You are here: Home / Archives for private home

20 May

Variety of New Properties for the picking

After a brief respite in the property market, new property launches are back to make for a hot and heated summer.

Stratum in Pasir Ris.

Stratum in Pasir Ris.

Five new residential developments across the island are offering home buyers plenty of sweet ptions to pick from. Properties in the city centre include the 366-unit Corals at Keppel Bay near HarbourFront MRT station and Liv on Sophia near Dhoby Ghaut MRT station. The proximity of these developments to transport and amenities should mean they are popular with buyers and investors alike. Corals at Keppel Bay is situated beside the Caribbean condominium and previewed the weekend past. 100 more units will be launched this weekend. Prices range from $2, 000 psf for a one-bedroom unit of between 570 and 732 sq ft. Ferra condominium in Leonie Hill in the prime district 9 also released its remaining 22 units of its 104 units. A 732 sq ft unit is going for $3,160 psf.

Fancy being even nearer the city centre? Liv on Sophia on Adis Road offers 64 two-bedders starting from $2,500 psf. Buyers will have to wait a little longer for these though as they are launching only end of this month or early June. Also in the property launch pipelines is the mixed-use project King Albert Park Residences. With the Bukit Timah Shopping Centre and Bukit Timah Plaza nearby, King Albert Park Residences will add even more colour to the area with its 107 retail units and 142 residential units. It will also be flanked by the  upcoming King Albert Park and Beauty World MRT stations. Property agents are expecting prices to start at $2, 000 psf for the smallest 484 sq ft units.

King Albert Park Residences is a mixed-use development with retail and residential units.

King Albert Park Residences is a mixed-use development with retail and residential units.

And further in the East, Stratum in Pasir Ris launched last Saturday with a $900 psf median. The 99-year leasehold condominium will stand across Elias Mall and the new Singapore University of Technology and Design. Will this increase the potential investment value of the property? How will other older condominiums nearby fare?

Another new suburban launch to look out for is the Jewel at  Buangkok, just 2-minutes away from Buangkok MRT station. To be launched within the next few weeks, a small 463 sq ft apartment is expected to go for $1, 000 psf. In an area yet to be saturated with private high-rise properties, how will this new project fare? Will it bring more interest and development into the area?

26 Apr

The Battle of New and Resale ECs

Recent reports show that median prices of resale ECs have outperformed that of new executive condominiums. This is the first time resale EC prices have overtaken that of new EC units. Prices of executive condominiums across the board have risen over the past 2 1/2 years. Westmere EC in Jurong West has seen a rise of up to 40.6 per cent in median prices and Parc Oasis has increased 35.8 per cent in merely 2 years. There are 18 ECs in the whole of Singapore and 92,38 per cent of the 9,130 units available in the market has already been sold.

Parc Oasis condo in Jurong East

Parc Oasis condo in Jurong East

Surprising? Perhaps not. Property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle proposes that the sheer number of new exec condo units being put up on sale in recent quarters have made pricing of new units more competitive. New units usually fetched a higher price as they had the maximum number of years left on the 99-year lease and everything came new and fresh.

What could be the reason for this recent takeover of interest on resale ECs? Location is the most likely factor. For example, Bishan Loft which is situated near the Bishan MRT station xceeded the $1,000 psf media price in Q1 this year. Another reason could be that new ECs cannot be sold until after the five-year minimum occupation period and thus have yet to enter the market.

Bishan Loft.

Bishan Loft.

Executive Condominiums (ECs) were a category of housing, a hybrid between private and public,  set up by the Government in 1996 to help the sandwiched class who neither qualified for public housing nor had sufficient money to enter the private property market. But perhaps the question we now need to consider is, where do the sandwiched class really lie? Can most of them now afford private, especially since there has been a considerable increase in the number of new units put on sale, and the line between private and executive condominiums are now sinking deeper and deeper into a grey pool or uncertainty?

24 Apr

Foreign buyers back in the market

Have the cooling measures done their job in managing property prices? Foreign property buyers have held back for the last quarter,  but are now back in full force. Instead of aiming high for prime district properties, they have instead gone for cheaper options, namely suburban condominiums,

La Fiesta condominium in Sengkang.

La Fiesta condominium in Sengkang.

