Buy Property Sure Huat?

 From time to time, there are discussions about the merits of property investing versus a stock portfolio.  When it comes to the historical track record of property investing, it is clear that property prices have, on average, moved steadily upwards, with private property prices moving faster than HDB resale prices.

Returns were further compounded by the fact that property investors would have borrowed money to buy the property at historically low interest rates.

Nevertheless, property investing is not really that passive as you usually have to rent out the property and deal with the tenant, manage repairs/maintenance/renovation. Sure you can pay an agent to do this which costs money, and you also have to manage the agent and hope he/she is trustworthy.

Property investing is not for me due to the ABSD which I am not willing to pay. In addition, the rental income is taxable and might well move me into the next tax bracket. I also prefer have a balanced portfolio that gives me the benefits of diversification. Diversification is important as past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

Finally, purely for entertainment purposes, I am showing some of the advertisements that I get regularly from property agents showing the purported value of my condo and how the number keeps going up. Its meaningless to me since I'm staying in my condo so I can't sell it....