singapore property weekly issue 34
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8/3/2019 Singapore Property Weekly Issue 34
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CONTENTSp2 Singapore Property News This Week
p5 Should You Buy Completed or
Under Development Properties?
p15 Resale Property Transactions(December 24 December 30)
p16 Singapore Property Classifieds #23
Welcome to the 34th edition
of the Singapore Property
Weekly.
Hope you like it!
Mr. Propwise
FROM THE
EDITOR
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 34
Singapore Property This Week
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Residential
Freehold Royalville and Ming Arcade upfor sale again, with lower asking prices
174,176 sq ft residential Royalville located on
Bukit Timah Road is asking $320 million to
$370 million, lower than its earlier asking
price of $370 million to $400 million. This isabout $1,312 psf ppr, or $1,197 psf ppr if it
takes into account the additional 10%
balcony space and the $1.16 million
development charge. The gross plot ratio is
1.4, and can be built up to five storeys.
Ming Arcade, a commercial developmentlocated near Orchard Road, is asking for
$120 million or $2,180 psf ppr, lower than the
earlier $130 million or $2,360 psf ppr. The
site with a 55,046 sq ft gross floor area
consists of 88 commercial or retail strata
units ranging from 140 sq ft to 620 sq ft.
Zoned commercial, the site with a 4.2 gross
plot ratio can be redeveloped into a 20-storey
high development for office and retail
purposes or for hotel and mixed commercial
and residential uses, provided approval isgranted.
The tender will close at 2.30pm on Feb 15 for
the former 3pm on Feb 16 for the latter.
Freehold Asia Gardens and Jade Towers
up for collective sale
92,412 sq ft Jade Towers located along Lew
Lian Vale, is asking of $108.8 million to
$110.8 million or $826 to $841 psf ppr.
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With its fairly rectangular configuration, it
could be reconfigured to a GFA of 131,702 sq
ft which can support 101 1,200 sq ft
apartment units.
84-unit Asia Gardens located on Everton
Road is asking for $302.6 million to $307.7
million or $1,500 to $1,525 psf ppr. Zoned
'residential', the 72,059 sq ft site has a 2.8
plot ratio and 201,765 sq ft GFA.
The tenders close at 3pm on Feb 16 and 29respectively.
Most PRs owning HDB flats occupy the
flats they own
95% of permanent residents (PR) who own a
flat also occupy the flat. This was revealed inan answer to Mr Ang Hin Kee, Member of
Parliament (MP) for Ang Mo Kio GRCs
question as to whether PRs have to occupy
the HDB flats that they own.
Owners are expected to occupy their flats
unless they have legitimate reasons for not
being able to do so, in which case they may
seek approval to sublet their flats. After 3
years they have to reapply if they want to
continue to sublet their flat.
Tepid bidding with lower top bid at Bartley
residential plot
The 99-year leasehold private condo site
located near Bartley MRT Station drew fivebids with a top bid of $388.1 million or
$495.01 psf ppr, 20.2% lower than that of a
nearby 99-year leasehold site sold last year,
which drew eight bids. Both bids were won by
a Hong Leong Holdings, City Developments
and TID consortium, which had probably bidto prevent the prices for its upcoming launch
of its project on the previous site from being
undercut.
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Bartley Residences, built on the earlier site,
will consist of 702 units with one to four
bedrooms and an average price of $1,200
psf. By winning the bid at the latest site, not
only can the developer prevent its prices from
being undercut, it will also be able to spread
its breakeven costs between the two sites
and establish its standing in the region. The
breakeven cost for the new site is estimated
to be $880 to $1,000 psf.
The difference between the two sites winning
bids was predicted to be 5-10%, but it turned
out to be higher, possibly because of the poor
economic outlook and the recent measures.
Another reason could be that the new site is
less attractive, being situated near BartleySecondary School, SPCA and the Gurkha
Cantonment rather than being next to the
MRT station and located near a landed
housing estate.
The tepid bidding trend is expected to
continue, but attractive sites may draw more
and higher bids.
3,923 new flats offered in first BTO launchof the year
HDB is offering 3,923 new flats out of the total
of 25,000 build-to-order (BTO) units it
planned to offer in 2012 in its launch of five
new BTO projects in Choa Chu Kang,
Punggol, Sengkang and Tampines. There are
plans to offer 4,110 more new flats for sale in
Bedok, Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang, Bukit
Timah, Clementi, Geylang and Toa Payoh two
months later.
