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Property prices in Singapore recover after disastrous start to 2009, report shows

Posted by luxuryasiahome on February 9, 2010

Residential property prices in Singapore increased 7.4% in last three months of 2009 as the property market made a quick recovery from a nightmarish start to the year, the latest published figures show.

This followed the previous quarter’s increase of 15.8%, a turnaround from a fall of 18% in the first half of 2009, leaving the annual price increase at 1.8%, said the Redevelopment Authority.

Prices of non-landed properties rose by 7.2% in the last quarter and 15.9% in the third quarter of 2009, the figures also show. Apartment prices were up 9.7% more, while prices of condominiums increased by 6.1%.

Looking ahead to 2010 luxury property is predicted to perform well in coming months. According to a report from real estate consultants Savills the sector could see price increases of up to 15% while the mass-market and middle end properties could see values increase by 5%.

‘I think luxury property prices are still some 20 to 25% off the peak. In terms of the high net worth individuals, I think a lot of confidence is coming back to the market. There is a lot of liquidity around that’s pushing them back into real estate,’ said Michael Ng, managing director of Savills Singapore.

However, the majority of people who buy property in Singapore are unhappy about some aspect of the service they get from estate agents, according to a new survey.

Some 80% of all property transactions in Singapore are done through real estate agents and most of these end up with customers encountering some sort of bad service, the report from Ngee Ann Polytechnic has found.

Bad or wrong advice were the most common complaints followed by a failure to get fair prices, they survey found. Overall 77% of respondents from diverse age groups, professional and educational backgrounds, were unhappy, said Nicholas Mak, real estate lecturer.

The survey also showed that 73% felt that more training is needed included a full accreditation system. The government is currently working on a new regulatory framework for estate agents.

‘Some of them also felt that their real estate agents neglected their opinions or suggestions,’ he added.

Source : Property Community -  8 Feb 2010

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Chuan Park condo hits a high of $800 psf

Posted by luxuryasiahome on February 5, 2010

A Singaporean who only wants to be known as Mr Tan put his three-bedroom, 1,528 sq ft unit at Chuan Park condominium on Lorong Chuan for sale a month ago. Within a day, he found a buyer who was willing to pay his asking price of $980,000, or $641 psf.

“We sold because the price reached our expectations,” he says in a phone interview. “The property may be old, but it is well-maintained. Rental demand is healthy, given the proximity to good schools and the Australian International School. There is potential for en-bloc sale and the location is wonderful — right next door to the MRT station.”

For the period from Jan 4 to 8, there were three transactions at the 452-unit Chuan Park, at prices from $690 to $800 psf. On Jan 5, a 710 sq ft studio apartment on the second floor was sold for $568,000, or $800 psf. The owner had purchased it for $450,000 in 2007, thus enjoying a 26% price appreciation in just two years.

Another studio apartment on the fourth floor went for $520,000, or $732 psf. The owner had purchased it for $458,000, or $645 psf, in 1995. This represents a gain of 13.5%. The previous owner had bought it for $395,000 in the same year, thus enjoying a gain of 16%.

Excitement is mounting in the Serangoon Gardens Estate in the vicinity of Lorong Chuan and Serangoon Avenue 3 as the Circle Line nears completion and another 11 new MRT stations from Tai Seng to Dhoby Ghaut open in April. The Lorong Chuan MRT station opened last May.

Good schools like Nanyang Junior College and St Gabriel’s Primary School as well as the Australian International School have also attracted families with schoolgoing children and investors to Chuan Park. The condo is a short distance from the New Tech Park and one stop away from the Serangoon MRT station, where a new mall called nex is coming up.

What’s also fuelling optimism among investors and owners of existing condos looking to sell is Hong Leong Holdings’ 400-unit condo that is expected to be launched in the coming months. Hong Leong was awarded the 99-year leasehold site on Serangoon Avenue 3 last October with a top bid of $221 million, or $529 psf of gross floor area, which was 164% above the reserve price. Property consultants have estimated that the breakeven price for the project is likely to be $900 to $950 psf. They expect the new condo to be priced above $1,000 psf.

Fred Teo, a property agent at Knight Frank, says these two factors are the main reasons driving increased demand at Chuan Park. He notes that prices in the 26-year-old, 99-year leasehold condo have risen from around $500 psf last April to $700 psf in recent months. The launch of the new project by Hong Leong would probably lift prices higher, says Teo.

