Investment Portfolios Updates- S$522k (28 Oct'22)- Investing During Bear Market Turmoil.

My net investments market value plummeted dramatically from S$613K to S$522K (a loss of S$91k) within a short span of 2 months. Gross investment before margin financing went down S$918K to S$795K (a decline of S$123K). I still vividly recalled being made "famous" by some retail investors during the March 2020 COVID crisis (whereby I faced an even worst decline) when my blog was published by those individuals on Hardware Zone forum as a good lesson to all on the danger of using margin financing despite them not knowing anything about my overall financial position and contingency plan in place. In addition, as an income focused investor, I am more concerned with the resiliency of dividend/distributions in my portfolios during bear market rather than the market value. I only have this to say about the use of margin financing: if one does not have any strategy, self-discipline or contingency plans in terms of managing leverage in different scenarios, then it is best to stay far away from it.

Anyway, the various global stock markets performance have been going up and down as if they are playing a game of Yoyo. The last 2 weeks has been extraordinary volatile with ferocious & rapid sell off in SREITs to 52 weeks record low- I was simply stunned by the brutalities of investors who kept dumping their units as if there is no tomorrow. For this round of market turmoil, I am glad that my SREIT holdings such as Capitaland Integrated Commercial Trust and Keppel DC REIT continued to report good results despite the great fear instilled by the relentless increase in borrowing rates. In spite of the volatility, I have continued investing during this dark period and also make some minor changes to my portfolio which I should elaborate further below.

1. Portfolio 1- Stocks held in SGX Central Depository 

(Note: This portfolio is designed to provide immediate dividends for use (if required) as it is under my own CDP account and the dividends credited goes directly to my bank account.)

2 main updates here:

(i) I have purchased Digicore REIT. Personally, I find that its price has fallen till a very ridiculous level with distribution yield of over 6.5%.

(ii) Selling off 10,000 units of Keppel Data Centre ("KDC") REIT and switching to another badly beaten down REIT- pls refer to "Keppel DC REIT Unit Price Dropping Like Flies- 43% Decline From S$3 Per Unit To S$1.70 Per Unit". A number of folks have requested me to reveal the identity of the "badly beaten" down REIT: I have actually used the proceeds from KDC to buy into United Hampshire US REIT which has declined sharply but with a higher distribution yield.

2. Portfolio 2- Margin purchased securities

(Note: My margin purchased securities has grown to a sufficient scale to sustain itself and also to repay annual financing charges as well as to gradually pay down the margin loan through dividends generated.) 

I have taken profits by selling down the bulk of my banking stocks OCBC and UOB (while retaining some small stakes in my margin portfolio) and reducing my margin borrowing by S$31K (from S$304K to S$273K). While it is true that rising interest rate does benefit banks but the problem here is that if a severe recession with numerous job losses (we already seen the radical 900,000 job retrenchment exercise being announced by Credit Suisse), default of banks loans as well as decrease in loans granted will mean worsening results for the bankers. I decided not to take the risk and to lock into the profits. 

In addition, I have made further investments into Capitaland China Trust and also AIMS APAC REIT.

3. Portfolio 3 (with Tiger Brokers)- Venture into higher risk as well as capital growth stocks here

Main updates here:

(i) I continued to accumulate some Alibaba stocks (where many expert investors are cursing & swearing at it and showing off that they are right in predicting its dismal performance) as its price keep dropping. I will be holding on to it for now despite the higher political & economic risks associated with a pivot towards a socialism economic model. Please see "Alibaba Plunged 12% And Hit All Time Low of HKD61 Per Share- Time To Sell Off And Exit Alibaba Mayhem?"

(ii) sold off SingMedical whereby its directors made a privatization offer. I am lamenting at the low ball offer being made and have sold off my stakes directly. Please see "Singapore Medical Group-Directors Made Low Ball General Offer For Privatisation At Only 37 Cents Per Share".

(iii) I have also ventured into investments into S&P 500 initially here but have since sold it off to raise the level of cash to wait for good opportunities during this market turmoil.

Summary

Given the recent good results announced by the various SREITs (except for US office REITs), I expect dividends to continue rolling in over the next few months.

Application for Singapore Government Treasury Bills- Decent Discount Rate Expected.

A few days ago, my wife suddenly asked me a question on how to apply for MAS Treasury bills. I was rather stunned by her query as she is normally very conservative and the most complicated "investment" she is willing to go into on her own initiative is fixed deposit. Her forage into equities came only after very extensive persuasion and efforts from me. Anyway, turns out that her colleagues were all obsessed with placing money into fixed deposits and subscribing for Treasury bills these days. The 6 month Treasury bill for this upcoming 2nd half October 2022 tranche is expected to be approximately 4% financing rate which is a far cry from the pathetic low rates in the previous years.

