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Economic News

A more fairer picture needs to be painted. Some Singaporeans, myself included, are not getting out of Singapore in the same sense as Malaysians who want to get out of Malaysia (give up MY citizenship and apply for SPR). For us, it is not because we disagree with the fact that Singapore is a clean and green country, where politics and economics and finance in most (if not every) aspects are better than our next door neighbour. We have nothing against Singapore, except for the many peeves and complaints that most Singaporeans are fond of talking about. LOL! But with the way things are going, it is not unreasonable to think that years down the road the basic necessities of a HDB house over our head will be so expensive and we will slog our lives to keep up. The well to do are relatively untouched. The rest of us will have to "do cow do horse" to get by. Is there anything wrong with making plans for the future? I don't think so. I believe many Singaporeans are choosing to make JB their home while working in Singapore in order to stretch the dollar. Investors by and large won't be thinking of moving over anyway, but are content to stay put in SG. And speaking from experience there really is significant cost savings living in JB. Those who choose to make JB their home know there are trade offs to be made, which we just have to accept as part and parcel of life.

Hey chill... I've painted a picture as fair as it is. Those are facts. As for my colleagues' comments, they just feel weird on the reversal of roles. At the end, I'd say it's up to individual choice. If one finds it better to live in Johor, then please do go ahead.

Singapore is definitely liveable. People are just choosy sometimes and they complain about everything. Johor sells cheap food for RM6 a plate or about S$2. Over here it's S$3.50. They bitch about even the S$1.50 extra?! That's ridiculous. Each commoner parent earns S$5k while their Malaysian counterpart earns only RM5k and they want to complain about S$1.50?

It's those who blindly invest in Johor properties and have the wrong ideas that have to take a step back to reflect. You hear a lot from them back in 2013 in the forums when they bought their properties. Till today, even after Malaysian banks tighten loans for fear of oversupply and they still choose to refuse to believe the warning signs. Or maybe they don't need to take loans so they don't care. :)
 
Came across this interesting blog about a sg family living in horizon hills. They want to retire at 45, what a goal. this is an alternative view about living in JB.

https://horizonhills.wordpress.com/

Weird that they are blogging about a PRIVATE apt in Singapore and mentioned how long it will take to save money to buy one. Why not consider HDB flat?

They bought a HH house, their liability is there. Properties in Johor are also more difficult to liquidate than SG.

Renting in Johor will also ensure they are not bogged down by loan interests, risks from currency depreciation, political and policy risks for foreigners.

SG properties have more value and a higher chance for massive capital appreciation.
 
If you want to live on HH and don't buy but rent, you can retire even earlier.

The buy vs rent decision is really a personal, preference, and largely emotional choice. It is not always about answering the question "which is cheaper?". Even in SG, where it could be easier to rent a car than buy one, people will still buy. Hard to say that it is irrational decision to buy a car, as it depends on the purpose and criteria one uses to make a decision.

http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/11/should-i-buy-or-should-i-rent/
 
Weird that they are blogging about a PRIVATE apt in Singapore and mentioned how long it will take to save money to buy one. Why not consider HDB flat?

They bought a HH house, their liability is there. Properties in Johor are also more difficult to liquidate than SG.

Renting in Johor will also ensure they are not bogged down by loan interests, risks from currency depreciation, political and policy risks for foreigners.

SG properties have more value and a higher chance for massive capital appreciation.

Well, they did mention buying the HH house because SG houses too expensive. They also mentioned that buying HDB means having to sell away the HH house, which I suppose they either like it very much to sell it away, or maybe it's not worth it to sell, or maybe both. Without a doubt SG properties are more "bankable", but as mentioned by many, the cost of such a property can be rather prohibitive, not to mention the cooling measures in place that may place restrictions on the potential buyer.
 
Well, they did mention buying the HH house because SG houses too expensive. They also mentioned that buying HDB means having to sell away the HH house, which I suppose they either like it very much to sell it away, or maybe it's not worth it to sell, or maybe both. Without a doubt SG properties are more "bankable", but as mentioned by many, the cost of such a property can be rather prohibitive, not to mention the cooling measures in place that may place restrictions on the potential buyer.

Look at their earlier post. Their house i very very nice, renting will not get you a home like that.
 
