Hi Sumer, re "I believe Hiap Hoe has sold about 85% of the 461 units at Marina Tower Melbourne within one week" --- may we know where you got the figure from. If true, it's an excellent result.
Hiap Hoe has issued a statement denying the fact that they have sold 85% of their Australian development in 1 week.
This serves as a good reminder for all readers to check and verify all published materials on this website before making an investment. As this is a community based website and no one is liable for false information, there might be a lack of due diligence on the part of the content writers and moderators.
In the said post, I had written: “I believe Hiap Hoe has sold about 85% of the 461 units at Marina Tower Melbourne within one week. This, if true, is an impressive feat…” I had gotten the information from agents marketing the project, which as it turned out, was not accurate. When I wrote “This, if true..”, the qualification I had in mind was that the information was gotten from agents, but on hindsight I should have clearly stated so, although I doubt it would have made a big difference.
As a retail investor who does my own research and analysis of stocks, I am not privy to as much information and direct access to company personnel as analysts and reporters, who also have their slip-ups nevertheless. I also do not have the benefit of having an editor to vet my copy or the time and skills to ensure zero slip-ups, especially if forum notes are quickly penned early in the morning before I set off to do this chore or that. Hence, I leave it to readers to decide whether there “was a lack of due diligence” or whether this was just a slip-up that sometimes occur due to one reason or another, despite the diligence to avoid.
Perhaps readers have followed my much earlier posts on Hiap Hoe and Superbowl a few years ago, when I was writing about how rather undervalued they were, and benefited from them. Likewise, I have shared my take on Chip Eng Seng before it became more followed by forumers and covered by analysts. I have always felt there was insufficient coverage and information on 2nd liner property developers, and with good intention, I decided to share it on Nextinsight. At the same time, I try my best to again and again qualify that these were my “personal views and estimates”. I trust that readers would also do a bit of research, read up on other forum pages, etc and make up their own mind. And I am always grateful to readers who highlight to me certain information that I was not aware of, or who chip in with one contribution or another. That is the kind of spirit that springs from goodwill and generosity.
Nevertheless, I would like to apologize for the slip up on MTM sales figure, and on a brighter note, I hope that Hiap Hoe would indeed be able to sell this project quickly, even if it’s not as fast as what I was previously told.
No worries Sumer!! Everyone slips up sometime, we are only human after all. I have been a long time follower of your postings here and have benefited well from your generous sharing of info.
I have also experienced agents inflating sales figures when checking up on project sales for my own research. It's a rather common sales tactic and it's good to give a discount to those figures.
Sumer, you have qualified your remarks, so no need to apologize. I appreciate your personal assessments; in this community, we've got to help one another understand the companies we invest in, so that we can prosper together and avoid any traps that come up. In any case, HH did not give any specific figures apart from denying your figures are true. For all we know, your assessments may well be pretty close to the facts! (Vested)
HH's statement said "...wishes to clarify that the suggestion in the Article that the Group has sold about 85% of the units in the Group’s Marina Tower Melbourne project in one week is not true."
Well, what is the sales figure then? HH could have given the figure. In its absence, people are left guessing if ....
a. It's close but not 80%. For example, it's 75%.
b. It's low, so quite embarrassing to reveal. For ex., 25%.
c. It's 'normal' range expected for first week. Perhaps 20-40%.