1. What are Treasury bills?

Treasury bills (T-bills) are short-term Singapore Government Securities (SGS) issued at a discount to their face value. Investors receive the full face value at maturity. The Government issues 6-month and 1-year T-bills. 

Application highlights for Singapore Government Securities (using DBS platform as an example)

2. How to apply for Singapore Government Securities?
I think that Kyith (Investment Moat) has a very good and useful write-up on the intricacies including using different banking platform aside from DBS. Please refer to "How to Buy Singapore 6-Month Treasury Bills (T-Bills) or 1-Year SGS Bonds"

3. What is the cut off timing to subscribe for the latest tranche?

Unfortunately, the latest tranche application has closed. DBS closed it at 9pm, 26 October 2022, 1 business day before the auction date of 27 October 2022. Interested folks can wait for the upcoming November 2022 tranche and possibility higher interest rates.

Parting thoughts

I thought that the Singapore Government Securities (Singapore Savings Bonds, Treasury Bills & Government Bonds), offer quite a decent return for risk adverse investors as an alternative to letting cash remain in bank account. Nevertheless, for myself, I will rather put extra cash into local banking stocks or SREITs to take advantage of the huge decline in market price and higher distribution yield. 

Updated 27 Oct 2022-Results of Auction:

Cut off yield is 4.19% for this issuance! Much higher than what I expected....OMG....those who put in $200K gets S$4,190 immediately refunded. This marks the highest ever yield on a 6 mth T-bill since more than 30 years ago (September 1988) where it peaked at 4.73%.

Alibaba Plunged 12% And Hit All Time Low of HKD61 Per Share- Time To Sell Off And Exit Alibaba Mayhem?

With the unveiling of China's Communist Party new senior leadership over the weekend, the Hang Sheng Index declined immediately over 6.2% while the Hang Seng Tech Index slumped over 9% in a single date as of 24 Oct 2022. It is certainly a nightmare that China's new leadership team have no market reformist on board and this is scaring the hell out of all investors. It does not help that the Chinese president Xi Jinping has called for regulating the mechanism of wreath accumulation in reference to private capital and "common prosperity goal" and this signaled no let up in regulatory oversight and continued campaign against Tech companies like Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan. Alibaba Group thus tanked 12% in a day and set a record 52 week low. Is it time to sell off one's Alibaba's shares in view of the China tech sector mayhem?

Sudden double digit drop burns a big hole in one's portfolio with Alibaba. 
Just how low will Alibaba go? No one knows whether we have reached the capitulation stage for Alibaba but it seems it is still a long way away. I am glad that I have held off from putting down excessive funds into Alibaba and kept it below S$50K. Anyway, if one is still confident of the basic fundamentals of Alibaba as well as the future of the Chinese economy in the longer term, then one can hold on to one's holdings. I have about S$30K in Alibaba as of last week in my investment portfolio 3 (Tiger Brokers), so the dramatic plunge today will mean S$3K+ of valuation shaved off my capital growth portfolio in a single day. Personally, I will still be holding on to Alibaba and wait to ride out this political economic storm in China. 

Parting thoughts

China seems to be moving backwards in the market reform policy advocated by the late Deng Xiaoping- this does not bode well for innovation as a return to communal sharing of all wealth kills off entrepreneurship and innovation if they became too skewed towards a socialism economic model (of course, let's keep our fingers crossed that the Communist party does not decide overnight to move to communism economy whereby all property and economic resources of capitalist are confiscated and converted to State ownership).  The "common prosperity goal" emphasis also looks set to further reduce the gross profit of Alibaba. The key contentious question will be at HKD61 per share for Alibaba, whether does this already cover all the negative downsides and is Alibaba oversold? Do share your thoughts. 

Zyanya Review- City Fringe Freehold Condo At Geylang Food Haven And Near MRT Station With Incredulous Price Of S$1,700psf.

While I was on my way to lunch in the Geylang area, I walked past the Zyanya showflat located in a shophouse and thus decided to drop in for a quick visit. Zyanya is a freehold 34 units boutique condominium located in the eastern city fringe location of District 14. This is definitely one of the nearest freehold condominium to Aljunied MRT station. You just need around 5 to 6 minutes to walk from Geylang Lorong 25A to the MRT station. Given the S$2,000plus psf new launch at Lentor Modern and AMO Residence at the Outside Central Region (OCR), Freehold Zyanya at 1,700psf at city fringe (Rest of Central Region- "RCR") appears to be a great steal. In addition, 99 years leasehold developments Sims Urban Oasis and the latest Penrose condominiums in the vicinity area are already asking for S$1,700psf to S$2,000psf. 

