Yong - Building your real estate riches

Building your real estate riches NOT in your home country is a very challenging task. It took me 10 years of searching, yet I remained uncommitted for fear of making a poor judgement based on inaccurate or obsolete information. This year (2012), despite the Singapore property market setting new price records, my wife and I could make a decision in a day trip to Singapore. The reasons? We were well advised. Homework was done on the fundamentals. We were convinced of our secured trophy. Fundamentals, in-depth analysis, discussions and arguments leading to our purchase of a prime unit in District 9 are found in Ku Swee Yongs latest gem, Building Your Real Estate Riches.

Tony YW Leong, JP

Swee Yong has always impressed me as an unbiased property advisor by analysing the property market objectively with his intensive ground experience and network. Building Your Real Estate Riches shed light on insightful market intelligence at a time when sub-urban property demand has reached a new peak and investors are fleeing to red-hot non-residential properties unaffected by the latest rounds of cooling measures. Im glad he cautions readers on the market risk and points investors to the right direction logically amidst all the hype and noise.

Marcus Chu, founder and principal of
REIGN Research & Consultancy Pte Ltd

The Singapore real estate market is not short of articles and books providing general information, but rarely does one find a book that expresses truly candid opinions.... As a real estate investor who left Singapore 20 years ago, these books are valuable tools in helping me get up to speed. Uniquely, there is a chapter in this second book covering commercial and industrial properties, an area that is seldom covered by the media.

Low Soo Hiok, retired OCBC operations manager,
Hong Kong & London

Building Your Real Estate Riches has changed how I now view my property investments. The author makes a clear and rational case on becoming optimistic about the current state of economic conditions. Ku Swee Yong takes the reader through a powerful process on using statistical tools that will influence your property investments. This book is the best new support to help build your real estate riches.

Ralph Nunis, Australian property developer,
CEO, Sunfire Asset Pty Ltd

There have been many books written about Singapore property. This book is unique in several aspects. It is up to date and gives a reader a thorough, yet easy-to-read, overview of the current market situation. Swee Yong lays down the ingredients of the market, making this book an important and useful tool for investors who have interest in what is becoming one of the most attractive property markets in the world.

Alexander Karolik-Shlaen, luxury expert and
serial property investor, CEO, Panache Management Pte Ltd

Swee Yong is one of the most experienced and trustworthy real estate professionals in Singapore. His analysis of and comments on the property market are always well supported by statistical data so that I can be always confident when I present investment opportunities to our clients who are high-net-worth individuals. With this book, he has produced an informative guide to understanding the current property market in Singapore, backed with numbers. I believe many investors will feel the same way and be able to find better alternative opportunities to achieving their real estate riches.

Shigenori Ezaki, partner / managing director,
ASEANA Partners Pte Ltd

Building Your Real Estate Riches is an invaluable resource for anyone looking to invest in real estate. Swee Yong proficiently connects economics, investment analysis and market psychology, to arrive at practical and applicable real estate analysis. It is an honest book that shows readers how to really think about real estate investment without the usual marketing hype. Highly recommended!

Mark C Y Lee, director, Wellspring Investments Ltd

Swee Yong is one of the most experienced property analysts in Singapore. He is insightful and bold; never afraid of making contrarian calls. I will never forget that Swee Yong was one of first to predict that HDB resale prices would breach the 1-million-dollar mark. This book offers a compilation of Swee Yongs numerous timely and relevant articles. He offers a glimpse of the issues surrounding the property market, highlighting the risks and opportunities as investors pursue better returns in this current low-interest-rate environment.

Wendy Koh, a property analyst with 20 years experience

I have been acquainted with Mr Ku Swee Yong since January 2011 and found him a true professional not only in his expertise of property management, but more importantly a true expert on global asset allocation and management.

This has been derived from and built up through his career path of over 20 years to date; one which has involved in travel-tourism, property management, private banking and total asset management. His analysis of the Singapore and Asian (cum-Japan) property market has been also sharp yet witty enough for my own portfolio building.

Seiji Morii, keen property investor and
ex-Chairman of Man Investments Japan

If you want an honest and thorough assessment of the local real estate market, read this book. It provides an excellent resource for everyone here whose life is inevitably impacted by the real estate industry. It is also useful for students and professionals of real estate alike. Swee Yong has successfully translated the economic, industry and market analytics into easily digestible reading. One making a foray into the Singapore property market should treat themselves to this book before plunging into their investments. Instead of relying on hype and instinct, the systematic, comprehensive and inclusive analyses should provide balance and perspective to our understanding... a thought-provoking and highly recommended book that saves you time and heartache and it should never be missed.

John T S Tan, real estate investment lecturer,
School of Design and Environment, Ngee Ann Polytechnic

This is a good book for anyone who may have missed out on recent events in the real estate scenes in Singapore. It infuses readers with in-depth analyses, and the implications and concerns of the issues governing real estate issues in Singapore.

Alfred Ong, Managing Director South East Asia & Australia,
The Ascott Limited

Swee Yongs second book Building Your Real Estate Riches is an excellent read and proves yet again his detailed understanding and in-depth knowledge of the Singapore real estate market, as well as his ability to write and explain in a plain and simple way for all to understand. This time, he delves further into the residential market, and also provides an excellent primer on the commercial and industrial markets, which are now getting popular among investors.

For the individual investor, this book is definitely a must-read as it provides important issues that one should consider before jumping on the real estate bandwagon, amid all the hype and hoopla in the market. I would also encourage many real estate agents to make this a standard read to further help them in serving their clients needs better.

Kishore K J Buxani, Founder & CEO, Buxani Group,
a Singapore-based private real estate investment group