Almost everyone I knew prefer to invest in properties than stocks, at least during recent years of housing boom. It is the holy grail of personal investment or call it the Singaporean Dream – a clamoured goal to signify that ‘you have arrived’. I have a few hypotheses about this preference and I will discuss in this article.
Properties are perceived to have better returns than Stocks
The Singapore Success Story has cast a societal perception that properties are the best investment to have. This perception was built upon the numerous stories about Singaporeans making multi-million dollars from properties. Contrarily, stories about stock markets are mostly awful and full of misfortunes. For example, more people remembered stocks dropped 50% in 2008 financial crisis but few remembered Singapore Property prices crashed as much as 40% in 1997. Hence, to Singaporeans, owning multiple properties is the pinnacle of wealth attainment.
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