Foreign buyers made up 10.7 per cent of 4,884 private homes sold in Q1 of 2013. Chinese and Indonesians made up the largest numbers, followed by Malaysians. The number of Mainland Chinese buyers particularly has been on the rise once more. This could be partly due to the tightening of property buying policies in their own country.

Almost half of the 108 foreign buyers in March alone were Chinese nationals. With their strong buying power, even with the newly raised 15 per cent Additional Buyers’ Stamp Duty (ABSD), a private condominium of $1.53 million is still very much affordable in their books. One of the most popular suburban condominiums in district 19 was La Fiesta in Sengkang and in prime district 10, D’Leedon.

d'Leedon condo project on Farrer Road.

d’Leedon condo project on Farrer Road.

Before December 2011, when the ABSD was first introduced, foreign buyers made up 21.2 per cent of the total home sales. By the first quarter of 2012, the proportion has dropped to 5.7 per cent. The current level is at 10.7 per cent. Jones Lang LaSalle Singapore research director Ong Teck Hui has said that Singaporean investors seemed to be more affected by the cooling measures than PRs and foreigners.

In short, the additional buyers’ stamp duty has merely herded the buying crowd in another direction. Are they competing with local buyers? If there are sufficient private homes to go around, then market forces will keep the real estate machine chugging on its own. Does this answer what Singaporeans have been asking for in terms of housing prices and supply?

16 Apr

New private homes sales may match 2012′s high

D'nest condominium.

D’nest condominium.

If anything, worries about the property cooling measures affecting the property market in a big way should be allayed, for now, by the way Q1′s new homes sales figures go. March’s sales gave it a big boost, as buyers returned after the Chinese New year  lull in February. Many buyers were first-timers, and out of the 5,564 units launched in Q1, almost all (5,533  units) were sold.

Property developers had kept launches out of the market in February, and the release of numerous new properties near MRT stations in March could have made up for the pent up demand from buyers who flooded the showflats and new property launches in March, snapping up units in new suburban condominiums such as D’Nest, Urban Vista, Bartley Ridge and Sennett Residence.

According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) data of new home sales, March alone saw 2,793 units sold, breaking the previous record of 2,772 in July 2009. It goes to show that despite the cooling measures, demand is well ahead in the race to balance property prices and inflation at large.

Shoebox apartments were top sellers for HDB upgraders. Seen here is the Bartley Ridge condominium.

Shoebox apartments were top sellers for HDB upgraders. Seen here is the Bartley Ridge condominium.

Property analysts are however not expecting similar sales numbers this month, since March’s bumper crop of new units would have satisfied the pent up demand from previous months. D’Nest emerged the clear winner with 699 units of its 912 units sold. Once again, location and proximity to transport were cited as top reasons for great sales.

3 Apr

Fringe growth for City fringe homes

In terms of speed, the property cooling measures have certainly put the brakes on the growth of city fringe private apartments. Investors are not coming to the buffet table of apartments in areas such as Balestier, Thomson, Outram and Rochor, despite the substantial number of choice units for the picking.

Echelon condominium.

Echelon condominium.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority data indicated zero growth in the non-landed home prices for city fringe areas. City centre apartments on the other hand has increased by a slight 0.4 per cent. The higher stamp duty and tighter home loan limits have detracted many a property investor. In fact, growth in this sector in particular has be flattening since April 2012.

Spottiswoode SuitesSLP International’s head of research, Mr Nicholas Mak, thinks that part of the reason for the flat-lining sales could be that recent launches have been targeted at investors. These include Echelon near Redhill MRT station, Seasuites in Pasir Panjang and Spottiswoode Suites near Outram Park MRT station. Projects such as these has a significant number of one and two-bedders, which have been the hot favourites of real estate investors for sometime.

Have residential home prices in this area reached a saturation point and what will it take to get the buyers back into the market? Will there be spillover interest from the suburban private home market which is doing exceedingly well for the moment?

2 Apr

What does Q1′s slow private property growth rate indicate?

A cooling real estate market? Perhaps. But not by much. Of course, we do have to give the cooling measures time to work. But if we go by the response from the previous rounds, it may not do much. Although the pace has weakened somewhat, a 0.5 per cent growth as compared to the 1.8 per cent jump in the last quarter, private home prices still reached a record high.

