Singapore Has the Highest Indebtedness!

raihanraihan SG

Can the new PM do something about it?

From: TalkNoAction 27-Aug 01:11
To: Debunking 6 of 20

53955.6 in reply to 53955.5

We have the highest debt in the world relative to the income
we earn. This figure is in fact given by Minister Tharman in Feb
2003.
The article can be found in New Paper 2003, Feb 4, 2003.
The sudden plunge in child births, alarming divorce rates (30%), high
suicides, lowest frequency of sex, etc are all connected. How can you
ask a population that is shouldering the heaviest debt burden in the
world to have more children? Does it make sense? ....Its like asking
the guy with one leg to run the marathon.
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And what happens when wages fall and prices rise? Household debts go
kaboom! It took Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam to tell us that
"household debt in Singapore had surged to 174 per cent of personal
disposable income in 2000 - higher than in the developed economies
such as the US, UK and Japan." (TNP, Feb 4, 2003) Thank you very
much.

RaTtY81 SG

Shocked wahhhh our divorce rate 30% so high...

Qitai SG

Got breakdown on how that is calculated?

I think this is most probably due to the high housing ownership.

Churra SG

lowest frequency of sex?????
cannot lose face...
we gotta increase the frequency!

Married, have children...
divorce,
marry again,
have more children...
divorce,
marry again..
have lagi more children!!

and think most of the debts come from credit cards?

Atobe SG

It is no surprise that Singapore will have the highest ration of indebted persons compared to other countries that we classify as the First World.

Where on earth will you find a private appartment - with a floor area of 150 square meter - about being a large pigeon hole in the sky, being sold at close to a MILLION SINGAPORE DOLLARS ?

Even a miserable HDB Flat of about 110 square meter is sold by HDB for about THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, and even higher in the resale market.

Is it any wonder that the Singapore Population has the highest ratio of indebtedness, when home ownership is being encouraged even with prices at such ridiculous levels - compared to homes sold in countries with Living Standards peculiar to that in the First World.

The ratio of indebtedness will climb even higher now, when SINGLES are permitted to purchase any type of HDB Homes.

The Singapore Government had proudly claimed to have got Singapore to attain the living standards of the First World, but at the same time will not acknowledge that the Singapore has the higher cost of living than that found in the First World.

Not so surprising is the fact that Minister Tharman will not name the most obvious beneficiary to all these indebtedness incurred by Singaporeans.

Qitai SG

Every major city in the world - New York, Tokyo, Seoul, London, Hong Kong etc. etc. (And they are smaller, cost more than Singapore and has a lower ceiling)

Agree with your points though.

tspg SG

I agree. Its probably due to house ownership. In other countries renting is more common. That probably distort the figures.

I think the debts we shd worry more abt is credit cards debts. It seems like the average age of ppl going bankrupt is getting younger because of uncontrolled spending. I think more shd be done abt it.

miong SG

That report was a true reflection of plights of many Singaporeans. Which our well paid ministers chose to ignore.

On the surface, cost of living may seem reasonable - but if you add up all the Government charges and taxes - cost of living goes up.

TV licence, toilet bowl charges, conservancy bills, expensive PUB bills (the biggest culprit!), GST, unreasonable school fees, atrocious hospital and clinic charges, high income tax ( taking into a/c our huge reserve), HDB 20% resale tax (this tax is incredible as HDB already has 14 Billion doollars profits), COE (a big influence on our retail prices), high JTC and shop rentals, maid levys, overpriced HDB flats......i could go on.

Qitai SG

Got a breakdown of your bills?

Unsung_Hero SG

Pretty easy to figure out why.

1) Mortgages
2) Auto loans
3) Student loans
4) Country club loans
5) Credit card loans

Singaporeans by-and-large fund the purchase of their 5 C's with credit amortized over a long period of time. Further, the penchant to leverage real estate in the rising housing markets leads to ballooning loan-to-value ratios. This all works as long as real estate is rising and people have stable jobs with wages rising at least as fast as inflation. Conversely, it is crushing when housing prices fall and wage earnings are unstable.

On mortgages and autoloans Singaporeans probably carry amongst the heaviest burdens in the world. On student loans, the fact that there is such limited space in local universtities means many people have to borrow to send their kids abroad -- however, the fees paid here are not uncomparable to those paid by foreigners in their own private institutions -- so that is probably a wash with the other first world citizens. Generally country clubs cost more in Singapore than elsewhere due to scarcity and status values - -which appear to be more important socially in Sg. So another big crimp in the debt/equity ratio. Credit cards are probably the same or slightly lower than average third world.

What's it boil down to? The crippling debt arises from mortgages and auto loans. One is a need and the other is a luxuary good. The data is a bit skewed however as large first world countries average housing prices do not reflect the average housing prices of their major cities -- which is what you need to compare Sg to, for an apples to apples comparison.

greengoblin SG

Children more expensive...

Better to spend on condoms then to get a child. Not worth it in spore.... dun want him or her to suffer too....

gerrykoh SG

Ya, mortages are a killer. Very common to hear of people taking housing loans of over $600K + high renovation loan when they buy pte. property.
Take a lifetime of working to pay off, in the end no cash left for old age.
Worst still, become unemployed & unable to service the loan.

Also credit cards- some people have many cards & spend lavishly without the means to pay the full amt. Only able to service the interest & the debt ballooned. That's why there are so many bankrupts today

Ito_^ SG

i luv me home, its debt free. Mr. Green