Opposite Chuan Park are two 99-year leasehold condos: 372-unit, 11-year-old The Springbloom and 500-unit 15-year-old Chiltern Park. Prices in those two projects have also been creeping up. On Jan 6, an 893 sq ft unit at The Springbloom was sold for $650,000, or $728 psf.

At Chiltern Park, a 915 sq ft unit was sold for $660,000, or $721 psf, according to a caveat lodged with URA Realis on Jan 6. At the Jones Lang LaSalle property auction on Jan 20, a second-floor, 1,518 sq ft apartment at Chiltern Park was put up for mortgagee sale with an opening price of $980,000. A few parties bid for the property, which was sold for $1.015 million, or $669 psf.

With the Circle Line nearing completion and Hong Leong’s new condo launch in the offing, it looks like interest in condos in the Lorong Chuan and Serangoon Avenue 3 neighbourhood will intensify in the coming months.

Source : The Edge – 25 Jan 2010

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S’pore luxury home prices won’t rival HK’s

Posted by luxuryasiahome on February 4, 2010

This is due to more supply here as building increased ahead of the IRs

A bungalow on Singapore’s Ocean Drive, a stretch of luxury homes lined with Bentleys and Ferraris, sold for a record S$30 million in October. In Hong Kong, a duplex one-third the size went for almost three times as much the same month.

Singapore’s luxury-home prices won’t match Hong Kong’s because an increase in building ahead of two casino projects in the city-state will see nine times the number of new apartments going up over the next three years than in Hong Kong, according to real estate broker Savills Plc.

Singapore’s high-end home prices rose 4 per cent in 2009, while Chinese buyers fuelled a 45 per cent jump in Hong Kong, Savills said.

‘Hong Kong has some unique factors which drive the super luxury market, particularly mainland buyers who have been very aggressive,’ said Simon Smith, Savills’ Hong Kong-based head of research and consulting. ‘We will always see some dramatic prices in Hong Kong that you wouldn’t necessarily see in Singapore.’

Luxury property prices in Singapore are about 19 per cent below their 2007 peak, according to a Goldman Sachs Group Inc report published Jan 13.

They may rise about 15 per cent this year, though still remain 7 per cent below their highs by the end of 2010, Goldman said. Hong Kong luxury prices, which have surpassed their mid-2008 peak, will rise 15 per cent in the next six months, Colliers International Ltd forecast in January.

Two integrated resorts (IRs) are being built in Singapore with casinos, hotels, restaurants and attractions that the government hopes will help lure 17 million visitors and triple annual tourism revenue to S$30 billion by 2015.

Genting Singapore Plc unit Resorts World Sentosa opened part of its $4.5 billion project at Sentosa last month, while Las Vegas Sands Corp said it may open the Marina Bay Sands at downtown in April after construction delays.

To make the economy less dependent on electronics manufacturing, the Singapore government in April 2005 overturned a ban on casinos that had been in place since independence in 1965. Resorts World and Marina Bay are the only two casino developments approved and the government has said there will be only two gaming operators for 10 years.

‘The integrated resort is a stale story by now,’ Tay Huey Ying, a Singapore-based director of research and consulting at Colliers, said at a property seminar on Jan 13. ‘I do not foresee a great impact. We will need another growth story to bring the foreigners back to Singapore.’

In contrast, the number of casinos in Macau, the world’s biggest casino hub and the only Chinese city where gambling is legal, more than doubled to 33 in 2009 from 2002, when tycoon Stanley Ho’s casino monopoly ended. Residential prices will increase as much as 15 per cent in the city this year, according to a Savills report on Macau published on Jan 27.

Sands China Ltd, the Macau unit of Las Vegas Sands, will open most of its stalled resort in Macau by December 2011, adding 300,000 square feet (27,871 sqm) of gaming space to the 849,000 square feet it already has, the company said.

More than 130 apartments around Singapore’s Marina Bay and 900 apartments at Sentosa Cove have yet to be put on sale. City Developments Ltd, Singapore’s second-biggest property developer, and YTL Corp, Malaysia’s biggest builder, are among those preparing to put more homes on the market this year.

