HDB resale market prediction

HDB’s Resale Price Index (RPI) rose by 3.7% in 1st Quarter 2008 over the previous quarter, lower than the 5.7% increase experienced in 4th Quarter 2007.

However, we can see that asking prices is still around valuation plus $20K ~ $80K.
My personnel take is that as valuation increases, the asking cash above valuation will still remain as it is. Why so, reason being every seller is human, the tenancy to become over-welm with greed is very normal.
Eg: If you come suddenly see a $50 note and another $100 note on the floor, which one would you pick up? (I would pick up both.. haha.. what about you?)

There are some hard finds whereby home sellers are willing to sell at a lower cash component.
Depending on their situation, time frame, restrictions & motivation level.

Most home buyers rarely understand this scenerio as a good opportunity to bargain,
Obviously sellers would not want to disclose their situation. Therefore it is up to individual agent's experience & their set of eagle eyes to discover these situations:
1) Divorce cases
2) Migrating overseas cases
3) Bankruptcy cases
4) Financial Difficulty - Usually not well kept, messy, with lots of kids at home.
5) Poor condition - For these units, nobody really cares about the asking price.

Similar to 4th Quarter 2007, cases requiring COV constituted 86% of all resale transactions in this quarter, with 14% of resale transactions conducted at or below valuation, among which most of them are case in which the seller & buyer agreed at a certain price before valuation is done.

I do not fully agreed with HDB statistics as statistics is solely based on numbers on paper, not based on actual facts & happenings.
For one of the few cases, my buyer actually got a great deal buying below valuation, Yes..haha.. you did not see wrongly.. we bought below HDB valuation, the second one that is.
Many of you will start wondering how is it possible.. well that's when the experience and hard work of a professional starts to kicks in. It was a calculated risk & a sure win case for both parties.
As a professional, I understood the market price had gone up and thus advised my buyer to put a offer of $13K above valuation on the terms that we will redo a valuation at our own cost but at the same time reimbursed him his monies for his old valuation report. A Win-win situation.
The deposit was negotiated to be $1K as my seller had not yet received his sale proceeds from his sale of Flat. Upon mutual agreement, we signed on the OTP immediately.
After 2 weeks, the new valuation overshot our agreed closing price and we had the deal done below valuation.
That is why i believe more likely cases would be happening as some other agents has become consultants like me. We provide professional advice besides doing an Agent's job, which includes showing of house, marketing etc.

With a wide range of affordable resale flats still available to meet the budget of most flat buyers, buyers with more immediate housing needs should consider purchasing a resale HDB flat where eligible first-timers can apply to enjoy a CPF Housing Grant of $30,000/$40,000, as well as the Additional CPF Housing Grant of up to $30,000. (If your total family income is less than $1500 for the past 2 years)

If all buyers can afford to pay $20K to $80K above valuation, would we be eligible for this grant.
This is the reason that most young couples are stuck at this moment. I truely hope that our government would do much more to help the young couples start their family, else who is to be blamed for the aging population..