Category Archives: HDB

Activities, Condos, Economics, General News, HDB, Landed Property, Residential property

Q1 Credit update: Mortgage loans up 20%

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Credit Bureau just recently release a report on consumer credit behaviour and how people use credit balances, as well as their payment delinquency and default rates in both secured and unsecured credit facilities. Home loans are examples of secured facilities, while unsecured debt refers to loans with no collateral, like those racked up on credit cards or overdrafts.
The highlights are as follows:

1. Mortgage loan applications rose 20 % in the three months to March 31 from the preceding quarter. The average mortgage for people aged between 21 and 29 had the greatest quarter-on-quarter change among several age groups, rising 3.4 %.

Home loan applications could have been given a boost after the Government tweaked some property cooling measures in early March since the curbs were implemented in 2009. For example the seller’s stamp duty holding period for homes bought from March 11 was shortened to three years from four years. Subsequently the sales of new private homes surged to a near four-year high in March.

2. Motor vehicle loan applications rose 4.13 %. Consumers aged between 30 and 34 had the most significant change in motor vehicle loans, with average borrowings up 5.1 %.

3. Credit card applications fell 5.97 %, while those for personal loans dropped 5.94 %. Credit card applications still made up 72 % of about 331,600 new credit applications across all facilities in the first quarter, with home loans next on 14 %. People aged between 35 and 39 were doing better than others when it came to paying off debts, with their delinquency rate for credit cards falling 5.4 % quarter-on-quarter, while the personal loan rate dropped 8.74 %.

For more details the link to report is as follows

http://www.creditbureau.com.sg/sites/default/files/CBSConsumerCreditReportQ12017.pdf

Activities, HDB, Residential property

HDB resale prices has fallen 11.7% from 2013 peak

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The resale volume for Housing Board (HDB) flats fell by 11.6 % last month from May, with 1,753 HDB resale flats were sold last month (June), compared with 1,984 in May.

At the same time, resale prices last month fell slightly, by 0.1 %, compared with May. The resale prices for the types of flats are as follows:
– three-room flats slipped 0.2 %.
– four-room flats fell by 0.3 %.
– five-room HDB flats fell by 1.5 %
– executive flats rose by 1.7 %

Across the board, HDB resale prices have fallen by 11.7 % since their peak in April 2013. Since June last year, prices have fallen slightly, by 0.2 %.

In June, HDB resale prices in mature estates rose by 0.8 % from May, compared with a 0.9 % dip in non-mature estates.

Activities, Condos, General News, HDB, Lifestyle and Neighbourhood news, Neighbourhood news, Paya Lebar/Ubi, Property news, Residential property, transport

Eunosville sold enbloc at a premium

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The collective sale market here is powering ahead with the sale of privatised HUDC estate Eunosville for $765 million. The price of $765 million at a premium of more than 17 per cent over the $643 million to $653 million the owners had asked for when the site was launched for tender in April.

The 330-unit Eunosville, built in the 1980s, could make way for as many as 1,399 units in a new project. The site has been sold to a Jardine Matheson Group unit, MCL Land, at the second-highest price ever for former HUDC estates, after Farrer Court was sold for about $1.34 billion in 2007. It was the estate’s second try at a collective sale after an unsuccessful bid in 2013.

The purchase costs, which includes the sale price and an additional $194 million of government charges, works out to a land rate of $909 per sq ft per plot ratio. The charges are payable to the state to intensify land use to a gross plot ratio of 2.8 and to top up the lease to a fresh 99 years.

Built in the late 1980s, the project has about 71 years left on the lease. It has 255 maisonettes over six residential blocks and four walk-up apartment blocks with 75 units. Each owner stands to get about $2.25 million to $2.41 million upon completion of the deal, subject to sale conditions.

The site could be rebuilt into a 1,399-unit development with an average apartment size of 70 sq m. The new units could be sold for an average of about $1,700 to $1,750 psf.

The latest deal came after the recent sale of Rio Casa estate in Hougang and mixed-use development Goh & Goh Building in Upper Bukit Timah Road, and One Tree Hill Gardens in the prime District 10. It is the fourth successful collective sale this year amid recovering sentiment and developers’ optimism over residential property.

The four collective sales year to date total slightly over S$1.5 billion. For the whole of 2016, there were three collectives sales – Raintree Gardens in Potong Pasir, Shunfu Ville in Marymount area and Harbour View Gardens in the West Coast area. The total value added up to slightly over S$1 billion. In 2015, the solo collective sale transaction was the S$380 million sale of the commercial/residential Thong Sia Building in Bideford Road. The peak year for en bloc sales was 2007, with 88 deals amounting to S$11.5 billion.

