Dear friends, 2015 is coming to an end.
We are conducting a short survey on the real estate outlook in Singapore. Please participate in this survey to help us consolidate response from the public with regard to Singapore’s property outlook for the near future.
Part 1 (Overall and Residential)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/L2ND99S
Part 2 (Commercial Real Estate)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LSH3M9J
Thank You and Merry Christmas!
Lower prices have helped to entice buyers in a down market, going by sales at two recent property launches.
Developers have adjusted their expectations in a bid to gain some traction amid falling sales, in the wake of cooling measures and stringent financing rules.
Take Kingsford Waterbay, a 1,165-unit development in Upper Serangoon that sold 140 homes over the weekend.
The average sales price of $1,050 to $1,180 per sq ft (psf) was below an initial expected selling price of $1,200 psf, the project’s developer Kingsford Development told The Straits Times recently.
The weekend sales included that of a 1,949 sq ft semi-detached unit, which was sold for $2.14 million – or $1,097 psf – and a 1,625 sq ft strata terrace unit, which fetched $1.76 million, or $1,080 psf.
The firm said that most of the units sold were two-bedders, spanning 614 to 721 sq ft. Singaporean buyers were in the majority, comprising mostly young couples and upgraders, the firm added.
Kingsford Waterbay includes apartments, six strata terrace houses, two strata semi-detached houses, a childcare centre and six shops.
Meanwhile, GuocoLand’s 1,024-unit Sims Urban Oasis in Sims Drive sold 29 apartments over the weekend, bringing the sales tally to “more than 170 units” since sales began on Feb 14.
Property agents said that discounts of up to 19 per cent were offered over the Chinese New Year holiday. But that has now shrunk to 18 per cent.
GuocoLand said units were snapped up for between $1,295 and $1,595 psf.
Other upcoming launches this quarter include NorthPark Residences by Frasers Centrepoint and Botanique at Bartley by UOL Group.
http://business.asiaone.com/news/condo-developers-dangle-discounts-down-market#sthash.SOA63wx7.dpuf
A HOUSING Board tender for a mixed-use commercial/residential site at Yishun Ave 4 which closed on Tuesday garnered a “muted” turnout from just five bidders.
This fell short of consultants’ earlier predicted six, to as many as 18 bidders by the most bullish of the lot.
Northern Resi and Northern Retail, both units of listed construction engineering group BBR Holdings, beat four others to offer the highest price of S$185.09 million, which translates to S$629.24 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).
Again, this was below even the floor of consultants’ predictions of at least S$650 psf ppr for the highest bid.
The Yishun plot, with a gross floor area of about 27,327 square metres, is the first of two selected government land sale sites to adopt a new building method called prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC). It has to meet a certain level of prefabrication under new government rules for the built sector.
Two Koh Brothers units, KBD Ventures and Changi Properties, put in a very close second highest bid of S$181.6 million (S$617.37 psf ppr), only 1.9 per cent less than the highest tenderer.
R’ST Research director Ong Kah Seng thus called the top bid a “chance occurrence”. When interest is high in a site, bidders would bid aggressively, resulting in a wide margin between the first and second bids, but there was notably no outlying top bid in this tender, he said.
Sim Lian (Focus) Pte Ltd put in the third highest bid of S$168 million (S$571.14 psf ppr). The fourth and fifth bidders were Wee Hur Development and KSH Land Development, respectively.
Desmond Sim, CBRE research head for South-east Asia, said it was not surprising that the tender participants were developers with a construction arm, given the site’s mandatory use of PPVC technology. “Such developers have the advantage of being able to control construction costs better, transferring potential savings into their profit margins,” he said.
But the higher construction cost using the PPVC method – which involves assembling whole rooms or apartment units complete with internal fixtures off-site, and installing them on-site Lego-style – may also have been priced into the subdued bids, SLP International executive director Nicholas Mak said.
“In a buoyant property market, the developer may be able to pass on the higher construction costs to the buyers. But this could be difficult in the current market,” he said. The alternative would thus be for the developer to lower its own land costs.
Ong Teck Hui, national research director at JLL, said the bidders also likely also took into account retail and residential competition in the vicinity.
Northpoint City, an integrated development which includes the largest mall in the north, will be completed in 2018, while Junction Nine at Yishun Ave 9 will be ready in mid-2017. There are also some 920 units for sale at Northpark Residences, and 660 units for sale at Symphony suites.