While the flats may see decent take-upparticularly for flats in Tampines and Choa
Chu Kang, buyers might choose to wait for
the next launch where flats launched will be
located in more attractive mature estates.
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Nonetheless, the prices for the flats are
attractive, with prices of four-room flats
starting from $277,000 (inclusive of CPF
housing grants) at the two Tampines projects -
Tampines Alcoves and Tampines
GreenTerrace, compared to $450,000 for a
resale flat in the same location.
$408m top bid for 99-year leasehold
262,828.6 sq ft condominium site in
Clementi
The site with a 2.8 maximum plot ratio and a
potential space of 735,920.1 sq ft and yield of
685 units located along Jalan Lempeng
attracted eight bids, with the highest of
$554.41 psf ppr from Multi Wealth (Singapore)
Pte Ltd. The interest in the site was expected
since there has not been any condominium
project launches in Clementi for years and
there will likely be demand for private
residential units in the area. Another reason
for the interest would be its proximity to the
Clementi MRT station, bus interchange and
amenities in the town centre. Breakeven cost
and selling price for the site is expected to be
$950 and $1,000 psf and $1,200 to $1,300 psf
respectively.
Far East had sold 309 of 411 released units
of The Hillier
75% or 309 of the 411 released units of The
Hillier located at Hillview Avenue has been
sold, 90% of which were sold to Singaporeans
and permanent residents who mostly are
already living in the Hillview and Upper Bukit
Timah region. The units in the 99-year
leasehold 528 Soho style units were sold at
an average of $1,200 psf, and will have
access to a retail podium called HillV2
integrated in the development.
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Confirmed tenants in the 33-unit (ranging
from 311 sq ft to 8,887 sq ft), two-storey
55,500 sq ft HillV2 include Market Place,
Dean & Deluca and Cold Stone Creamery.
60% of the units will be for food and
beverage.
Commercial
Good sales for strata office and industrial
units
99-year leasehold 13-storey Paya Lebar
Square, an office and retail development
located next to Paya Lebar MRT Station has
sold 60 of its office units to a 50-50 division of
investors and end-users at an average price
of $1,700 psf. The buyers are all Singapore
companies. It has released a total of 200 of
its 550 units so far until its official launch in
February. The units include 79 484-sq ft units,
335 units ranging from 501 sq ft - 1,000 sq ft,
120 units ranging from 1,001-1,500 sq ft and
22 units above 1,500 sq ft. The 13-storey
building will consist of office strata units on
levels 4 - 13, with the carpark on levels 2 3,
and a retail podium from the basement to the
second level. Decisions on the retail podium
have not been made the developer could
sell it to a single buyer, sell it in strata units
and lease it out.
12-storey freehold Eldix, an industrialdevelopment located at 11 Mandai Estate has
sold almost 20 strata industrial units at an
average price of $470 psf to Singapore
entities that are mainly end-users, though
some are investors. The developer, EL
Development, will occupy a flatted factory uniton the 12th floor, leaving 167 1,389 sq ft to
1,862 sq ft units on the first 11 levels to be
sold and the first level for a staff canteen.
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Should You Buy Completed or Under Development Properties?
By Calvin Yeo (reproduced with permission
from his blog
www.investinpassiveincome.com)
A constantly debated topic in Real Estate has
always been whether one should buy
completed or under development properties.
The answer is: it depends on your need and
situation. I for one have done both and I
would like to share my experience. Frankly, I
dislike buying under construction properties
nowadays as I hate waiting a long time before
I start seeing any Real Returns. However, I
will still go through the Pros and Cons of
each.
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Pros of Buying Underdevelopment
Properties
1. Developer Freebies
Developers often give freebies like Free
Stamp Duty, Free Legal Fees, Rebates and
others. There are also developments where
the Developer absorbs the interest during the
construction period, known as Interest
Absorption Scheme/Deferred PaymentScheme. In some lesser known
developments, Developers may also give out
Rental Guarantees for a number of years to
attract investors. However, the Developers
normally have already priced these incentives
into the pricing, so its not usually that great a
deal after all.
2. Ease of Financing
Developers usually work with Panel Banks to
secure financing for their buyers. As such,
valuation is usually not required for these
properties as the banks have already
accepted the valuation of the developers
pricing. Banks may also come up with
innovative schemes like No Payment Down or
minimal down payment required for certain
developments.
3. Low Payment Upfront
As described earlier, a combination of Free
Stamp Duty and Legal Fees basically reduce
transaction costs. Coupled with low down
payment schemes, the down payment can be
pretty low.