Reading their experience of living in the house, be it the leaking pipes, leaking roof, mosquitoes, rats, painting the exterior, the garden renovation, the pond....just confirmed that a landed house is not for everyone. It's for those who enjoy doing all the above. I prefer spending my golden years doing everything else except the above. Now I hope it's clear why condo will still sell in jb. Investment aside, for own stay, a lot of Singaporeans still prefer high rise creature comfort.
 
Reading their experience of living in the house, be it the leaking pipes, leaking roof, mosquitoes, rats, painting the exterior, the garden renovation, the pond....just confirmed that a landed house is not for everyone. It's for those who enjoy doing all the above. I prefer spending my golden years doing everything else except the above. Now I hope it's clear why condo will still sell in jb. Investment aside, for own stay, a lot of Singaporeans still prefer high rise creature comfort.

That's true. Even in Singapore, my colleague who lives in a landed house sometimes got to take emergency leave because his pipe burst, need to change rood tiles, roof leaking, weird insects crawling all over, etc.

For those who treat the Johor house as a holiday home and visit it once a week or once every 1-2 months, it could be worse. Because the last thing you want to do is to have to deal with all these. Or the roof leaks while you are away. You also got to clean up the place. I doubt that's much of a holiday! I've also heard of how a landed home was completely wiped out of furniture and stuffs by burglars even though it's gated and guarded because there was no occupant on weekdays.

Condos may be good buy if the owners live in them for good. For investment, there are just too many of them in Johor.
 
If you want to live on HH and don't buy but rent, you can retire even earlier.
Depend on your lifespan, if you got 10 years time, by all mean rent. IF who know god siao siao give you 30-50 years, you will headache with ever increasing rental, need to downgrade again and again. Experience from those lazy early retire Hongkie lives in shen zhen will tell you their experience.

That's true. Even in Singapore, my colleague who lives in a landed house sometimes got to take emergency leave because his pipe burst, need to change rood tiles, roof leaking, weird insects crawling all over, etc.
Was his house belong to those colonial era houses? So fragile. Roof leaking... one of my 40 years house never has this problem when rain, even tangki leak, call someone to fix it, and that was.... many many years ago.

Reading their experience of living in the house, be it the leaking pipes, leaking roof, mosquitoes, rats, painting the exterior, the garden renovation, the pond....just confirmed that a landed house is not for everyone. It's for those who enjoy doing all the above. I prefer spending my golden years doing everything else except the above. Now I hope it's clear why condo will still sell in jb. Investment aside, for own stay, a lot of Singaporeans still prefer high rise creature comfort.
In singapore, those living on landed, a lot do have maid to run the show. Actually leak pipe also happen in condo, my apartment in melbourne also dunno why infested with cockroach.... call contractor to fix it lor, abuden? After compare landed and high rise, i think problem you face in high rise, pretty much faced in landed, not much different, only different is other fees that need to pay, landed more hassle free from any payment. If can, buy a landed G&G with basic amenities and compare la. I sure you will not go back to condo anymore.
 
Weird that they are blogging about a PRIVATE apt in Singapore and mentioned how long it will take to save money to buy one. Why not consider HDB flat?

They bought a HH house, their liability is there. Properties in Johor are also more difficult to liquidate than SG.

Renting in Johor will also ensure they are not bogged down by loan interests, risks from currency depreciation, political and policy risks for foreigners.

SG properties have more value and a higher chance for massive capital appreciation.

All I want to say is, not need to look that down on Iskandar la. Ppty investment is always about location, location, location. Who know right in the middle of medini is the HSR terminal? then all your ghost town for 20 yaers is laughable. If everything goes on plan, 15 min can travel to jurong, then SG diff ppty segment will be affected differently too. For now, you are right under big assumption, everything remain unchange, 1mdb last forever, najib there forever, singapore not facing competition from johor forever, RM forever that low. Let me guess, I think 5 years from now, your sentiment on Iskandar will change dramatically in this forum, lets bet on this.

As for ppty investment, I believe it will resemblance Melbourne ppty market. Those unlimited supply will face limited demand... because people will always need to find place to live, demand remain unchange or slight increase....but they will find those ppty that limited, belongs to invetment class, so condo market will behave differently (down) in Iskandar compare to landed, industrial factory, commercial shop. Rental wise, landed residential ppty will be affected by condo (down), but price wise (up) will present different situation because when ppl rent, they will choose condo, when come to buy their own living, landed will come into their mind first.
 
