ISSS608 2016-17 T1 Assign1 Ong Han Ying

Abstract

As of Oct 2015 [1] [[1]], over 80% of Singapore’s resident population lived in public housing of Singapore. In all, there are mainly 2 methods to buy a flat in Singapore, either buying a new flat, or a resale flat. Resales flats are highly sought after, due to availability at any locations, and purchases are allowed from the open market anytime. As such, prices of resales flat are highly subjected to the changes in the demand & supply in the resales market. In this analysis, we will create infographics that highlights the key trends between Q1 & 2 of 2015 and 2016 in the resales market in Singapore – to help the buyers to make related decisions.

Problem and Motivation

Due to the nature of an open market of the sales & purchases resales flats, the changes in the prices are closely monitored by various stakeholders. For instance, it is common for the news to be reporting the monthly changes in resales flat's price. [2][[2]] The stakeholders include policy makers, buyers, sellers,housing agents and so on.

This is because resales flats are traded in the open market. Therefore, prices are sensitive to the economic changes, and hence; it has to be closely monitored. Each of the stakeholders have different interests in mind, and thus; will observe and react to the trend differently.

In this analysis, we will focus the analysis for the buyers who are keen to purchase a re-sales flat in the re-sales flat market. For a buyer of a resales flat, one tends to have 3 distinct dilemmas in mind, as below;

1. Location - which region/town should one live in?
2. Size of the property - what size of the property should I buy?
3. Price - What is the fair price that one should pay for the property?

This analysis will provide insights to the re-sales flat markets, by providing solutions to the analytical questions, in the next section.

Analytical Questions

In all, this analysis will provide the answer to the following questions;

1. What are the shares of the resale public housing supply in 2015?
2. What are the distribution of the resales public housing prices in 2015?
3. With reference to the findings, compare the patterns of the first-half of 2016 with the pattern of 2015.

Results : Infographic

In all, 2 versions of infographic are created for 2 distinct group of readers;

1. High-Level Overview on the Trends of Resales Flat Market in Q1 & 2 OF 2015 & 2016
2. Breaking Down Resales Flats

Version 1 : High Level Overview of General Trend in the Re-sales Flat Market

This is a general overview at a high-level, and it is meant for buyers who want to have a quick overview on the general geographical distribution of the resales flats in Singapore, in term of volume of transactions, and the resales price per sqm.

1. To have a larger view of the file, please click [[3]], and click on the image again, to have a zoom out view.

Version 2 : A Further Breakdown into the Type and Prices of Resales Flats

This is an analysis with further breakdown into the room-types of the flats,which in general; is another key factors to the decision making of the buyers.

Approaches

In this analysis, a recent information is definitely more valuable that those of the past. Therefore, readers will only be keen on the insights based on the latest data, 2016. Nevertheless, While the readers might only be interested in the insights of 2016 only, however; a comparison with similar variables in the same period of 2015 will help the readers to identify any distinct patterns over the years. In this analysis, we will only focus on Q1 & Q2 of both year of 2015 and 2016.

Hence, all the analysis conducted in this will be a comparison between Q1 & Q2 of the year 2015 and 2016 only.

In all, 2 infographics are generated to cater to the 2 distinct needs of the potential buyers of re-sales flat;

1. Buyers that want to have an overall general trend first, prior to deciding whether to buy a re-sales flat or not.
2. Buyers whom have already decided to buy a re-sales flat, and deciding on the exact location, size, and fair price of the property.

For the first case, we identify that the following trends are essential to the buyers, between the year of 15 & 16,

1. The geographical distribution of the volume of transaction - where it will compare the volume of transactions among the different towns.
2. The geographical distribution of the resales price / sqm - where it will compare the relative retail price per sqm among the different towns.
3. YOY growth in term of both volume of transactions & resales price/ sqm across the region - where it will compare the changes among the regions.

For the second case, we

Version 1: High Level Overview of General Trend in the Re-sales Flat Market

In all, the graphs are placed in a layout such that it helps the reader to read the graphs easily such that

1. Horizontal - all the graphs are related to the same topic, by showing in the order of - 15 (graph 1) , 16 (graph2), and then; comparing both (graph 3)
2. Vertical - It helps the readers to identify that there are 2 parts to the analysis,(i) Geographical Analysis, and (ii) YoY Analysis.

Geographical Maps

A geographical map is chosen to shows the distribution so that it is easy for the readers to relate to the location, and the proximity and the distance among the town. Also, it will be clearer to identify (if any) trends that are located to the geographical location of the towns.
In all, graph 1 and 2 are related to show the changes over the distribution in the volume of transactions between the year, while graph 3 and 4 are related to show the changes in the distribution of the prices per sqm between the year.
As such, graph 1 and 2 will have the same color scheme, while graph 3 and 4 will also have the same color scheme; but different from that of graph 1 and 2. This is done on purpose so that readers will not get confused over the different indicators between the 2 set of graphs.

Graph of 1 and 2

The color scheme chosen are "Orange-Gold", with dark intensity of Gold color to be used, to highlight the geographical area with highest volume of transaction. This color scheme is chosen as it is similar to that color of the "ground", and hence; easier for the reader to relate to.

This color scheme is chosen to help to reader to be able to highlight the distinct changes in gradient of color (if any) between graph 1 and 2, so as to highlight any change(s)(if any).

Graph of 4 and 5

The color scheme chosen are "Red-Gold", with dark intensity of Gold color to be used, to highlight the geographical area with resales price per sqm. This color scheme is chosen as it is similar as "red" is often depict as "danger" or important to be "highlighted". As such, higher resales price per sqm will be deem as expensive, and hence; "red" will catch the attention of the reader more easily.

This color scheme is chosen to help to reader to be able to highlight the distinct changes in gradient of color (if any) between graph 4 and 5, so as to highlight any change(s)(if any).

Circle Views of Bar Graph

While the distributions are shown via the geographical maps, readers will be keen to know the rate of changes on YoY (Year on Year). Here, we use different color scheme to depict the different region - so as to highlight the distinct changes in the region. Also, a bar graph with circle is able to show the changes between the Quarter of the year of 2015 & 2016.

Both graph 3 and 6 will be using the same color scheme so that it is easier for comparison.

Dataset

About the Dataset

The sources of the data are;

1. Resales Flat Price from data.gov.sg [[4]]
2. Number of Resale Applications Registered by Flat from data.gov.sg [[5]]
3. Median Resale Prices for Registered Applications by Town and Flat Type from data.gov.sg [[6]]
4. Resales Statistics from hdb.gov.sg [[7]]
5. Planning Areas of Singapore from Wikipedia [[8]]

Tools Utilised

The tools are that used are (1) Tableau 10, (2) Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 and (3) Microsoft Excel 2016.

Reference

1. Public Housing - Singapore's Icon [[9]]
2. HDB resale prices rise by 0.7% last month, reversing June's slight fall - [[10]]