Issue 149

Copyright 2011-2014 www.Propwise.sg. All Rights Reserved.

CONTENTS
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How New Property Launches are Changing
in the Face of a Slowing Market Singapore Property News This Week Resale Property Transactions (March 12 March 18)

FROM THE

EDITOR

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149

How New Property Launches are Changing in the Face of a Slowing Market

By Property Soul (guest contributor) With property developers rushing to launch new projects, the once quiet market is buzzing again. I spent a few Saturdays visiting the sales galleries of some property new launches, including the Jewel@Buangkok, Sant Ritz, Bartley Ridge, the Panorama, etc. I also went to see some mixed developments like the VENUE Residences, Midtown Residences and Nine Residences. Figure 1: One of the new launches visited

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149 When sellers outnumber buyers The URA recently released the sales figures of new condos. Developers managed to sell a total of 724 units in February. It is 28 per cent higher than January but is still some 55 percent lower than last years monthly average. With all the cooling measures, it is very challenging to find buyers who can fit the following criteria: 1. People who are keen to buy in this market. 2. People who are buying for the first time, or dont mind paying the additional stamp duties. 3. People who have the financial muscle (and patience) to go through the TDSR test. Although developers claim that the project is 60 or 80 percent sold, no one can tell how many of those buyers can successfully pass the TDSR test and get financing from the banks. I am impressed by the rate developers are building new projects. Even at the same location, there is more than one project launching at the same time. Some condos nearby have just obtained TOP. And there are a few more construction sites building in high gear just across the street. Apart from projects within the first two weeks of a new launch, the sales galleries are very quiet, even on Saturday afternoons. There are obviously more agents than buyers. Sometimes I find myself as one of the one or two buyers there. In other words, there are plenty of launches, lots of unsold units and many property agents, but few buyers.

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149 How things are changing in sales galleries Like many others, I have no urgency to plunge into the market right now. I am just doing routine research to see what is on offer. But the scene is completely different from what I have witnessed one or two years ago in the following ways: 1. Length of setup showflats. The half-empty carpark is now filled with the cars of the sales representatives instead. 3. Inside the sales galleries Developers have become more sensitive amid slower sales and intensified competition. More sales offices are prohibiting visitors from taking photos. One new launch even decided not to distribute sales brochures until buyers book a unit. They have someone from the developer stationed there to ensure the compliance of their policy. 4. In the showflats

In the past, sales offices at actual sites are quickly torn down to start building after most units are sold. Now they can still be found at the same place waiting for potential buyers after six to nine months. 2. No more crowds
There is no more queue of eager buyers waiting to submit a blank cheque. Gone are the days when it is a common sight to see countless pair of shoes lying in front of the
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Marble floorings are replaced with more economical homogenous tiles. Functional wardrobes are being substituted with simple two-door wardrobes. Bathrooms that used to feature branded accessories become no-frills toilets with the absence of bathtubs.
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149 The explanations are 'easy maintenance by the new generation of buyers.' The project site is maximized to build more units. A 650 sq ft flat can fit in two bedrooms. A three-bedroom unit is now barely 900 sq ft. They say this is the trend of new condos. Some new sales tactics There is no more sales pitch of 'if you don't buy now prices will climb soon.' The promises of quick profits and optimistic rental return are also gone. Instead, buyers are told that property is a long-term investment and it is always profitable if they can hold it for more than five years. Now agents are adopting a problem-solution approach: 1. Given I already own a private property, I was asked to refinance it in order to have
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more cash on hand. 2. To avoid the 7 percent additional buyer stamp duty, one agent asked me to sell my shares to my husband to decouple our jointtenant property. 3. Another agent suggested to sell my existing property before (or six months after) the TOP of the new project in order to claim the refund of the additional stamp duty. Property agents as stalkers? When I was about to leave a sales gallery for another one only a stone's throw away, the property agent volunteered to accompany me for the short trip. When I told her that I could find my way, she insisted that it was their company policy to do so. She followed me to go inside her competitor's sales office.
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149 Just when I was about to do the registration, she pre-empted me by hurriedly entering her own particulars. Then I heard her saying aloud, "She is my client. I am the exclusive agent representing her. This is a co-broke case." I was taken aback by this new arrangement but was unsure whether I should clarify it under these circumstances. It is a similar situation when a guy follows a girl everywhere to mislead everyone into believing that he is her boyfriend. But the girl finds it hard to clarify for fear of embarrassing him, herself, and the others too. The property agent continued to follow me throughout the visit until we left her competitor's sales office. She asked me which new launch I was planning to go next. I said I just wanted to go home! By guest contributor Property Soul, a successful property investor and enthusiast who shares her experiences and knowledge on her blog.