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Its one of the cheapest options to purchase a
property.
4. Brand New
Buying an under development project means
getting a brand new property when you
receive the keys. For some people, its a
psychological comfort that the house is brand
new and much cleaner than one which has
been lived in before. There will also be
minimal hassles with repairs and
maintenance since it would be covered by the
developer during the Defects Free period.
Cons of Buying Under Development
Properties
1. Risk of Abandoned Projects and Delays
The most basic risk is that the development
gets delayed or worse still never gets
completed. Its a real risk in countries such as
Malaysia where any Tom, Dick and Harry can
become a developer. For larger, well known
developers the risk of the project getting
abandoned is less likely. In this case, the risk
may be delays in delivering the completed
property.
2. Unable to See the Final Product
Developers are known to furnish showrooms
with the most expensive materials, furniture
and fixtures which may not be in the actual
unit. Showrooms also employ many visual
tricks like walls of mirrors, breaking down
doors and divisions to make the space
appear larger than it actually is. The site plan
may also be somewhat different, so the layout
of certain rooms may not be as ideal as you
expected.
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Also, standing at the ground floor of the
showroom, its difficult to imagine what your
view would look like; the last thing you want is
to see a cemetery right from your living room(it happened to a friend of mine before).
3. Long Waiting Time
The standard length of time to completion is
anywhere from 2 years to 4 years, so its a
long wait. If your development does not offer aDeferred Payment Scheme, you will have to
make interest payments for the Progressive
Payments of the project. In addition to the
opportunity costs of the downpayment locked
in during those years, the holding costs could
be quite sizeable. The money could havebeen invested in low risk stocks/bonds for 3-
4% return per year.
4. Market Uncertainty
For investors, the market can be very
unpredictable. 2 to 4 years is a long time and
anything can happen when you get the keys.Should there be a downturn during that time,
you could be in for a tough time. Those who
are hit particularly hard by this are speculators
who just buy with the aim of flipping for a gain
upon completion. A hot market inevitably
draws in a lot of speculators who do not have
the ability to hold the units and they may be
forced to sell at low prices, lowering market
values for the property.
5. Higher Prices Than Resale Properties
In recent years, new properties are almost
always priced above currently available resale
properties in the same area.
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I am sure you have heard all the factors,
inflation, rise in construction costs, rise in
material costs, higher land cost, new design
blah blah blah. There may be some truth in
them, but its up to you to decide if the
developers are overpricing their projects.
6. Rental Yields Uncertain
Sales people will always quote unreasonably
high rental yields and always boast the
rentability of the project to expats or students.
Investors for some reason have a constant
fascination with either expats or the student
rental market so the sales people will always
try to touch on these factors. It is important to
note that half of the things sales people say
are exaggerations so I would never take them
too seriously. Do your own research on how
certain these units are likely to rent and the
probable rental rate.
Pros of Buying Completed Properties
1. What You See Is What You Get
You will be able to see the actual unit before
you commit to purchasing it the exact
layout, quality of furnishing, view, who the
neighbours are, occupants of the
development, surrounding amenities and
more. All these factors are critical factors to
the rentability of your unit, so its great to be
able to see them, reducing your risk
considerably.
2. Cheaper than New Properties
Resales properties are not always old and
dilapidated. In fact, some are newly
completed! In my opinion, those new
completed properties usually represent a
good buy especially if the price is still below
the launch prices of new projects.
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3. Instant Rental
Once the transaction is completed, you will be
able to rent out the unit for income instantly.
Better yet, if the purchase comes with a rentalagreement, it saves you the agent costs and
searching costs. This is another very
important factor, getting Instant Returns once
you actually own the unit instead of having to
wait.
4. Ability to Calculate Rental Yield
Even if the actual unit is not rented out, it is
quite easy to derive an approximate rental
based on other units rented in the same
project. The ability to calculate rental yield is
an important determinant of whether the priceyou are paying for the property is reasonable.
The higher the rental yield, the better the
price is.
Cons of Buying Completed Properties
1. Higher Transaction Costs and Cash Outlay
In a resale, the buyer often has to pay for all
the transaction costs upfront such as Stamp
Duty, Legal Fees, Financing Fees, Valuation
etc. and more. Furthermore, the
downpayment will have to be paid in full in a
relatively short timeframe of 3 to 6 months.
The cash outlay is normally much higher
when you buy a completed property.
