated and/or have to be moderated with several caveats. True, it doesn't mean that all the factors won't hold up to scrutiny. It's all a matter of timing and time-frame.
Those who understand about property, economics and finance will know what I mean, so I don't need to elaborate.

This said, there's an invisible elephant in the room that will make property a cinch for those with the holding power, especially in Singapore.

And this is what I wrote about that elephant in my main blog at http://singaporegirl.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/nuts-to-promise-affordable-homes-for-all/

Globalisation ensures that a small, well-run place like S’pore will have high demand for property, internally and externally. U just figure the sums. China’s 1.3 billion = 325 million households. If even 5% of such households can afford foreign property, it translates to about 16 million households. Add another 10 million from India. Then another 10 million from the rest of the world and we are talking about 36 to 40 million households looking for foreign, mostly high-end homes. Perhaps even 50 million. Of cos not all of these will come to S’pore; only a fraction but from the numbers alone and considering that our entire home property stock is about 1.2 million, then you can see why property prices here have only one way to go in the long run. Especially in today’s low interest rate climate.