Chia Siew Chuin, director of research & advisory at Colliers, cited the requirement for the commercial component of the development to be held under a single strata lot as another reason for the low bids.
“This disallows any strata subdivision of the commercial component during the lease term, which could have prompted a more cautious bidding strategy from developers due to the more restrictive investment exit options available,” she said.
The expected breakeven price for the residential component is estimated to be S$950 to S$1,000 psf. Its selling price could range from S$1,050 to S$1,150 psf, depending on the state of the market when it launches, she said.
The retail component could also achieve monthly gross rents of S$6 to S$12 psf, she added.
http://www.btinvest.com.sg/property/local/lower-than-expected-bids-at-tender-for-yishun-mixed-site/
SALES at TRE Residences in Geylang, a 250-unit condominium project jointly developed by Sustained Land, MCC Land and Greatview Development, will begin next weekend at an average indicative pricing of S$1,560 per square foot (psf).
The developers are also dangling early-bird discounts of up to 5 per cent during the Nov 15-16 launch.
The project’s launch is coming ahead of GuocoLand’s condo project at Sims Drive, Sims Urban Oasis, that is expected to be launched only early next year.
After factoring in the early-bird discounts, prices at TRE Residences start from S$690,000 for a 420-sq-ft one-bedder to S$899,900 for a 570-sq-ft two-bedder, S$1.179 million for a 764-sq-ft compact three-bedroom unit and S$1.38 million for a 947-sq-ft four-bedroom dual-key unit, according to marketing materials.
Huttons and PropNex are the official marketing agents for TRE Residences, a project that is 51 per cent owned by Sustained Land, 29 per cent by Greatview Development and 20 per cent by MCC Land (Singapore), a unit of the Metallurgical Corporation of China.
According to MCC Land managing director Tan Zhiyong, the breakeven price for the project is around S$1,300 psf, in line with the earlier projections of property consultants.
The project was widely expected to start selling at above S$1,400 psf, given the land bid of S$776 psf per plot ratio or S$146 million tabled by Sustained Land in January this year, consultants said.
SLP International executive director Nicholas Mak noted that the average indicative pricing for TRE Residences is steep compared to the median prices of between S$1,151 psf and S$1,497 psf for new sale transactions in the vicinity, including The Centren and Grandview Suites, in the past one year.
The 99-year-leasehold TRE Residences is priced similarly to freehold resale units at two other Geylang projects, Centra Heights and Centra Studios, which have a median price of S$1,507 psf and S$1,687 psf respectively for units transacted over the past one year.
R’ST Research director Ong Kah Seng noted that while the ideal price for a project in this locality would be around S$1,450 psf, the developers are likely assuming marginal profits due to the high land price paid for the smallish plot near Aljunied MRT Station.
The small number of units in the project and its location may work to its favour, said Mr Ong. “This location is very suitable for tenants who are single expatriates or those who prefer renting a small apartment, at most co-sharing of an apartment. Rental prospects for this project is fairly positive due to its convenient location.”
Mr Mak noted that the rental yields for selected 99-year condos near TRE Residences hover at 3.8-3.9 per cent per annum. To match this rental yield, the expected monthly rents for units in TRE Residences have to range from S$4.79 to S$5.19 psf. The median monthly rents in the Geylang planning area, however, have been S$3.30-S$3.80 psf in the past 15 months, he said.
Elsewhere, developers are also dangling discounts for selected units in existing launches to revive buyers’ interest. Roxy-Pacific is offering an additional 8 per cent discount for limited units at Trilive in Kovan; Singapore Land is tagging a 10 per cent discount and another 7 per cent discount for the absorption of the additional buyers’ stamp duty for limited units in Alex Residences in Redhill.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/tre-residences-to-be-launched-next-weekend
Resale prices of non-landed private homes dipped marginally in September by 0.3 per cent month-on-month, according to flash estimates from SRX Property on Tuesday (Oct 14).
When compared with September 2013, resale prices of non-landed private homes have dropped 4.6 per cent. Compared with the recent peak in January 2014, prices have declined 5.6 per cent, SRX said.
Resale prices of private homes in the Outside of Central Region dropped the most last month, falling 2.1 per cent compared with August. In comparison, prices in the Core Central Region and Rest of Central Region rose by 0.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively.
Resale volume rose sharply, with an estimated 468 non-landed private homes resold in September, up 15.3 per cent from the 406 transacted units in August.