The collective sale fever cooled when the property market tanked during the 2008 global financial crisis though things started to revive again in 2010, when there were 38 collective sales, followed by 51 transactions the following year before activity began to wane again amid a price gap between owners of en bloc properties and developers.

Between 2014 and 2016, only five sold during this period out of 25 collective sale sites launched; implying that the other 20 sites were priced above what the market could bear.

 

Activities, Condos, General News, HDB, Landed Property, Property news, Residential property

Private properties rose to 27% of total housing stock

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THE number and proportion of private properties in Singapore grew in the decade between 2006 and last year. The total number of private condominium units and landed homes went up from 243,000 to 372,000 in that time, taking their share of the overall dwelling units from the 22 per cent in 2006 to 27 per cent last year.

Meanwhile, the number of Housing Development Board (HDB) flats grew from 880,000 units to 1,011,000 during the period. But despite this increase, the proportion of HDB flats out of the total housing stock went down from 78 per cent to 73 per cent.

National Development Minister Lawrence Wong unveiled these figures in Parliament. The ratio is “expected to remain stable” over the next few years, with 72 per cent of all dwelling units projected to be HDB flats in 2020.

However, he added, this proportion refers only to the housing stock in Singapore – not the total proportion of people living in flats, which remains at about 80 per cent.

Activities, General News, HDB, Residential property

Demand for HDB resale flats to remain strong in 2017

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In the latest figure for public housing resale transactions, the number of resale flats sold rose 7.8% in 2016 compared to 2015 (20,813 cases vs 19,306 cases). One identified factor is that HDB buyers have perceived that the prices for resale flats has stabilised and unlikely to fall significantly further. Also together with the pickup in more property completions, both HDB and private housing, HDB upgraders are compelled to sell their existing HDB flats in order to take possession of their new properties.

Estimated demand for resale flats is between 20,000 to 23,000 units. On the other hand HDB will offer 17,000 new flats for sale in 2017, of which the first BTO exercise will be launched in the current month. Locations includes Clementi, Punggol, Tampines, and Woodlands.

Activities, HDB, Residential property

Bishan DBSS flat sets record HDB resale price

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A Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) flat in Bishan has fetched a record $1.18 million in the priciest public housing resale deal to date. The five-roomer is one of just 12 penthouse units in the three-block, 480-unit Natura Loft project. Accordingly the flat’s attractive points included its panoramic view, central location and spaciousness.

The flat’s size is 120 sq m, which is larger than typical 110 sq m five-room Housing Board (HDB) flats today, but comparable to older HDB flats. The $1.18 million deal on Sunday beats previous records set by DBSS flats (a City View @ Boon Keng DBSS unit went for $1.1 million in August) or the Pinnacle@Duxton HDB project (fetched $1.12 million in September).

Though considered public housing, DBSS flats are developed and sold by private developers, not the HDB. Meant to provide condominium-style homes, the scheme was suspended in 2011 after public unhappiness over high selling prices.

The Natura Loft units originally cost $465,000 to $586,000 for 95 sq m four-roomers and $590,000 to $739,000 for five-roomers. At least 25 other units there have been sold on the resale market: 14 four-room flats at prices ranging from $700,008 to $818,000, and 11 other five-roomers, from $830,000 to $1.04 million. Natura Loft is one of several DBSS projects which became eligible for resale last year, along with City View, Park Central in Ang Mo Kio, and Parc Lumiere in Simei.

Activities, HDB, Heritage, Katong-JooChiat, Lifestyle and Neighbourhood news, Mountbatten-Meyer-Tg Rhu, Neighbourhood news, Residential property

Saving Dakota Crescent

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On local press recently, there is a group of architects, led by Mr Jonathan Poh, seeking to save parts of Dakota Crescent. Dakota Crescent is one of the oldest public housing estate in the island. The group is submitting a paper to MND to provide various options to save the entire area, as well as conserving parts of the iconic structures in the estate.

Based on the government’s rejuvenation plans for old housing estates, the 17 rental blocks in Dakota Crescent is primed for demolition. The residents have to vacate the area by end of 2016, to either nearby Cassia Crescent or elsewhere if they decide to buy a new flat. The site is reserved for future residential development.

The conservation plan include 8 “butterfly blocks” — curved buildings with 2 perpendicular wings at the back; blocks 10 and 20, which are similar to the already demolished blocks in St Michael’s estate in Whampoa and the Princess and Duchess estates in Queenstown. The flats were built SIT in 1958.

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