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2 Dec

Join the iProperty.com Asia Property Sentiment Survey and WIN

The iProperty.com Asia Property Sentiment Survey is here! This time around, you will stand a chance to win a 3D/2N hotel stay at Tower Club at Lebua, Bangkok, worth S$1,500 proudly sponsored by AsiaWebDirect.com!

iProperty.com Singapore Asia Property Sentiments Survey Contest

Another 50 winners will walk away with a S$20 Crabtree & Evelyn gift voucher, which can be redeemed at any Crabtree & Evelyn store in Singapore and is valid until 31 December 2012.

All it takes is 3 minutes of your time to complete the survey to be in the running for the prizes. Your participation is greatly appreciated as your views and sentiments will provide invaluable insights on the Singapore property market and Asian property market trends.

After you have completed the survey, another page will open for you to enter the contest. Please provide your particulars to be eligible for the contest. You can be assured that your personal particulars will be kept strictly private and confidential, and your responses are not personally identifying.

Kindly note that all survey questions must be answered and the last day to complete the survey and join this contest is 30 December 2011.


Asia Web Direct Join the iProperty.com Asia Property Survey and WIN! Take Survey Now

23 Nov

Home buyers in Singapore positive about prices of public housing

Survey results by iProperty.com.sg signal increased confidence in market stability

Recent government measures taken to address concerns surrounding the public housing market appear to have brought about some positive sentiments among home buyers, as demonstrated by a recent Poll conducted by iProperty.com.sg, Singapore’s number one property website.

The poll, conducted from August to November this year, asked respondents for their opinions on whether public housing prices will stabilise within the next three to five years – as mentioned by Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan earlier this year. 1,033 participants responded to the poll.

Key findings as follows:

1.   More than a third of respondents (36.9%) believe that three to five years is a fair assessment for public housing prices to stabilise.

2.   Trailing slightly behind are 31.9% of respondents who, on the other hand, think that prices will never stabilise and more radical measures need to be taken.

3.   19.9% of respondents think that the government is doing a stellar job and prices will stabilise over the next 1 to 2 years.

4.   11.3% thinks approximately 5 to 7 years is needed for prices to stabilise.

From the findings, it can be seen that a clear majority – 56.8% – are of the opinion that the government is either on track or will likely exceed expectations on their three-to-five year projection to cool the public housing market.

However, a significant minority – 43.2% – remain skeptical that public housing prices will stabilise in the timeframe put forward. Further to this, a large portion of this group – 31.9% of respondents – appear unconvinced of the current measures adopted by the government and feel further action needs to be taken.

Much of the positive sentiment can be attributed to the range of measures and plans the government had rolled out in the second half of the year. These measures include a series of new Built-to-Order (BTO) launches in July, September and November, injecting several thousand new units into the market. These include developments in highly-coveted mature estates such as Bedok, Yishun and Hougang. Complementing this were recent announcements made to enhance chances for repeat applicants bidding for new units, lifting of the income ceiling for Executive Condominiums, and for Barrier-Free Accessibility (BFA) features to be made available across all HDB estates by the end of December 2011.

“The findings of our Poll paint an encouraging picture, showing that measures taken by the government have borne some fruit,” said Shaun Di Gregorio, Chief Executive Officer of iProperty Group Limited. “However, as encouraging as these numbers are, we should also not forget that there is still a significant level of dissatisfaction still pervading the market.”

Referring in particular to the 31.9% of respondents who said that prices will never stabilise, Shaun Di Gregorio said that what the government does in the next six to 12 months will be crucial in winning over this group of skeptics. Key issues that may have contributed to this outlook include the pricing of units under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) and exceptionally high cash-over-valuation figures for some highly sought-after resale units.

“Affordability and lack of suitable options will continue to be the two most important factors for home buyers. While we are seeing a gradually-increasing level of positivity in the market, other concerns, such as the still-increasing price of property and fears of a potential economic downturn in 2012, will be key considerations that may mean the difference between a positive and less-than-positive 2012 for potential home buyers,” he added.

20 Jul

Most home buyers in Singapore are willing to offer up to S$25,000 in COV

Survey results by iProperty.com.sg highlights home buyers’ willingness to secure their dream homes 

Singapore’s number one property website, iProperty.com.sg, revealed in a recent Quick Poll in July, the market’s willingness to secure their dream property, even if it meant paying more than $45,000  in cash-over-valuation (COV) to seal the deal.

Key findings from the survey revealed that:

  1. Most survey respondents (63.3%) are willing to offer between S$10,000 to S$25,000 in COV to ensure they secure their dream HDB homes.
  2. The remaining respondents are willing to offer higher COV for their dream homes, with 16.8% willing to offer between S$25,001 to S$35,000, and 6.7% are willing to offer between S$35,001 to S$45,000.
  3. 13.2% of respondents are willing to offer S$45,001 and above.

If given the opportunity to own the HDB home of your dreams, with ideal location and facilities, how much COV (cash-over-valuation) are you willing to offer to ensure you secure that property?

A total of 327 respondents took part in this online survey from 28 June 2011 to 19 July 2011.

This comes on the heels of recent reports of a Tampines unit at Block 151 of Tampines Street 12 which sold at $150,000 COV, further reinforcing current market sentiments that saw the return of higher COV with the tightened supply in the housing market.