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149

Singapore Property This Week

Residential
Record proportion made by sub-800 sq ft units 47.6 percent of non-landed private homes sold in 2013 were reported to be small units of up to 800 sq ft a record for the unit type, compared with 43.4 percent in 2012 and over 40 percent in 2011. CBRE Research associate director Desmond Sim commented that this shows a function of supply where developers reduced unit sizes to make the absolute price quantum affordable to buyers affected by tighter loan limits. This increase was not due to shoebox apartments (below 500 sq ft) but due to 500-800 sq ft units. In fact, the proportion of 500-800 sq ft units
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went up to 34.4 percent in 2013, compared with 29.7 percent in 2012 and 25.9 percent in 2011; while the proportion of shoebox units went down from 13.8 percent in 2012 to 13.2 percent in 2013. (Source: Business Times) New BTO flats still in demand In HDBs second Build-To-Order (BTO) launch in 2014, another 3,497 flats in the nonmature towns of Sembawang, Sengkang and Yishun will be released, making the total number of flats for sale reach 6,636 for this year. These newly launched flats are of tworoom, five-room, three-generation (3Gen) types for the needs of first-timers, secondtimers, multi-generation families and singles.
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149 Analysts said that healthy interest in BTO flats is still expected, in spite of decreasing prices and slowing sales in the resale market. (Source: Business Times) Government releases leasehold sites three 99-year It will be put on sale upon the lodging of an acceptable offer. (Source: Business Times)

Fixed-rate loans rise among home buyers

DBS Bank said that one in two home buyers took up fixed-rate loans, compared with 30 percent in early 2014 due to rising interest rates. The key three-month Sibor (Singapore interbank offered rate) increased to 0.40568 per cent, up 0.9 percent from the previous week, and up 9.3 percent from about a year ago. This could make buyers aware of the quickly changing rates in reaction to market events, and choose an attractive set of rates in a mostly low-interest environment. DBS Bank expected the interest rates to continue going up. (Source: Business Times)
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The government has released three 99-year leasehold sites which will yield 1,300 housing units. The first two sites are executive condominium (EC) sites as Yishun Street 51 up for tender from the confirmed list of the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme, yielding 1,010 units. The gross floor area (GFA) of Parcel A is 50,302 sq m, and of Parcel B is 51,139 sq m. Their closing date is May 22. The third site is the condominium site at Margaret Drive with a permissible gross floor area of 22,195 sq m, yielding 275 units.

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149 Units at the Draycott condo up for sale 38 units at the Draycott condominium (30 units in the tower block facing Goodwood Hill) have been put on sale by expression of interest by the investment holding company of the family that developed the condo. The estimated absolute price is $198 million, or $1,900 psf for the 104,429 sq ft of the total strata area, which comprises 31 percent by share value and strata area of the whole development that has a total of 133 units. The site is along Draycott Park, next to Ardmore Park. (Source: Business Times) Tampines condo launched on March 29 597-unit condominium The Santorini at Tampines Avenue 10, developed by MCC Land a unit of Hong Kong and Shanghailisted Metallurgy Corporation of China, has
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been launched on March 29. The development is surrounded by Bedok Reservoir and Tampines Quarry, and is Mediterranean-inspired. The expected average price is from $1,100 to $1,200 psf, consistent with consultants price forecasts of above $1,100 psf as the break-even price for the project is from $940 to $1,050 psf. (Source: Business Times) More properties up for auction, few sold As sellers have difficulty moving sales in the secondary market, they turn to the auction market, causing the number of properties put up for sale via auction to increase. However, cautious buyers did not quickly make transactions. Colliers International said that 132 properties were put up for sale via auction in Q1 2014, compared with 120 in Q4 2013.
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149 Only six properties were sold in Q1, making $17.87 million and which was a 76.5 percent drop from 2013 with the sale of four highvalue properties. (Source: Business Times) Q1 investment sales stayed quiet in Q1 2014 Figures from CBRE and Savills showed that investment sales of Singapore property were stagnant for Q1 2014. Residential property sales under the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme accounted for 49 percent of the $3.8 billion of investment sales volume. The final figure of the sale volume is expected to be more than the $3.9 billion of Q4 2013, although both figures were the lowest since the $3.3 billion tally of Q4 2009. Savills said that the situation could be caused by weak investment during the Chinese New Year festivities, the Total Debt Servicing Ratio, and the price gap between buyers and sellers. (Source: Business Times)

Commercial
Retail rents remain sluggish in Q1 DTZ Research said that retail rents remained sluggish in Q1, 2014. Transactions were reported to take longer, retailers were unaffected by rent increases, and landlords asking prices were unshaken. An approximately 2.4 million sq ft of net lettable retail space completed in 2014, however, was thought to be able to change the situation since it accounts for 45 percent of the total 5.4 million sq ft retail space released until 2018. 56 percent of this 2.4 million sq ft is in suburban areas, 24 percent in city fringes, and 20 percent in Orchard/Scotts Road.