2. Difficulty In Getting Valuations
In some cases of hot properties, it may be
difficult to get banks to match current asking
prices since valuation prices are normally
based on historical. If you believe in the
potential of the property, you have to either
shop around, push banks to increase their
valuations or even
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top up the difference in cash. Again, having
the cash on hand is critical in such situations.
You can always refinance the property to get
the cash out after the valuers have caught up
with the new valuation.
3. Repair and Renovation Costs
Buying a resale property normally means
having to do some repairs and renovations.
Depending on the state of the property and
age of the furnishings, the costs can be eitherminor cosmetic touch ups or astronomical for
those with structural defects. It is therefore
important to get an expert to check on
potential defects especially if you are buying
an old house. Then again, there are many
who have made good money by buying old
houses, renovating them and flipping for a
good profit.
After going through all the Pros and Cons, you
should have a good idea of the differences
between both options. I personally prefer
buying Completed Properties, but for some
people Under Development Properties may
be a better choice.
Calvin Yeo is the founder of the Making
Passive Income blog. He graduated with aBusiness Major in Finance and Accounting
and spent a few years working in an
investment bank. The knowledge from his
studies and working experience serve as a
good base for him to grasp the ideas for
passive income generation.
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Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Dec 24 Dec 30
NOTE: This data only covers non-landed residential resale propertytransactions with caveats lodged with the Singapore LandAuthority. Typically, caveats are lodged at least 2-3 weeks after apurchaser signs an OTP, hence the lagged nature of the data.
Postal
DistrictProject Name
Area
(sqft)
Transacted
Price ($)
Price
($ psf)Tenure
4 MARINA COLLECTION 1,873 5,338,050 2,850 99
4 MARINA COLLECTION 2,099 5,877,200 2,800 99
4 MARINA COLLECTION 2,099 5,877,200 2,800 99
4 CARIBBEAN AT KEPPEL BAY 1,335 2,150,000 1,611 99
9 THE CLAYMORE 3,348 8,500,000 2,539 FH
9 LANGSTON VILLE 936 1,120,000 1,196 999
10 THE TRESOR 1,927 3,600,000 1,868 999
10 DUCHESS CREST 1,345 1,710,000 1,271 99
11 NEWTON 18 614 1,070,000 1,744 FH
11 T HOMSON EURO-ASIA 1,130 1,850,000 1,637 FH
11 NINETEEN SHELFORD ROAD 635 868,000 1,367 FH
11 DUNEARN LODGE 1,098 880,000 802 99
12 THE MARQUE @ IRRAWADDY 883 1,100,000 1,246 FH
12 PARC HAVEN 1,475 1,700,000 1,153 FH
12 BALESTIER PLAZA 1,367 1,280,000 936 FH
12 MOONSTONE RESIDENCES 1,238 1,128,000 911 FH
14 SIMS GREEN 990 870,000 879 99
14 MORO MANSIONS 936 750,000 801 FH
15 THE SEA VIEW 1,647 2,250,000 1,366 FH
15 THE ESTA 1,345 1,772,000 1,317 FH
15 D'ECOSIA 1,604 1,680,000 1,047 FH
15 FORTUNE SPRING 1,163 1,050,000 903 FH
15 ESPIRA SPRING 2,099 1,800,000 858 FH
Postal
DistrictProject Name
Area
(sqft)
Transacted
Price ($)
Price
($ psf)Tenure
15 SHEBA LODGE 1,141 830,000 727 FH
17 DAHLIA PARK CONDOMINIUM 1,281 1,000,000 781 FH
17 LIGHTHOUSE 1,195 860,000 720 99
17 BALLOTA PARK CONDOMINIUM 1,442 960,000 666 FH
19 JANSEN MANSIONS 1,259 920,000 731 999
20 GOLDENHILL PARK CONDOMINIUM 1,313 1,500,000 1,142 FH
20 THE WINDSOR 1,539 1,460,000 949 FH
21 THE HILLSIDE 1,313 1,286,000 979 FH
21 THE RAINTREE 1,270 1,215,000 957 99
21 THE RAINTREE 1,335 1,241,550 930 99
21 SIGNATURE PARK 1,421 1,260,000 887 FH
22 THE CENTRIS 1,066 1,360,000 1,276 99
23 PARKVIEW APARTMENTS 926 680,000 735 99
23 MAYSPRINGS 1,335 970,000 727 99
27 ORCHID PARK CONDOMINIUM 1,141 797,000 699 99
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Singapore Property Classifieds #23For Sale
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