Front view

Zoom in front view-level 2 is the mechanised carpark

Side view

Backview

Besides the attractive price on offer for Zyanya, I am going to list down a few other highlights of staying in this well-known city fringe area:

1. Food Haven

Geylang is highly regarded to be one of Singapore's hot spots for famous hawker stalls and street food. One can always savour the famous Geylang fried prawn noodles and Geylang Frog porridges near the comfort of one's home. 

2. Excellent location well connected to other parts of Singapore 

5-10 minutes drive to Kallang Wave Mall, Suntec City, Bugis Junction and City Hall via Nicoll Highway. One can also get onto major expressway PIE or KPE within 5 minutes 

3. Units layout good but unfortunately some stacks facing West and will have afternoon sun

I will put up some of the better 4 bedder and 3 bedder layout below. For 1 bedder and 2 bedder will not be discussing here as the smaller bedder units have already been mostly snapped up by investors that I reckon are looking to rent them out.

4 Bedder + Study-1302sqft

The above is one of the best layout in Zyanya with spacious living room and even space set aside for a study area that can sit two people. Unfortunately, all the bedrooms are facing west and will get the afternoon sun which means that when you return back home from work, your bedroom will feel like a sauna. Since young I have a very low tolerance level for heat- the best I can accept is bedrooms with east facing which only gets the morning sun but this is my own personal preference. I do know of friends who like the sun a lot. 

4 Bedder-1195sqft

The 1195sqft D1 Type layout is my personal favorite as it is the only one with all bedroom facing the east (only morning sun issue). Its relatively smaller quantum for a 1195sqft means approximately S$2Mil for a 4 bedder configuration at a city fringe location.

3 Bedder+Study-1044sqft

Overall layout for the above 3 bedder + study is not efficient and appers to be odd shape to me. The dinning area is also tiny for a 3 bedder. Good thing for this layout is that there is a small area reserved as study area. Balconies are tiny. My thoughts are to pay a bit more to get the 4 bedder instead.

3 Bedder-893sqft

The compact 3 bedder layout for Zyanya is a bit strange. I thought that the junior master bedroom concept with space wasted for an attached bathroom wasted- it could have been better use for a larger kitchen area or even a small study area. Also, all bedrooms are west facing and will encounter the afternoon sun issue.

4. Limited facilities as only 34 units boutique

This is a small development hence of course, the facilities available are lesser than large scale development. But it does have a decent small lap pool of around 13m in length. There are a total of 28 carpark lots which should be more than enough given that there are 1 bedder and 2 bedders units whereby the owner bought for investment purpose as well as being near Aljunied MRT station, there is really not a need to own a car. But I guess the mechanised carparking system maybe an issue here especially if it breaks down  frequently after a few years of wear and tear- it will depend on how well it is being maintained. 

One should also take note that with only 34 units, managing the Management Corporation Strata Title ("MCST") and balancing the mgt funds book will not be as economical in scale relative to bigger developments with 300-500 units. For folks who purchased for own stay, he or she may even have to roll up their sleeve to join the Management Committee of the MCST to take on the laborious job of dealing with contractors, ensure maintenance is well taken care of as well as ensuring statutory compliance.

Zyanya lap pool at 3rd level.

Parting thoughts

If one is looking to resell their units in the short-term to mid term, then one has to be careful whether one wants to buy into a boutique development with only 34 units as there will only be a few transactions available for benchmarking during future resales. But if one wants to stay in the area for a longer term and to get a freehold city fringe home at an attractive entry pricing, then Zyanya may just be the right choice.

Additional Investment Into Mapletree Industrial Trust As It Hits Record 52 Weeks Low of S$2.21 Per Unit.