About 11,000 condominiums and apartments in the prime districts, or two-fifths of the total supply in Singapore, will come onto the market over the next three years, according to Savills. This compares with 1,260 luxury homes in Hong Kong over the same period.

‘In Singapore, we’re going to see slightly elevated levels of supply in 2011 and 2012, which would moderate price growth,’ said Savills’s Mr Smith.

Henderson Land Development Co, the Hong Kong-based builder controlled by billionaire Lee Shau-kee, in October sold a 6,158 sq ft duplex apartment in the city for a world record price of HK$88,000 (S$15,960) per square foot (psf) in a transaction worth HK$439 million. Luxury homes in Hong Kong are defined as those costing at least HK$10 million or bigger than 1,000 square feet.

The 17,115 square-foot bungalow sold on Sentosa island fetched S$1,753 psf. Prices reached as high as S$5,262 psf in 2007, a peak in Singapore’s property market. Singapore luxury homes are defined by Savills as those with an average price of between S$1,900 and S$2,000 psf in the city-state’s prime districts.

Surging prices have raised concerns of a property market bubble in Hong Kong. The government tightened down-payment requirements for luxury homes for the first time since 1991 and suspended mortgage insurance for rental properties in October.

Singapore’s government said in September it will push for more sites to be sold and will bar interest-only mortgages for uncompleted housing projects. Still, authorities aren’t likely to clamp down too much on the luxury end of the market, said Donald Han, the Singapore-based managing director of Cushman & Wakefield, a real-estate advisory company.

‘The high-end market is less of a concern, it’s more of a private playground for the rich,’ Mr Han said.

Foreigners can buy condominiums and apartments in Singapore, though Sentosa Cove is the only place where they are allowed to own landed homes.

Wealthy Malaysians and Indonesians have been the main buyers of luxury properties in the city-state. Now rich buyers from Russia, Norway, Sweden and Austria are showing interest in the high-end of the market, as well as Asian celebrities and professional golfers, said Kemmy Tan, director of international real estate at YTL Singapore Pte, which is developing 13 villas at Sentosa Cove. Mr Tan wouldn’t give any names.

To help sell the villas, Mr Tan has made sure the elevator to the basement car park of each villa is big enough to fit a Rolls Royce Phantom, which measures 5.6 metres (18.4 feet) long.

‘Most of the cars here are Bentleys, Lamborghinis and Ferraris,’ said Jason Yeo, general manager at site operator Sentosa Cove Resort Management. ‘Of course, you have the normal cars like Mercedes and BMWs too.’

Source : Business Times – 4 Feb 2010

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Developers brimming with new launches

Posted by luxuryasiahome on February 2, 2010

Far East said to be top seller in January; Lippo and MCL may release some units

EVEN as developers have gotten off to a good start this year, selling well over 1,000 private homes in January, their launch machinery remains well oiled for more roll-outs in the near future.

Lippo Group is expected to preview Centennia Suites on the former Kim Seng Plaza site, diagonally opposite Great World City, later this week. The average price for the District 9 freehold project is being touted at $2,000 per square foot or even higher.

This is higher than recently achieved prices in the secondary market for nearby projects such as The Trillium and The Cosmopolitan but Lippo is probably banking on the exclusivity factor to market its latest offering. The 36-storey freehold Centennia Tower comprises a single tower with just 97 units, comprising two, three and four-bedroom apartments and two penthouses.

The two bedders are relatively large at slightly over 1,200 sq ft. Three bedders come in five variations but all around 1,800 sq ft; four-bedroom apartments also have five variations of roughly 2,250 sq ft. Centennia’s two penthouses are around 3,300 sq ft and 4,400 sq ft. BT understands that the project is being marketed by CB Richard Ellis and Jones Lang LaSalle.

Agents are also busy gathering interest for MCL Land’s The Estuary, a 608-unit condo at Yishun Ave 1/2. Some market watchers say that they would not be surprised if MCL releases some units before the Chinese New Year break.

For the month of January, Far East Organization is believed to have been the top seller, with sales of close to 300 units. Its bestseller was The Shore Residences, a 103-year-old condominium project on the former Rose Garden site in Katong. Far East is understood to have sold over 140 units in the project last month.

