Is It The Time To Buy Property Stocks…

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(Free-Press-Release.com) October 28, 2008 -- Singapore is going to be the big beneficiary of current turmoil, says Wheelock CEO WHEELOCK Properties (Singapore) CEO David Lawrence who is currently investing in Singapore property counters. Although Wheelock is in the business of selling apartments, Mr Lawrence reckons that next year may be a better time to buy condos. Instead, his advice to investors looking for value is to buy property counters at the moment ‘because they are so cheap and can give you great returns over the next couple of years’, he said in a recent interview with BT.

‘The indirect market - which is property counters - is completely out of line with the physical market. So the real value at the moment - and it won’t be there for long - is the indirect market. Some of these shares have come down so much. They’re good companies.

‘It’s an arbitrage opportunity, because they’ve come down so much they bear no relationship to property prices. What’s probably going to happen is that stock prices will go up, property prices will come down a little. They will meet eventually but at the moment there is a big arbitrage opportunity for people,’ he added.

He acknowledged that it will be a tough couple of years for the local property market. ‘But then Singapore is going to be the big beneficiary of this crash, crisis, credit crunch, whatever you call it. Because there aren’t many places like this left to go. I have a lot of international friends - from Europe, India, China, USA - with lots of money who will be retiring or moving to Singapore.

‘When you look around, where else can you get good security, drug-free culture, government investing heavily in new businesses, a reasonable balance between financial services and manufacturing?’

Most importantly, Singapore has integrity in government and the banking and corporate sectors, as well as security. ‘If ever Singapore loses that integrity and security, then it’s finished. But I don’t think it will. It’s ingrained,’ says the 62-year-old, who became a Singapore citizen two years ago.

Singapore will also stand out in the race among global property investment destinations because of the strength of its judicial system, he argues. ‘For me, property investment is all about judiciary. There’s no point going into countries where they are very happy for you to lose money. As soon as you start making money, they want to cut it up. You get sued. It goes to a corrupt judiciary. You don’t make money. I am not interested. Now I think there’s lot of opportunity to invest in financial centres with good judiciaries.’


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