Mapletree Industrial Trust ("MIT") dropped to a day's low of S$2.21 per unit today (17th Oct 2022)- setting up a new 52 weeks low record. Forward distribution yield now hovers around 6.2%. I have purchased additional 2,500 units at S$2.24 per unit (totaling S$5.6K ) using my CPF OA investment account. This should leave sufficient headroom of another S$4.5K in CPF OA reserved for any dilutive effects from rights issue. Personally, I think that the essence of the current SREIT market blood bath is whether the US inflation is under control else borrowing rates hikes will be further extended by the Feds well into 2024 which I should elaborate further below:

1. US CPI Data confirmed another giant rate hike for early Nov'22.

The recent release of the US CPI inflationary data is still below expectation by the general market which leads to widespread panic that interest rate will continue to sky rocket and terminal borrowing rates maybe at 5.5% to 6..0% instead of the current 4.5% to 5.0% expectation. There are also many investors proclaiming that the stock market crash will only get worse. Is inflation uncontrollable and will inflation continue to rage?

2. US Inflation still uncontrollable?

I thought that there are good signs for Sep'22 with slowing increases and in fact, the energy component depicts oil price declining further in Sep'22 due to falling aggregate demand by consumers. So I am not sure why big ticket items like the US housing seems to be still on the rise in the recent CPI report, but according to Fortune on 3rd Oct 2022, US national home price declines are uncommon, but it does occur on occasion. It happened in the early 1980s, then again in the early 1990s, and most notably in the years following the 2008 housing crash. That said, sharp home price declines are incredibly rare: Only the Great Depression and the Great Recession saw nationwide home prices fall in the double-digits range. 

In short, prices of big ticket items like US housing should come down soon with the sky high interest rates that is killing the entire world economies. The Fed just engineered a perfect storm for a deep recession with their hawkish stance. Hence I do not see how the use of increasing interest rates as a tool for fighting inflation is sustainable going forward.  

Parting thoughts

I have rarely seen stocks and bonds being beaten to a pulp together but it seems the case for those who are holding on to these 2 different asset classes. I also thought that it is rather interesting that our Singapore new launch property prices can keep surging (absolutely gravity defying) despite the sharp rise in interest rates. Anyway, I thought that the US Feds will definitely need to stop their interest rate hike soon as market aggregate demand for goods and services are cooling off fast. We have already seen many layoff of staff by a number of major financial institutions and Tech companies which is spreading into other economic sectors.

(Note: This entry is more for my own internal reference since I do not record my CPF investment into StocksCafe).

U.S Job Growth Resilient In September 2022 But Stock Markets Most Likely Going To Plunge Again- Investing Using CPF.

Friday's U.S job report revealed that for the month of September 2022, it has gained 263,000 jobs. While this is a drop from 315,000 in August 2022, the stubborn resiliency of positive job growth spells trouble for the global economies as Jerome Powell is targeting for more people to lose their jobs in order to combat wage induced inflationary pressure. Hence this seems to guarantee another 0.75 percentage jumbo size adjustment by the Feds for Nov'22 borrowing rates. The US S&P 500 immediately dropped 2.8% to 3,639.66 points overnight on Friday yesterday. For SGX, I would expect upcoming Monday to be another blood bath in the market upon commencement of trading and for it to relinquish the gains from the mini-rally over the last week.

1. US Federal Reserve eager to see evidence that interest-rate increases are cooling off a frenzied labor market, but not enough to tip the economy into a recession. 

Seriously, I am not sure how the US Federal Reserve plan to keep increasing the borrowing rates until it reaches a "just right point" that prevents recession. Easier said than done to achieve this golden equilibrium point. While I think that Jerome Powell is perfectly well-meaning, and he means what he says, I am still of the view that US is headed for a severe recessionary landing soon because the US Federal Reserve has already screwed up the entire US economy by pushing it over its tipping point with the recent 0.75% hike-just that the statistics do not reflect it yet.

2. Investment using Central Provident Funds ("CPF")

I am referring to the ordinary account funds for CPF here and not talking about the CPF special account. For me, I will not touch my CPF special account as it forms my base protection for risk free retirement planning in the event that a black swan event leads to a catastrophically loss of all my cash and CPF ordinary account investments so that I can still have enough to buy bread and butter during retirement age. I have already reached the Full Retirement Sum in my CPF special account a few years back. The current CPF contribution from monthly salary as well as the effect of 4% interest income rate compounding continues to bring me closer to reaching the eventual goal of attaining the Enhanced Retirement Sum.

On the usage of CPF ordinary account, I had S$25K invested into Mapletree Industrial Trust from my CPF ordinary account since the COVID pandemic days. However, MIT's performance has not been doing well with the relentless interest rate hikes as alluded to point 1. 