Reading their experience of living in the house, be it the leaking pipes, leaking roof, mosquitoes, rats, painting the exterior, the garden renovation, the pond....just confirmed that a landed house is not for everyone. It's for those who enjoy doing all the above. I prefer spending my golden years doing everything else except the above. Now I hope it's clear why condo will still sell in jb. Investment aside, for own stay, a lot of Singaporeans still prefer high rise creature comfort.

In landed, you are your own MSCT and security guard, and this is good if you are a hands-on person and have plenty of time. In condos, there are less structure-related things to manage inside your house, but you depend on MSCT to keep things in proper order and everyone to contribute to the maintenance/sinking funds to ensure the common areas are well kept and secured.

If you already own a condo in SG, paying a comparatively smaller amount for a landed property in JB to have a different style of living will add new interesting experience to your life. For actually living, I prefer a condo or HDB as landed is simply too huge to maintain without a helper. For long term investment, a landed is much better due to the land it is sitting on.
 
Last weekend, I visited the Aeon Terbrau Shopping Centre after not going there for about a year.
Then it was rather crowded and most shops were occupied, as usual.
But last weekend, it was not so crowded and I noticed that as much as 30% of the shopping lots were shuttered or boarded up.
Probably those shops had relocated or shut down for good, due to poor business.
I guess this probably the reflection of the retail business climate and the general economy situation.
 
Last weekend, I visited the Aeon Terbrau Shopping Centre after not going there for about a year.
Then it was rather crowded and most shops were occupied, as usual.
But last weekend, it was not so crowded and I noticed that as much as 30% of the shopping lots were shuttered or boarded up.
Probably those shops had relocated or shut down for good, due to poor business.
I guess this probably the reflection of the retail business climate and the general economy situation.

I guess more malls/shoplots, weaker economy, lesser tourism from SG and increase in online shopping are taking a toll on JB retail. With VEP from JB and possibly higher levy from SG, things will get worse as they will reduce disposable income of locals who work in SG.
 
I guess more malls/shoplots, weaker economy, lesser tourism from SG and increase in online shopping are taking a toll on JB retail. With VEP from JB and possibly higher levy from SG, things will get worse as they will reduce disposable income of locals who work in SG.

Yeah, and then there will be at least another 3 mega malls coming on stream in a year or two, namely - the Country Garden Shopping Mall in Danga Bay, The Princess Cove Shopping Centre near the CIQ and the Paradigm Mall, revived from the abandoned Remayan City on Skudai Road.
By then, without a solid consumer mass to support, you'll see retail cannibalism all over.
 
Yeah, and then there will be at least another 3 mega malls coming on stream in a year or two, namely - the Country Garden Shopping Mall in Danga Bay, The Princess Cove Shopping Centre near the CIQ and the Paradigm Mall, revived from the abandoned Remayan City on Skudai Road.
By then, without a solid consumer mass to support, you'll see retail cannibalism all over.

Aeon Q1 profit falls 42%

Friday, 20 May 2016


KUALA LUMPUR: Aeon Co (M) Bhd posted a 42% drop in net profit to RM28.7mil in the first quarter ended March 31, as the country’s biggest listed retailer was hit by higher operating cost and lower margins amid weaker consumer sentiment.

The sharp drop in profit was also due to initial costs associated with newly opened stores, the company said in its filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

The company, however, will press on with its expansion plans with a RM650mil capital expenditure budgeted for this year.

“It will go towards the opening of our new stores and refurbishments of present ones such as those in Mid Valley,” its executive director Poh Ying Loo said after the company’s annual general meeting yesterday.

“We have already spent more than RM250mil after the opening of two new stores.

“We will open another two stores next year in Johor Baru and Kuching; the capex will also be used for stores that will be opened the next year,” he said.

The company which is the biggest public listed retailer by market capitalisation in Malaysia said it will use both internal and external funds for this allocation.

It has so far opened two stores in Shah Alam and Kota Bahru, Poh said.

“Our Tebrau City’s shopping mall renovation will complete by October 2016. While there are major renovations at Mid Valley and a refurbishment at Taman Maluri including Queensbay,” its managing director Nur Qamarina said.

It will also add another Index Living Mall store at Tebrau City to four stores.

