just sharing my humble views and personal financial beliefs, none of which are backed by any stats or proven sources. personally I hope property prices do not fall, simply coz' whatever I own now (and all other fellow local folks) will also depreciate - not good. it has to still appreciate but perhaps at a slower pace - Like twice or thrice slower than what we are going through now so that the younger Singaporeans can afford their very first home more comfortably. My beliefs: 1. Never depend solely on your salary income to get you a 2nd (ideally) private property, beside your HDB. Always generate passive income - cannot teach one, when you are desperately 'hungry' to earn more money, desperation will force you to come up with something. 2. First property - Buy within your means, target to pay off within 10 years, max 15 years, so that you can speed up your capital building for other investments. 3. Avoid shifting (if possible) every 5 yrs or so, to save on renovation, agent fees, stamp duties & COV. These monies can be put into investments that work better for one's retirement. This applies even if the existing property appreciated by 30% to 50% by the time one sells it, and that they nett a generous cash profit after considering interest paid over last 10-15 yrs, inflation, COV for new place & renovation etc. Property itself is usually an appreciating asset. COV, stamp duty and (to a certain extent) renovation hurts your pocket. It's the same philosophy as 'Housing loan is a good loan while renovation/personal loans etc are bad loans'. 4. Invest, invest and invest - Make your money work very very hard for you so that you can catch up with inflation & have enough for your retirement without killing yourself. Children's education costs a lot too. 5. Buying and renting out a 2nd property, a private one, is a common Singaporean dream, used to be mine too. But on the other hand, as long as my other investments net me as good a return, the focus on owning a 2nd property decreases in its significance. The bottomline is - I just want my money to earn for me and I'm very self-sufficient by the time I retire. Like HappyHouse, while I'm optimistic, I'm not an extremist. And thus, though I sort of regretted putting my money into a recent 3rd local purchase, I know it was still not too wrong a move. If I did not sink my funds into my recent buy, I'll opt now to put the money into 1 or 2 specific US states or some European properties for 2 to 5 yrs, depending on country. 5 years, I think the returns should allow me to not just catch up with SG's inflation & property appreciation, but also yield a better profit that adds on to my retirement funds. And I will also not have to fork out money on renovation & fitting out the new place before it can generate rental income for me.