Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Land banking is not a Ponzi scheme

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Land banking is not a Ponzi scheme

Someone posted a comment in my blog that a certain land banking scheme was a Ponzi scheme. This is not correct.

In a land banking scheme, the investors bought a plot of land at a certain price. They were usually told that if the land was rezoned, the value would go up two or three times. If the rezoning does not materialise, the investors have to hold the plot for many years or find another investor to take over the plot.

This becomes a Ponzi scheme only if the promoters use the funds from the later sales to pay off the earlier investors with a profit, creating the false impression that the land banking scheme was a profitable investment.

If there is no evidence that this was the practice, it would be wrong to call the land banking a Ponzi scheme.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...: There is an online peition to the govt to make public housing more affordable. Please help to spread the words in your blog or any other blog owners you know that may be able to help or sign on the petition.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/lower-hdb-valuations-or-build-more-affordable-hdb-housing-for-singaporeans#; October 06, 2009 3:20 PM
Anonymous said...: After the MB saga, what's the use of petition? Govt just ignore. Even a meeting with TKL was also turned down.

I think their behaviour is the outcome of many years in power as well as taking the heartlanders for granted.

Good luck to them. Don't waste time. They will just ignore you as what they did with MB petitionsssss.; October 06, 2009 7:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Those who sold high at 2007 and waiting to buy back lower in 2009 and 2010 are the only ones making noise.; October 07, 2009 12:02 AM
Anonymous said...: Despite the company not getting planning permission for a particular plot Cherry Tree, they actually paid out the promised returns to investors.

And of course, these investors were told to roll over their money into new investments.; October 07, 2009 2:42 AM
Anonymous said...: The application was thrown out but the company told investors that the refusal was due to a minor fault with the road design.

As planning would come very soon with a second application, so they decided to pay out to investors first.

http://www.planning.colchester.gov.uk/WAM/findCaseFile.do?appNumber=073130; October 07, 2009 2:49 AM
Anonymous said...: Don't care whether land banking is a Ponzi scheme or not.

Don't care whether petitions work or not.

Golden rule for ordinary folks -Just take care not to invest in such or other schemes if you don't know well who you are dealing with or what is it really about.

Stick to this rule no matter what the temptations and you will have peace of mind.; October 07, 2009 3:06 AM
Anonymous said...: A petition is better than nothing. If more people were to sign up, the govt make just take notice. Don't be too pessimistic.; October 07, 2009 10:47 AM
Anonymous said...: Well, people are like tat.

If not making money, they complain kena cheated, scam, whatever.

If make money, they keep quiet and thank their stars that they make a good "investment" and continues to hold.; October 07, 2009 12:36 PM