City Developments sold 243 units in January, the bulk of which were in Cube 8 at Thomson Road (167 units) and Livia in Pasir Ris (59 units), a CDL spokeswoman said.

Fellow property giant CapitaLand also did brisk sales. Its 165-unit Urban Suites condo in the Cairnhill area is said to be left with fewer than 30 units.

Frasers Centrepoint sold a total 102 units last month, including 43 units at its Residences Botanique in the Yio Chu Kang/Sirat roads area.

Frasers Centrepoint’s and Far East’s sales numbers are inclusive of about 35 units sold at their two joint-venture condominium projects along Bedok Reservoir, Waterfront Waves and Waterfront Keys.

Allgreen Properties is also believed to have sold a total 62 units from its preview of Holland Residences last week. The average price is $1,625 psf.

CB Richard Ellis executive director (residential) Joseph Tan says: ‘Generally, buyers are showing more interest and there’s acceptance that prices have bottomed out with a strong likelihood of growth. Developers in their pricing policy should also leave room for capital appreciation for investors.’

A Morgan Stanley report dated Jan 27, on a survey of the Singapore private residential sector involving Singapore-based respondents, concluded that, generally, respondents are expecting prices to trend upwards gradually in the medium term rather than spiking in the next 12 months.

As for developers, DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah says: ‘When there’s a window of opportunity like what we’re seeing now, developers want to capitalise on it and try to push out projects as soon as possible; they can always restock land at government tenders.

‘After all, most economists are still calling for a note of caution on the sustainability of the global economic economy – for instance, if interest rates rise and as governments withdraw their stimulus measures.’

Source : Business Times – 2 Feb 2010

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Aspen Heights condo resale price hits $1,450 psf

Posted by luxuryasiahome on January 29, 2010

Aspen Heights may be 11 years old, but the massive 606-unit condominium located along River Valley Road has been enjoying a resurgence of interest from homebuyers, riding on strong sales of new developments nearby. After only 15 transactions hovering at the $1,000 psf level in the first half of 2009, more than 30 units have changed hands in 2H2009, with prices surging past $1,400 psf. For the period Dec 23 to 31, there were three caveats for units sold at $1,250 to $1,450 psf, according to URA Realis.

After the onset of the financial crisis in late 2008, prices at Aspen Heights sank below $1,000 psf for about half a year, before rebounding strongly in June 2009 with the rest of the market. The main reason for the upturn could be the strong sales of nearby developments, including The Wharf Residence and Martin Place Residences, which were among the top sellers last year.

The two upper-mid-tier projects were relaunched in mid-May last year at prices that were 20% lower than in early 2008. For instance, in mid-May last year, CapitaLand had priced the remaining units at the 173-unit The Wharf Residence on Tong Watt Road off River Valley Road at $1,200 to $1,500 psf, compared with $1,500 to $1,900 psf for the first phase released at previews in mid-2008. Meanwhile, Frasers Centrepoint Ltd also relaunched Martin Place Residences at Martin Place off Kim Yam Road at $1,260 to $1,700 psf, compared with its soft launch in early 2008, when 28 units were sold between $1,700 and $2,000 psf.

Since last May, however, prices of both projects have enjoyed an uplift. Last October, a high of $1,496 psf was achieved in a new sale by the developer when a 2,206 sq ft unit at The Wharf Residence was sold for $3.3 million. The condo is expected to be completed in 2013.

Likewise, at the 302-unit Martin Place Residence, sales have picked up since May. Last month, a 1,044 sq ft unit was sold for $1.88 million, or $1,800 psf, in a sub-sale according to a Dec 2 caveat. This is a 13.7% gain for the original owner, who purchased the unit from Frasers Centrepoint Homes and sold it in just six months.

The buoyant demand for homes in the River Valley Road area could also have been sparked by the new shopping centres that opened along Orchard Road last year: ION Orchard, Orchard Central, 313@Somerset and Triple One Somerset (at the former Singapore Power Building site). Easy access to a range of good schools like River Valley Primary School and Singapore Management University as well as cafés and restaurants in the Robertson Quay area continue to reel in families with school-going children as well as investors.

New developments under construction have also drawn buyer interest to existing developments in the River Valley and Mohamed Sultan neighbourhood. The largest project in the area is easily Aspen Heights, developed by the former DBS Land (now part of CapitaLand). Units range from 882 sq ft two-bedroom apartments to 1,604 sq ft for four-bedrooms, while penthouses measure 2,691 to 3,143 sq ft.