QBay Residences

QBay Residences

Private non-landed suburban homes alone showed a 1.7 per cent rise, still a rise, but well lesser than the previous quarter’s 3.8 per cent. Property analysts are expecting further effect from the cooling measures to kick in this year, maintaining home prices at the current levels.

In the HDB flat market, resale flats may expect a fall in demand as singles will be allowed to purchase new Build-to-Order (BTO) flats directly from the Housing Board come July. The bumper crop of new flats being rolled out within the first 3 months of 2013 alone has also taken away the need to purchase from within the resale market. The quota plus the lowering of home loans to 30 per cent of a borrower’s gross monthly pay, 40 per cent if receiving a HDB home loan, has also taken some wind out of the sails. PropNex cheif executive Mohamed Ismail is however still expecting a rise in resale HDB flat prices, of between 4 to 5 per cent.

The Singapore Real Estate Exchange has reported a fall of HDB resale transactions from 4, 635 in Q4 of 2012 to 3, 028 in Q1 of 2013. The median COV prices have dropped by very slightly, from $34, 000 to $33, 000. This may not be quite the comfort buyers are hoping for, especially since resale prices have risen to an average of $457,000.

This could be the time to suss out potential long-term investments in the private property market as many developers are dangling carrots in the form of discounts, rebates and other incentives in order to secure more sales. Recent launches at D’Nest and Urban Vista have also boosted sales. The authorities seem more determined this year than ever to help tame the roaring property lion, but they will need to give property curbs some time to take effect before deciding their next move.

19 Mar

February’s amazing new home sales

Amazingly low, that is. With figures not seen for more than a year, it looks like the Chinese New Year general pausa and January’s cooling measures have hit the private property market hard. For now. http://blog.iproperty.com.sg/wp-admin/post-new.php

February saw a 65 per cent fall in the number of home sales. 2, 016 home were sold in January while only 708 were sold in February. Some of the condominiums which fared well were D’Leedon at a median price of $1, 540 psf and Q Bay Residences in Tampines at $1, 041 psf.

How will Singapore's private property market react to the recent housing policy changes?

But the developers are back with more offers, and dangling attractive discounts and partial absorption of stamp duty to bait buyers back into the market. With the way response was over last weekend’s new property launches, March’s numbers could very well bounce back double.

Buyers seem to be ditching their wait-and-see attitude and as long as there are no further property curbs, they will be back before you can say “uncle”. Head of research at SLP International Mr Nicholas Mak, is expecting private home sales to run between 3, 000 to 5, 000 units a quarter. That is 12, 000 to 20, 000 private homes in 2013.

Though new launches in March and HDB’s regulation overhauls might effect a U-turn and drag numbers up once more, it may be months before results show.

28 Jan

Property prices’ sudden growth in Q4

Perhaps the property cooling measures are timely after all. What with the fourth quarter registering a sudden growth after a few months of slower movement.

Is the private property market quietening? Image courtesy of Singapore Tourism Board

Is the private property market really going to slow down? Image courtesy of Singapore Tourism Board

So in general, prices are still high, whatever dip in prices in the few months just before the end of 2012 were corrected by prices shooting up again, rounding off the year with a record-breaking run. The strong showing were in the resale HDB flat market, with a rise of 2.5 per cent and COV (cash-over-valuation) price increases, in particular for executive condominiums (ECs). The suburban private property market also saw equally strong demand, with prices up 3.8 per cent.

Developers, having paid high prices for their land bids, are not expected to drop their selling prices anytime soon, and their strong holding power will allow them to hold out till the market bounces back. Knight Frank research head Png Poh Soon is predicting a 5 to 7 per cent drop in high-end luxury home market this year, with a similar drop in mass market private homes prices.

Prices however, have considerably moderated over the years, ever since the first round of cooling measures rolled out in 2009. In the property boom of 2010, resale HDB flat prices rose a whooping 14 per cent; in 2011, prices rose 11 per cent; and in 2012, 6.6 per cent. The rise has slowed, but there is still a rise, nevertheless.

The interesting question will be, if prices are only allowed to go up, what will the property market be in like in say, 10 years? Will it be a case of what goes up must come down, or will more be priced out of property-ownership in the long run and put Singapore in the same league as major cities such as New York or Tokyo where renting is the way of life?

«Older Posts