In response to Singapore’s all-time-high property prices, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan recently commented, during his first official visit to the HDB Hub, that prices of HDB’s new flats are typically pegged to prevailing resale prices, but are discounted.

Acting on the public’s call for more affordable housing, the HDB had seemingly lowered indicative starting prices for new flats recently launched in Sengkang, Tampines, Jurong West, Bukit Panjang and Yishun – as compared to the previous BTO launch in May 2011.

Commenting on Minister Khaw’s recent measures to alleviate the demand-supply conundrum, Shaun Di Gregorio, Chief Executive Officer of iProperty Group Limited “Home buyers are now getting closer to obtaining their dream homes – be it new or resale flats – as signs of the stabilising housing market are beginning to appear. Not only are we going to see more and more new HDB flats being offered in bumper BTO launches in months to come, our recent Quick Poll also suggests that most home buyers are willing to fork out top dollar to secure flats in ideal locations and with good facilities nearby.”

He added, “However, there is still some way to go in addressing affordability issues – home buyers are still anxious to see what comes with the review of the income ceiling for first- timers to buy BTO flats, as well as the review of the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS), and how this affects prices of the remaining 9,500 new flats by year end, and subsequently, the impact on resale prices.”

30 Jun

Singapore public anxious about Minister Khaw’s next steps

Public pins dreams of property ownership on new Minister for National Development

iProperty.com.sg’s recent Quick Poll in June revealed that the market is anxious and hopeful that the new Minister for National Development, Minister Khaw Boon Wan, will help them fulfill dreams of owning an affordable property in Singapore.

Key findings from the survey revealed that:

  1. Most survey respondents (49.8%) hope the Ministry will embark on a building spree to flood the market with affordable housing, thereby slowing the rise in property prices even if this means dampening asset enhancement for current homeowners.
  2. A large percentage (39.7%) of survey respondents wish the Ministry will introduce means testing to determine the amount of subsidy potential home buyers can receive. This way, lower-income families will be more likely to afford housing.
  3. A small handful (10.5%) of those surveyed is supportive of additional Government-initiated policies that will further increase the value of properties to ensure homeowners’ current assets will be enhanced.

What would you like Khaw Boon Wan’s first act as the new Minister for National Development to be?

A total of 315 respondents comprising mostly Singaporeans, Permanent Residents (PRs) and expatriates took part in this online survey from 24 May to 27 June 2011.

Demand for residential housing remains high despite Minister Khaw’s promise to build a record 25,000 new flats this year and continue a heightened building pace for next year, which could result in the release of 50,000 new HDB flats in just two years.

However, with Minister Khaw still yet to unveil his master plan to quell the local red-hot demand for housing property, Shaun Di Gregorio, Chief Executive Officer of the iProperty.com Group, expects more anxiety to build-up until a new plan is announced, “The current set of cooling measures so far had some impact on the local housing property market, but the measures are not entirely taking effect. With home prices at an all-time-high at the moment, we can see that many home buyers are just focused on being able to find affordable homes, and this will remain a key concern for them until the Housing Development Board (HDB) makes up for the shortfall in the supply of affordable public housing for this group of buyers in the coming years.”

He added, “The recent news announced over the weekend that the average cash over valuation (COV) paid by home buyers in the April to June period had jumped 50 per cent over the last quarter is yet another sign that the last round of cooling measures and Minister Khaw’s recent blog comments had only dampened the supply while demand remains high and there are buyers who would continue to pay top dollar for HDB homes in popular mature estates.”

5 May

iProperty Survey: Home-buying decisions impacted by recent housing cooling measures

iProperty.com Singapore survey results reveal key concerns plaguing local home buyers.

iProperty.com, Singapore’s leading property website, announces key findings of its Consumer Property Sentiments Survey 2011, highlighting key sentiments from respondents in Singapore to recent cooling measures to the property market.

Key findings from the survey reveal that:

1.  59.2% of survey respondents say that they are affected by the cooling measures, and are either modifying their property buying/selling/renting decisions accordingly, or are halting plans to buy/sell their properties at this current moment.

2.  58.4% of survey respondents either do not think or are undecided whether the measures will succeed in cooling Singapore’s red-hot property market.

3.  58.7% of survey respondents do not think that these measures are sufficient to stabilise public housing prices and stated their hopes for more to be done to improve the situation.

Over 470 respondents comprising mostly Singaporeans, PRs and expatriates took part in the online survey from 27 Dec 2010 to 25 February 2011. The majority of survey respondents fall between the age group of 25 to 54 years, with 71.5% earning an annual household income of S$140,000 and below. Most of them are currently living in HDB flats, private apartments and landed property, of which more than half currently have plans to purchase or rent their next property.

In addition, in light of recent debates on housing policies around the General Elections, a quick online poll was conducted over a one-week period from 28 April 2011 to gauge public response. Over 50% of the 104 respondents indicated their hopes for more affordable housing by way of lowered prices for new flats and re-evaluation of asset enhancement policies.

Speaking on the results of the survey, Shaun Di Gregorio, Chief Executive Officer, The iProperty.com Group, “Housing policies and other property-related issues are arguably one of the key buzz topics of the upcoming General Elections. From this survey, there are indications that Singapore home buyers are looking forward to additional measures to bring about significant changes in the policies governing the local property market, so as to further cement their decision-making process.”

The next iProperty.com Singapore Consumer Property Sentiments Survey 2011 will be announced in June 2011.