With prices recovering to 2007 levels, it’s also a good time for owners looking to sell their properties. According to a Dec 30 caveat, a 1,324 sq ft unit on the fifth floor of block 263 (one of two blocks) changed hands for $1.67 million, or $1,260 psf, translating into a 23% gain for the seller, who purchased the unit in early 2007.

On the 10th floor of the neighbouring block 261, a 2,691 sq ft penthouse fetched $3.9 million, or $1,450 psf. That’s a 19% gain for the seller, who purchased the unit for $3.28 million three years ago, according to a March 2007 caveat.

With renewed investor interest in projects in Orchard Road and investors targeting both older projects and new launches, it won’t be surprising to see resale prices at Aspen Heights returning to or even surpassing mid-2007 levels.

Source : The Edge – 25 Jan 2010

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54 units at Holland Residences sold

Posted by luxuryasiahome on January 29, 2010

THE home buying buzz continues at showflats. Allgreen Properties is said to have sold 54 units at its Holland Residences condo at Taman Warna released this week. The average price of the 68 units released in the 83-unit project is $1,625 per square foot; but the figure is weighed down by private enclosed spaces for ground-floor units in the five-storey freehold project.

Singaporeans bought 80 per cent of the units sold, says Joseph Tan, executive director at CB Richard Ellis, which is marketing the project.

In a more upscale location, a joint venture between BBR Holdings and SP Tao’s Shing Kwan Pte Ltd has sold seven of the total 16 units at its six-storey freehold 8 Nassim Hill project since last Friday. The development is expected to receive Temporary Occupation Permit at the end of March this year.

The project comprises eight townhouses and eight penthouses – all of them triplex units spanning across three levels. The townhouses occupy the project’s lower three levels and range from about 4,200 sq ft to 4,500 sq ft, while the penthouses, which are on the upper three storeys, are about 3,200 sq ft each. Each of the 16 units has its own swimming pool; each townhouse also has its own garden at the back.

The 16 units are priced between $3,100 psf and $3,400 psf or $11-14 million apiece. Singaporeans bought two of the seven units sold so far; the other five were picked up by foreigners – from Europe and Hong Kong.

In the Beach Road area, Hong Fok Corporation is said to have recently released upper-floor units at its 99-year leasehold Concourse Skyline priced at $2,200 psf to $2,400 psf. The 360-unit development reaches up to 43 storeys.

Over at Holland Residences, one-bedroom units (601 sq ft) and two bedders (ranging from 957 to 979 sq ft) were the first to be snapped up at this week’s preview.

The project also has three- and four-bedroom units as well as penthouses. Prices of one bedders start from $1.06 million. Two bedders cost between $1.63 million and $1.73 million. The most expensive units sold was $3.6 million for a four-bedroom duplex penthouse.

The average price of $1,600 psf for Holland Residences is higher than the $1,500 psf at which Ho Bee is selling its nearby Parvis, a 12-storey condo at Holland Hill.

However, there are no one-bedroom units in Parvis; developers typically can command a higher per square foot price for smallish units as the lumpsum amount is still relatively small.

Hence the tendency among some developers to build projects with a higher proportion of smallish units to achieve a higher overall average psf price for the development.

At a Knight Frank auction yesterday, a 1,206 sq ft unit on the 10th floor of Leedon 2 changed hands for $1.38 million or $1,144 psf. Leedon 2, a freehold development, is said to be more than 20 years old.

Source : Business Times – 29 Jan 2010

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MRT Circle Line phase 2 opening set to push property prices up: estate agents

Posted by luxuryasiahome on January 28, 2010

The opening of the second phase of the Circle Line MRT in April is definitely something to look forward to for residents living nearby. But those looking to sell or rent their homes are set to benefit as well.

Property agents said the opening of the 11 new stations along the Circle Line is likely to push property prices up.

Agents MediaCorp spoke to estimate home prices will increase by 10 per cent while office rents will go up by 20 per cent.

They said estates like Serangoon, Bishan and Paya Lebar have a lot of market potential while units in industrial estates are also expected to be in high demand.