The Index Living Mall is a furniture retail concept that was built through a joint venture and is similar to the Ikea concept.

“We think that’s it for the moment on (expansion) of the Index Living Mall. Until then, we will need to enhance this business model first,” Nur said.

Nur said Aeon had recently also joined the e-commerce wave through its website www.shoppu.com.my.

“We launched it in November last year. We would like it to stabilise for it to run smoothly especially in merchandising. We are now looking at how to improve it to do an in-store online shopping (experience). We are preparing for this platform moving foward,” she said.

She added that sales from the website has been growing at a fast pace since its launch but noted that there was much room to strenghten the platform in the future.

Its chairman Datuk Abdullah Mohd Yusof said that competition continues to be keen in the retail sector and this had in part caused its profits to fall in FY15.

“Net profits fell by about RM80mil due to the impact of the goods and services tax, the decrease in the value of the ringgit and the most significant factor is the general increase in the cost of living and the cost of doing business.

“This has impacted us quite a lot,” Abdullah said.

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2016/05/20/aeon-q1-profit-falls-42/
 
They will need to remodel to survive. A retail mall will not last long, that era has passed. They need to evolve to a lifestyle mall, mixing more activities based shops among retail. It will be a place people go to chill in nice cafes, send kids for tuition, leisure like karaoke, skating, bowling and movie, massages, pay bills, gym workout, facial, do banking, then by the way do some retail therapy.
 
They will need to remodel to survive. A retail mall will not last long, that era has passed. They need to evolve to a lifestyle mall, mixing more activities based shops among retail. It will be a place people go to chill in nice cafes, send kids for tuition, leisure like karaoke, skating, bowling and movie, massages, pay bills, gym workout, facial, do banking, then by the way do some retail therapy.

Isn't this how the Malls are designed these days?
Under one roof, you have supermarket (usually the anchor tenant and crowd puller), cinemas, IT shops, electrical appliances shops, fast-food restaurants, food court, specific restaurants (eg Japanese food, Tim-sum etc.) spas, beauty /hair salons, massage parlors, Karaoke, home furniture, banks, post office, shoes and clothing, money changers plus occasional promotion events and exhibitions.....................and better still, cheap or free carpark.
But where is the crowd?
The shopping centres are growing at a much faster pace than the almost stagnant consumer base and at the expense of the older ones (go visit the once very busy but now almost dead Danga Mall and Pelangi Mall)
 
Wah... if such big shopping malls are seeing fewer crowds and decreasing profits, I think those ulu ones like Mall of Medini will be worse in time to come.

Strangely it is near to Legoland but for the past 3 times I went there, the place felt deserted. I don't know how the shops there survive.
 
Isn't this how the Malls are designed these days?
Under one roof, you have supermarket (usually the anchor tenant and crowd puller), cinemas, IT shops, electrical appliances shops, fast-food restaurants, food court, specific restaurants (eg Japanese food, Tim-sum etc.) spas, beauty /hair salons, massage parlors, Karaoke, home furniture, banks, post office, shoes and clothing, money changers plus occasional promotion events and exhibitions.....................and better still, cheap or free carpark.
But where is the crowd?
The shopping centres are growing at a much faster pace than the almost stagnant consumer base and at the expense of the older ones (go visit the once very busy but now almost dead Danga Mall and Pelangi Mall)

In KL, you have 5 major malls which are packed every weekend. Mid Valley, 1 Utama, KLCC, Pavilion, Sunway Pyramid. These are mega malls and it is everything under 1 roof. And all these malls are targetted at mid upper class. And all of them have expensive car parks. But at the same time you have another 100 other malls which are barely surviving and the crowd is missing. I think there is a major glut of malls.

Aeon for example is trying to expand, at the same time fighting itself for the same customer base. It not only open its own Aeon malls, it took over Carrefour and converted it into Aeon Big. Then you have Tesco and of course Giant which is trying to expand day in day out. It is under the same banner as Cold Storage group. After the founders of Giant sold all these to Dairy farm, they set up Hero Supermarket and Jaya Grocer. So in Malaysia, we have this problem. Corporations need to expand to stay relevant. They cannot stay dormant. Try counting how many of these hypermarkets are there in JB vicinity itself. All competing for the same market. In short it is cannibalising itself.

When one is successful, you can bet many others will do the same. One sell yong tow foo, hundreds will sell the same.
 
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