Consumer Alerts - October 2009:

Fractional ownership - new method of sharing ownership of an apartment (Published in C@sebites Issue 134, 28 October 2009)

Recently, a company has begun selling ‘fractional ownership’, which is a new method of sales for condominium units in Singapore. The investors who invest in such ‘sales’ do not own the properties directly, instead they own lots that were split among the properties.

According to the news report (The Business Times, 29 October), the company, Primespace will continue to manage and rent out the properties after the share capital is allotted to investors. It was mentioned that rental income will be distributed to investors every year, and there would be a guaranteed yield of 5 per cent for the first year of investment.

CASE would like to urge all investors to exercise caution before committing to any such similar deals as the said the investment model is not regulated. Before embarking on the deals, investors should also carry out ample research on the company.