(Source: Business Times)

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149 399 Eunos industrial units to be relocated Under the Industrial Redevelopment Programme (IRP), the 14th batch of 399 units across 26 blocks in the Eunos Industrial Estate will be relocated by HDB for future redevelopment. The tenants will be given replacement units in the Industrial Complex in Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 3, which will be completed in the middle of 2018. The remaining units will also be relocated in other IRP batches. The IRP was launched in 1997 with 13 IRP batches until now and has relocated 3,000 industrial units. (Source: Business Times) 2 JTC industrial sites for bids Two ready-to-build industrial sites Plot 49 and Plot 51 at Tuas South Street 9 under the Industrial Government Land Sales (IGLS) programme have been launched by JTC for
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bidding. Each site is 8,369 sq ft in size and the gross plot ratio is one. The tenure for both sites is 21 years two months. (Source: Business Times) Detached shophouse block at Kampong Glam up for sale The freehold, detached shophouse block at Kampong Glam and three adjoining plots of prime good class bungalow land were up for sale by expression of interest. The shophouse block in particular has three shophouse units of part one-storey and two-storey shophouses at 32, 34 and 34A Sultan Gate. The current tenant is in the food and beverage industry, and their lease ends in September 2015. The indicative price is around $28 million for a land area of about 7,401 sq ft. The site is flanked by a public car park and a side lane. (Source: Business Times)
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149

Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Mar 12 Mar 18
Postal District 1 1 3 3 5 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 12 Area Transacted Price Tenure (sqft) Price ($) ($ psf) 1,066 2,250,000 2,111 99 818 1,250,000 1,528 99 947 1,590,000 1,679 99 1,184 1,445,000 1,220 99 1,249 1,500,000 1,201 99 1,195 1,750,000 1,465 FH 1,668 4,900,000 2,937 FH 506 1,155,000 2,283 FH 2,443 4,950,000 2,026 FH 549 970,000 1,767 FH 926 1,610,000 1,739 99 3,305 5,450,000 1,649 FH 1,066 1,580,000 1,483 FH 1,561 2,230,000 1,429 999 1,012 1,900,000 1,878 999 3,175 5,400,000 1,701 FH 1,249 1,980,000 1,586 999 1,399 2,200,000 1,572 99 1,313 1,980,000 1,508 FH 1,733 2,600,000 1,500 FH 1,044 1,430,000 1,370 99 1,916 3,368,888 1,758 FH 1,378 1,928,888 1,400 FH 1,066 1,290,000 1,211 FH Postal District 12 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 17 17 17 18 18 18 19 19 19 19 Area Transacted Price Tenure (sqft) Price ($) ($ psf) 1,292 1,300,000 1,006 FH 1,023 1,430,000 1,398 99 581 740,000 1,273 FH 1,216 1,095,000 900 FH 1,227 1,818,000 1,482 FH 2,239 3,300,000 1,474 99 441 600,000 1,360 FH 1,593 2,100,000 1,318 FH 1,313 1,670,000 1,272 99 1,173 1,408,000 1,200 99 1,227 1,470,000 1,198 99 1,292 1,430,000 1,107 99 980 1,010,000 1,031 99 1,023 970,000 949 99 915 980,000 1,071 FH 936 895,000 956 FH 2,691 2,220,000 825 FH 1,023 955,000 934 99 1,238 1,150,000 929 99 1,475 1,070,000 726 99 1,410 1,650,000 1,170 99 1,109 1,250,000 1,127 99 1,238 1,060,000 856 99 1,141 930,000 815 99

Project Name MARINA BAY RESIDENCES RIVERWALK APARTMENT ASCENTIA SKY QUEENS DOVER PARKVIEW CITY SQUARE RESIDENCES HELIOS RESIDENCES VIDA THE LIGHT @ CAIRNHILL ESTILO LEONIE SUITES CAIRNHILL PLAZA EURO-ASIA COURT ASPEN HEIGHTS THE TRESOR GALLOP GABLES CORONATION GROVE THE MERASAGA THE TESSARINA VERDURE TANGLIN REGENCY NEWTON ONE THE LINCOLN MODERN D'LOTUS

Project Name KEMAMAN POINT DAKOTA RESIDENCES STARVILLE STARVILLE ONE FORT COSTA RHU EAST ELEGANCE THE ESTA COSTA DEL SOL WATERFRONT KEY CASA MERAH BAYWATER THE BAYSHORE PALMWOODS FERRARIA PARK CONDOMINIUM FERRARIA PARK CONDOMINIUM EDELWEISS PARK CONDOMINIUM SAVANNAH CONDOPARK THE TROPICA MELVILLE PARK KOVAN MELODY SUNGLADE RIO VISTA RIVERVALE CREST

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 149

Postal District 20 20 21 21 21 23 23 26 27 28

Project Name BISHAN POINT BISHAN PARK CONDOMINIUM THE CASCADIA THE CASCADIA THE HILLSIDE HILLVISTA THE LINEAR BULLION PARK ORCHID PARK CONDOMINIUM SUNRISE GARDENS

Area Transacted Price Tenure (sqft) Price ($) ($ psf) 1,270 1,300,000 1,023 99 1,324 1,215,000 918 99 1,184 2,012,800 1,700 FH 1,184 1,980,000 1,672 FH 1,356 1,628,000 1,200 FH 1,206 1,618,000 1,342 FH 1,378 1,280,000 929 999 807 838,000 1,038 FH 1,249 975,000 781 99 2,034 1,500,000 737 99

NOTE: This data only covers non-landed residential resale property transactions with caveats lodged with the Singapore Land Authority. Typically, caveats are lodged at least 2-3 weeks after a purchaser signs an OTP, hence the lagged nature of the data.

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