To exploit the current bear market and also to ensure adequate diversification of my CPF investments, I have decided to invest into five hundred top US companies in the form of an index fund. The S&P500 has a long track history of producing an average of 10% return per annum if one holds on to it over the long term. I have thus invested S$30K this year into the S&P500 in different tranches when it crashed over 20%. I have no intention to add on additional CPF funds to what I had already invested into the S&P 500 unless it slides further to test the next resistance level of below 3,500 points. I will then continue to plough in S$5K for every 100 points decline until I reached my maximum investable CPF fund outlay of S$55K.

Parting thoughts

Upcoming week will be a very interesting one as we see how the stock market play see-saw. Going forward, I am actually examining on a switch of some of my individual stocks/REITs to index funds for my cash & margin investment portfolios as I find that it is virtually impossible to keep up to date with the latest news/development due to the nature of my busy full-time work schedule.   

Recession and Bear Market Thoughts- The Dugu Nine Swordsplay Theory (独孤九剑-破剑式）

I am writing this blog piece as I saw an "expert investor" posted on a public forum that a few months ago, he had already told his friends not to invest in SREITs as he anticipated a crash coming due to the relentless interest rate hikes by the Feds but they did not listen to his brilliant advices and assessment. REITs did crash in market price last week and our "expert investor" thus began mocking his friends and other current investors still holding on to REITs for not heeding his excellent foresight. Well, I call this 马后炮 in Chinese or in literal English translation, this is known as the "notorious knew-it-all-along phenomenon". This also smacks of asserting that one can always time the market perfectly.

1. Mini-rally on SGX during past 2 trading sessions from 4th Oct 2022 to 5th Oct 2022

There are some folks who looked at historical data and concluded that inflation will be as serious in magnitude as those previous hyper inflationary blackswan events causing interest rate to soar to double digit percentage soon. This in turn will also mean that all REITS will crash by at least another 50% in order for the distribution yield to rise sharply to compensate for the high interest costs. Many of them have thus sold off the majority of their REITs or totally exit their REIT investments to avoid further blood bath.

The mini-rally over the past 2 days serves as a very good illustrative example on how fast market sentiment may turn and retail investors who stayed out of the market may have suffered a huge loss instead by exiting the market at the wrong time and then buying back only at much higher prices which is a double whammy scenario.

So who is right and who is wrong then in terms of the future market direction? Is inflation really going out of control? Personally, I do not think so as I see the inflationary pressure for US tapering off based on the last CPI report. Of course, while inflation is gradually being brought under control in US, they have downloaded this problem to Europe and the rest of the world but I am optimistic that eventually, the respective central banks will be able to contain it. All countries will then reverse course and turn their attention toward fighting off a severe recession with expansionary monetary policies. Simply put, I rather not try to predict the market direction and just remain invested for now to avoid missing out on a sudden rally.

2. The Dugu Nine Swordsplay Theory (独孤九剑-破剑式）

An investment strategy that focuses on "timing the market" for purchases and exit runs contrary to one of the key principle in the "Dugu Nine Swordsplay". The essence of  独孤九剑 emphasizes that the only way to remain undefeatable is not to make the first move. Once a swordsman make a move, he will inevitably expose his own weakness and vulnerability. Similarly, for a retail investor who has been saving his investable capital and waiting for market crash, once he puts in his entire capital to exploit the market downturn, he will most likely make a huge profits from such a strategy. Notwithstanding that, the next challenging questions will be how and when should one exit his or her investments? Once one joins in the market, he or she will be subject to its volatility which includes future crashes.

Parting thoughts

I did not do much recently to my own portfolio (except for some minor switches of counters) and remain mostly invested. Most likely will start deploying some of my excess funds into the market in batches regularly over the next few months. 

The Real Reasons Why The Singapore Government Is Stopping Private Property Owners From Downgrading to Resales Public Housing.

First and foremost, this is just a personal opinion piece in case I am going to be shot at by supporters of the Men in White for what I am about to blog here. As usual, I am flabbergasted that our Singapore Government has again come in to make life hard for many ordinary Singaporeans by meddling in public housing policy. This triggered off bad memories with the horrible government policies in public housing just before the 2011 General Election. My friends and I are the generation that had Mr Mah Bow Tan as the Minister of National Development and suffered terribly under the unreasonable housing policies in place then. 

1. BTO flats supply woes
Build to Order Flats (BTO) will only start construction once there is sufficient demand then due to previous bad experience of Mr Mah from excess supply of completed flats. For unoccupied flats after some time, tiles and other finishing apparently tend to spoil easily hence it cost the HDB additional money to make good I was told. Hence building only once there is "confirmed" demand will moderate this. 