Eddy Ng, division director, ERA Real Estate, said: “Most of the workers are taking public transport, it can be very accessible for them, if there’s an MRT line that leads them back home after work.”

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 28 Jan 2010

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Signs of a mild property fever as private home sales gather pace

Posted by luxuryasiahome on January 26, 2010

Developers have sold over 900 units this month as bullish sentiment returns

Developers have sold more than 900 private homes so far this month – based on BT’s poll of developers and property agents – and with another week to go, the tally is easily expected to cross 1,000 units by month’s end.

Besides Allgreen Properties’ Holland Residences, which will be previewed this week, Wing Tai is said to be at an advanced stage of preparation for an imminent preview for L’Viv at Newton Road. The average price is touted at about $1,900-$2,000 per square foot (psf) – significantly higher than the $1,700 psf average price at which Ho Bee is selling its Trilight condo nearby.

Wing Tai is eyeing a higher per square foot price by offering smallish units (thus keeping the absolute lump sum price per unit ‘affordable’ to potential buyers). The developer is said to be packaging its project with Deferred Payment Scheme as it had clinched approval for it before the scheme was scrapped in 2007.

L’Viv comprises a total of 147 units – 72 units have one bedroom and a study and these come in two sizes, both 600-sq ft plus; another 72 units have two bedrooms and a study (all about 1,000 sq ft); and there are three penthouses (all three bedders).

Trilight does not have any one-bedders. It has two, three and four bedders as well as penthouses. Two bedders range from 1,100 to 1,200 sq ft.

Fortune Development is also slated to begin previewing this week RV Edge in the River Valley/Shanghai Road vicinity. The 108-unit freehold project, being marketed by Huttons, comprises mostly smallish apartments ranging from one-bedders to two-bedroom with study units. The smallest unit is about 400 sq ft. Prices are expected to start from $600,000-plus per apartment.

City Developments Ltd (CDL) said yesterday evening that it has sold about 85 per cent or about 150 of the the total 177 units at its Cube 8 condo at Thomson Road, which it began previewing last week.

Singaporeans bought 75 per cent of the units sold. The other 25 per cent were picked up by permanent residents (PRs) and other foreigners – mainly from Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Korea, India, China and Europe.

The District 11 freehold project was initially priced at $1,250 psf on average but prices were upped 2-3 per cent for subsequent releases.

CDL group general manager Chia Ngiang Hong said in a statement that the buyers were an ‘equal mix of owner-occupiers and investors’ and that this pointed to the development’s appeal to both home owners and investors.

Some market watchers suggest, however, that the project has probably also drawn a fair number of specuvestors. Slightly over half of the total 177 units comprised one and two bedders and these were the first to go, mirroring the pattern for other projects that were launched in Districts 9, 10 and 11 last year.

In addition to the buying buzz created this month from the release of new projects, some developers have been pleasantly surprised with a steady stream of activity even for existing projects that have been on the market for at least a few months. For instance, Ho Bee Investment has sold about 60 units at its Parvis condo at Holland Hill and 10 units at Trilight since the start of the year.

CDL is also understood to have sold more than 50 units at its Livia condo in Pasir Ris this month and the 724-unit project is now left with about 10 units.

‘Sentiment has picked in the mid and high-end markets because of the improvement in the economy; the imminent opening of the two integrated resorts (IRs) may also have given a psychological boost to foreign buying interest, which seems to be returning,’ says Ho Bee executive director Ong Chong Hua.

Agreeing, a fellow developer said: ‘We’re seeing a bigger variety of buyers from the region this round – including markets like Myanmar and Laos.’

UOL Group has sold this month 25 units at Double Bay Residences in Simei and 18 units at Meadows @ Peirce along Upper Thomson Road. The group plans to launch two projects in the first half of this year – a 99-year-leasehold condo with about 600-plus units at Dakota Crescent and a project with some 170 units on the Rainbow Gardens site in the Toh Tuck area. The latter will be a joint development with LaSalle Asia Opportunity II fund.

Developers’ home sales slipped below the 1,000-unit per month mark in Q4 last year as they wound down their launch activities towards year-end. Some potential buyers had also grown cautious following the government’s measures in September to cool the property fever.

However, fear of missing the boat appears to be re-igniting with strong signs of another round of price hikes this year.

