Daily Briefing: Why property cooling measures should be tweaked; Singapore set to suffer Indonesia’s defaults

And here are external factors affecting the value of your property.

Although Singapore runs a surplus almost every election cycle, this surplus does not include land sales. Hence Singapore runs a much larger “surplus” than reported in the budget.While the IMF treats Land Sales as revenues, Singapore’s Ministry of finance treatsland sales as Capital Receipts. What this means is, any land sales are added into Singapore’s past reserves as capital gains/losses. Read more here.

Singapore’s bond market is bracing for the latest unfortunate export from Indonesia: debt defaults. The city state, shrouded in smog from fires in its neighbor, is also starting to feel the impact of that nation’s currency woes. Indonesian phone retailer PT Trikomsel Oke’s Singapore-dollar bonds plunged to record lows last week after it blamed a weak rupiah when flagging a possible bond restructuring that would be the local market’s first in six years. Find out more here.

The truth is that the price you pay for a property in Singapore (and elsewhere) is not necessarily its value. There are many other factors that can affect property value – these can be related to its environment or to the property itself. When buying a new home, what external factors should you look out for to ensure your property value appreciates over the years? Read more here.