Singaporeans have a penchant for properties. It is not difficult to understand this, because, land is scarce in Singapore and we often hear stories about people making a lot of money from properties. However, are properties really better investments than shares? A week ago, Today published an article by OrangeTee titled ECs: Gaining Value Over the Long Term, which shows the gains by Executive Condominiums (ECs) at the end of the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) and upon privatisation. The results are reproduced below for easy reference.

Fig. 1: Gain by ECs at End of MOP & Upon Privatisation (Source: Today)

The results show that at the end of MOP, which is approximately 7 years from the launch of the EC, not all ECs make money. The average gain from the 21 ECs listed in the study is 5.9%, while the median gain is -13.0%. As Today pointed ......