‘For the economy, the worst is over and much of the physical infrastructure investment like the IRs is close to completion,’ says Knight Frank chairman Tan Tiong Cheng.

Asked if the authorities are likely to come up with fresh measures to cool the market if another wave of buying frenzy builds up, Mr Tan said: ‘Frankly, it’s very hard to deter people from buying, if you look at how strong the HDB resale market is. There’s very strong bottom-up support.’

Source : Business Times – 26 Jan 2010

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85% of units in CDL’s Cube 8 sold

Posted by luxuryasiahome on January 25, 2010

City Developments (CDL) said it has sold 85 per cent of the units in its Cube 8 development, located at the former Albany and Thomson Mansion site along Thomson Road.

Private previews for the former sites’ owners, directors and staff of CDL started last Thursday and the public preview began on Friday.

Over the weekend, all the one- and two-bedroom apartments have been sold.

Singaporeans made up the majority of buyers. Permanent residents and foreigners mainly from the region, India and Europe bought 25 per cent of the units.

The 36-storey freehold development comprises 177 units of one- to four-bedroom apartments and sky villas, ranging from 560 square feet to 3,229 square feet in size.

The launch was at an average price of S$1,250 per square foot, with a marginal increase of two to three per cent for subsequent release.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 25 Jan 2010

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Landed homes lift private property market

Posted by luxuryasiahome on January 23, 2010

LANDED homes turned out to be the star performer of the private property market last year, rising far more in price than other types of housing.

As a whole, detached, semi-detached and terrace houses jumped in price by 8.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year and 7.7 per cent for the whole of 2009.

This significantly outstripped condominiums and apartments, according to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday.

Despite rising 7.2 per cent in the fourth quarter, non-landed property registered a meagre 0.5 per cent price increase for last year.

‘Landed homes are limited in supply, so people always aspire towards owning one,’ said Ms Chua Chor Hoon, head of South-east Asia research at DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.

‘When the market was in a slump, some buyers took the chance to buy landed properties. And now that condominium prices have gone up a lot again, people are seeing better value in landed homes.’

Terrace houses, the cheapest type of landed housing, were the most sought-after. Prices of terraces shot up 10 per cent last year, followed by semi-detached houses with an 8.8 per cent rise.

Detached houses – which include good-class bungalows, the grande dames of Singapore property – rose in price by a smaller 5.6 per cent last year.

Taken together with non-landed property, this translated into overall private home prices rising by 1.8 per cent for the whole of last year.

The rise in prices, despite 2009 being a recession year, was entirely due to the property market roaring back to life in the second half of the year as the economy emerged from recession.

Private home prices jumped 7.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, after soaring 15.8 per cent in the third quarter, said the URA yesterday.

Unlike in earlier quarters, the price increase between October and December was led by more expensive homes nearer to town.

Prices of homes on the city-fringe – covering the East Coast, Queenstown and Bishan – rose the most, by almost 10 per cent.

Homes in the core central region, which refers to the prime districts of 9, 10, 11, Marina Bay and Sentosa, saw prices rise by 7.3 per cent.

For the first time, suburban homes were the laggard in the fourth quarter last year, with a price rise of only a 6.3 per cent.

But although overall prices surged in the fourth quarter, home sales slowed considerably.

Only 1,860 new homes were sold in the final quarter of last year, just a third of the sales in the preceding quarter, said Mr Li Hiaw Ho, executive director of CB Richard Ellis Research.

Resale and sub-sale transactions fell by about half in the fourth quarter, which is traditionally a subdued period for home sales. Last year, this coincided with the introduction of government measures to cool the property market in September.

For the whole year, home buyers bought 14,688 new homes from developers and 18,129 homes from other home owners. While this was a big jump from the muted activity in 2008, sales were still lower than during the boom year of 2007, Mr Li said.

He expects home sales to moderate this year after last year’s rapid buying activity.

About 8,000 to 10,000 new homes will probably be sold, while prices are projected to rise by 8 per cent to 10 per cent through the year, led by the high-end segment of the market, according to Mr Li’s forecasts.

‘Already, the year has started with a positive sentiment in light of the Government’s forecast of 3per cent to 5 per cent economic growth for the whole year,’ he said. ‘Increased hiring and pay rises are also on the cards.’

Source : Straits Times – 23 Jan 2010

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