As a result, many Singaporeans during those dark days have a hard time getting their flats even after numerous rounds of balloting-it was pretty depressing then. Of course, I understand that there are currently many couples still struggling with the balloting for new flats, however, the current balloting odds have actually improved a lot these days. We have Mr Khaw Boon Wan who took over in 2011 to thank for improving the supplies of public flats after years of draconian slow building under the previous hugely unpopular Mr Mah. 

2. Combined income for qualification of public housing at S$8K per mth for 14 years absurd.

The income ceiling was another huge issue then at S$8K per combined income of a couple. This S$8K per month was not realistic and had been there for more than a decade. Surely, Mr Mah Bow Tan heard of inflation and salary adjustments? He stubbornly refused to increase the eligibility to qualify for public housing despite being asked by the Opposition MPs then as well as challenges from the ground. The reason he gave was then how do we balance the books with extra subsidies given out if the pool of eligible Singaporeans increases. Strangely, he was forced to eat his own words when after the 2011 General Election (where housing has become a huge issue and the ruling PAP garned its lowest vote share of 60.1%), the government finally increased the limit to S$10K. As a matter of fact, the combined income limit ceiling kept getting revised a few rounds  subsequently and is currently at S$14K per mth which is way above the previous long standing S$8K per mth.

The income ceiling revision came too late for many of my batch of friends. Some were forced to buy resales flats and some were forced to buy costly private condominiums. The HDB stance then was simple: if you earn above the income ceiling means you are "rich" hence should not ask for public housing. If you still insist on more affordable public housing, then can always get from the resales HDB market instead of a private property. I find this view very bias and silly. Why is it that many people can get new and affordable HDB flats while those who exceeded slightly the income ceiling of S$8K should only get resales and older flats if they plan to be financially prudent instead of splurging on private properties?

3. Public housing and subsides are to help Singaporeans who are not rich- but why need to build Executive Condominiums with luxurious facilities like private pool, private gym, private function room with tax payers' money?
The Executive Condominium ("EC") scheme is one of the most hypocritical public housing policies I have ever come across. HDB is supposed to help lower income Singaporeans. If so, why do we need EC scheme in the first place?

Let's call a spade a spade. EC is a luxurious property with many facilities and most new 3 bedders cost over S$1.1Mil. If certain batch of Singaporeans crave for luxurious facilities, then they should go and buy them from the private developers without any public grant. The public grant should go back to those who really need them when they buy new BTOs to help them lighten their burden for having a simple roof over their heads. Seriously, I do not see why public funds should be used for subsiding luxurious private properties "to meet the rising aspirations of Singaporeans". In addition, the space set aside for swimming pools and tennis courts in ECs could also have gone back to building more flats on the plot of land being released to help more people struggling with making ends meet in Singapore.

4. Latest government property cooling measure-wait 15mths if want to downgrade to resales HDB

Back to the main issue of the Singapore government imposing a 15mths waiting period before a private property owner can downgrade and buy a resales HDB flat (if you add in extension request by the HDB owner and your own renovation, this can become 24mths in total). There is nothing wrong with Singaporean households that want to downgrade to a resales flat especially if they already did their Maths. Some wanted to stop paying outrageous monthly mortgages on their private properties especially during times of relentless variable interest rate hikes by the bankers while others wanted to cash out for their early retirement. These folks did nothing wrong in forgoing their private luxurious amenities for prudent financial planning. 

I thought that the government should work instead on building more BTO flats which will moderate the demand for resales flat as I know of people who are still struggling at the ballots for new flats and have to look at resales HDB market. Also, we are facing an imminent recession- Singapore is an open economy and what is happening in the United States and China now will inevitably affect our property market adversely eventually.

5. Real reasons why the Government is stopping private property owners from downgrading to HDB

By enacting such unreasonable cooling measure, it appears more to me that the government seems to want to prevent early retirement of folks or to stop people from achieving financial freedom. Once people stop being slaves to their bankers, they will have more time on hand to scrutinize and criticize government policies. Best way to divert people's attention is to make them extremely busy with their bread and butter job to service outrageous mortgages in land scarce Singapore. 

Parting thoughts

So far, we have not seen the roll-back of the numerous previously implemented cooling measures and it looks like the new policy of 15mths waiting period for downgrading by private property owners to resales property is here to stay for the long term. I think that such blanket policy implemented is unfair as it punishes individuals who have decided on financial prudency as well as those private property owners who are already facing financial hardship due to their own personal unique financial circumstances. Personally, this terribly planned policy in the face of upcoming global market turbulence is blatantly absurd.