Singapore's total population up 5.5% grew to 4.84m in 2008

The number of population is greatly related to the housing demand in Singapore. Due to the rules on HDB, only married couples or single Singaporean with age > 35 can buy a HDB. The demand on the private condo will rely partly on the foreigner or single non Singaporean.

Singapore continues to face the long-term challenge of low fertility and an ageing population, according to its latest population report. But the record number of foreign residents in the country has helped grow the total population to 4.84 million in 2008 - an increase of 5.5 per cent over the previous year. Foreigners now make up about 25 per cent of the total population.

On the marriage and parenthood front, the numbers show slightly more couples tying the knot last year - up 2.6 per cent to 24,596. But the number of singles continues to grow and couples are marrying later. Over the past decade, the median age for first marriages went up from 28 to 29 years for men and 25 to 27 years for women. The proportion of singles among the 30 to 34 age group surged by some 7 percentage points for both men and women. The total fertility rate is 1.28, which is way below the replacement level of 2.1 for over 30 years now.

Back to basic economic figures. The Department of Statistics said that retail sales suffered their biggest drop of 11.7% year-on-year in April since 1999 as shoppers cut back on big ticket items, such as cars and furniture, amid the country's worst recession, after falling consecutively with February down 5.5% and March down 7.3%.

The Singapore Government also said it revised upwards its 1Q2009 unemployment rate to 3.3% . Jobless rate was 2.5% in December 2008. The goverment also expects its economy to shrink up to 9% this year.

Looking back, these are not pretty numbers. They reflect a weakness in consumption and confidence, as well as suffering personal incomes. With unemployment up and big ticket items sales down, why does property sales number so impressive in May?

One possible reason is that the people at the lower-mid and lower strata of the society (which make up a big proportion of the population) are more affected by the recession while the minority higher-mid and upper strata of the society can still effortlessly afford to buy a few private apartments for own stay or investment.

Not forgetting the wealthy foreigners from nearby countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, India and China, who still have hoards of cash to buy more properties when developers lower their asking prices.

One question to ask ? if high unemployment and falling income remain with no sight of real or weak global recovery, can the wealthy ones still able to absorb the up and coming 25,000 new apartments flooding the property market till 2011 ?!? Well, I think .......


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