TOX IMPROVES, BUT REMAINS NEGATIVE
The overall median Transaction Over X-value (TOX), which measures whether people are overpaying or underpaying the SRX Property X-Value estimated market value, remained at -S$2,000 last month, up from -S$10,000 in August.
For districts with more than 10 resale transactions, districts 10, 15 and 16 saw a positive median TOX, with district 15 posting the highest median TOX of S$65,000, followed by district 16 with S$18,000 and district 10 with S$10,000.
Conversely, district 9, 11 and 12 had the lowest median TOX with -S$37,000, -S$35,000 and -S$23,000, respectively.
RENTAL VOLUME, PRICES DOWN
As for rental transactions, the number of non-landed private homes rented out last month was 3,171 – a 14 per cent decline from August. Year-on-year, rental volume improved by 8.7 per cent from the 2,916 units rented in September 2013.
However, rental prices continued declining, slipping 0.2 per cent from the previous month – the eighth consecutive month of decline.
The decline was greatest in the Outside of Central Region at 0.9 per cent and the Rest of Central Region at 0.6 per cent. Units in the Core Central Region saw a rent increase of 0.3 per cent, SRX said.
Sales of private homes by developers in Singapore fell by about two-thirds in June from May, hurt by ongoing Government measures to cool the housing market.
Data compiled by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday (July 15) showed developers sold 482 units in June, down 68 per cent from May when sales of 1,488 units were booked.
The bulk of the sales involved homes located outside the central region, with 269 units changing hands. Another 46 sales were made in the central region, while the rest of central region accounted for 167 units, the URA data revealed.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore/singapore-private-home/1264624.html 
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http://sgbayhomes.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/d7-office-for-rent/
http://www.todayonline.com/business/developers-cautious-sembawang-ec-site-tender
SINGAPORE – Only four bids were tabled for an Executive Condominium (EC) site in Sembawang Avenue, in another sign that the repeated rounds of cooling measures and loan curbs are taking their toll on the property market here.
FCL Tampines Court and KH Capital placed the top bid of S$214.08 million, or about S$320 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said.
The 238,848 sq ft site has a plot ratio of 2.8 and can yield about 620 dwelling units.
Mr Nicholas Mak, executive director of SLP International Property Consultants, said: “The low number of bids tender illustrates the more cautious outlook among some developers on the EC market, especially after the Government implemented the Mortgage Servicing Ratio for EC purchases. Buyers of this EC project who are HDB upgraders will also be subject to the HDB resale levy.”
Under rules announced last December, the Mortgage Servicing Ratio for new EC units is now capped at 30 per cent of a buyer’s gross monthly income, while second-time applicants who buy such units from developers will have to pay a resale levy.
Mr Mak added that the lacklustre sales at an adjacent EC project, Skypark Residences, could have contributed to the low participation rate. Seven months after its launch, Skypark Residences still has 200 unsold units.
According to the Ministry of National Development (MND) yesterday, it is still too early to roll back property cooling measures. It said that despite home sales have decreased, prices have remained relatively stable.
The moves to rein in property prices included extra stamp duties to curb speculative buying and the total debt servicing ratio framework which was introduced a year ago.
MND noted that private home prices had surged 60 per cent during the most recent market upswing that began in mid-2009.
The MND’s comments came as prominent developer Kwek Leng Beng warned of a potential impact on Singapore’s reputation as a global city, and called for a review of the policy measures.
The National University of Singapore’s Residential Price Index out yesterday showed that prices of resale homes climbed 0.8 per cent in May from April, after falling for nine months. The Urban Redevelopment Authority’s flash estimates for private home prices will be out today.
http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/too-early-relax-property-cooling-measures-says-mnd
Dunman Road is a short road spanning from Dakota MRT station to Joo Chiat Road. It is named after Thomas Dunman (1814 – 1887) was the first Commissioner of Police in Singapore from 1856 to 1871. Both Dunman Road and Dunman Lane in the Katong area of Singapore are named after him.
A few schools were named after the road, as well as properties. Schools, Apartments and Landed homes fill this stretch of Katong.
Recent property prices in this area ranges from $1059-$1594 psf for the past two years. Nearby MRT is Dakota MRT at the Old Airport area. The newer projects here include the recently TOP Questa@Dunman and Dunman Regency.
Katong Homes 