THE Housing and Development Board (HDB) has launched a land parcel in Yishun for sale under its design, build and sell scheme (DBSS). Around 700 flats can be built on the site located at the junction of Yishun Avenue 11 and Yishun Central.

Analysts estimate that the top bid could be in the region of $132-166 million, which translates to around $160-200 per square foot (psf) per plot ratio. They added that the site should draw healthy interest from developers. ‘Developers, especially those with a construction arm, will be keen on the site,’ said Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak. ‘If the flats there are priced sensibly, they will be well taken up.’

The site will also be popular because it is in a mature housing estate, said PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail. He expects flats on the site to sell for around $400 psf eventually.

Others have pricier estimates. Eugene Lim, associate director for ERA Asia-Pacific, said that a three- bedroom flat of around 1,100 sq ft on the site could sell for around $600,000, which works out to $545 psf.

HDB also said that it will continue to monitor demand for public housing and release more sites for development under the design, build and sell scheme in coming months if there is demand.

Under the scheme, the developer who wins a site will enjoy some flexibility in designing, pricing and selling the flats. But flats will still be sold only to buyers who meet HDB eligibility conditions.

HDB has offered a total of 3,653 new flats under its build-to-order scheme in Q1 2010. Potential flat buyers can also look forward to another 1,200 flats in Punggol in April.

These launches are part of HDB’s plans to offer at least 12,000 new build-to-order flats this year – or even more if there is demand. The new projects will be spread across various locations such as Punggol, Sengkang, Yishun and Jurong West. The tender for the site in Yishun will close at noon on May 18.

Source: Business Times, 31 Mar 2010

THE Housing Board (HDB) is launching a housing site at Yishun for tender today which will add another 700 homes to the housing stock.

The site, at the junction of Yishun Avenue 11 and Yishun Central, is being launched under the HDB’s design, build and sell scheme (DBSS).

This allows private developers to design, build and sell the homes directly to flat buyers. Such flats come with finishes similar to private property but are subject to HDB rules.

The site is a short distance away from the Yishun Town Centre, Yishun MRT station and bus interchange, and schools such as Huamin Primary School, North View Secondary School and Chung Cheng High School.

The leasehold site has a gross floor area of about 828,000 sq ft which includes 10,700 sq ft of space for commercial facilities and childcare centre.

This is the latest in a string of land sale tenders by the Government recently, which is moving to address concerns over the shortage of supply in the property market.

HDB’s latest site launch is in addition to its plan to offer at least 12,000 new build-to-order flats this year – or more if there is demand.

New projects will be spread across towns such as Punggol, Sengkang, Yishun and Jurong West.

HDB said yesterday it will continue to monitor the housing demand.

More sites for DBSS development will be made available in the coming months if there is demand. The latest tender will close at noon on May 18.

Source: Straits Times, 31 Mar 2010

Overall prices rise 2-5%, with new highs in resale prices in some segments

Demand for new private homes in the first quarter of 2010 more than doubled compared to Q4 2009, according to a new report. Close to 4,000 new units were sold in Q1 2010, compared to only 1,860 in the previous quarter.

The report, by CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), also said that overall private home prices rose by 2-5 per cent in Q1 2010. The price growth was supported mainly by resale transactions as developers maintained the prices of new launches in the same locations at last quarter’s levels.

In fact, resale prices in some segments hit new highs in Q1. Research from DTZ shows that resale prices of freehold landed homes as well as leasehold apartments outside the prime districts (a proxy for mass market homes) saw new peaks in Q1 2010.

Buyers continued to be out in force despite compressed yields, government measures and the large number of new land sites released during the quarter by the government.

‘Many investors are buying in anticipation of future rises in rents and prices as the economy is improving and the long-term fundamentals of Singapore are strong,’ said DTZ’s executive director for residential Margaret Thean.

In the prime districts of 9, 10 and 11, the average resale price for freehold landed homes rose by 5.7 per cent to reach a new high of $1,529 per square foot (psf) in Q1 – a 28.2 per cent rebound from the bottom one year ago. Resale prices of landed properties have now climbed for three consecutive quarters.

Prices of leasehold homes outside the prime districts (mass market homes) also hit a new peak. Non-landed resale home prices rose 2.1 per cent to $623 psf in Q1 2010, surpassing the $615 psf achieved in Q4 2007.

But the resale prices of luxury and prime freehold non-landed homes are still some 10.7 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively below their previous highs, DTZ said. Prices of luxury homes rose 4.2 per cent to $2,500 psf in Q1, while prices of prime homes climbed by a smaller 3.7 per cent to $1,456 psf.

The two segments still have room to gain as market interest has shifted from mass market to luxury and prime freehold homes.

‘Most of the new launches in the first quarter were freehold projects located in prime districts 9, 10 and 11,’ noted Joseph Tan, CBRE’s executive director for residential. These included Cube 8, Holland Residences, The Laurels and Waterscape. Sales were also strong for upmarket projects in the central business district. In Tanjong Pagar, the takeup at Altez and 76 Shenton Way was brisk because of their city locations and composition of small apartments.

The buyer profile for new units also changed substantially in Q1. Based on caveats lodged to date, about 33.7 per cent of the buyers in the first quarter of 2010 were HDB addressees (who can be considered HDB upgraders), CBRE said. The proportion of HDB upgraders in Q1 is lower than the 63.7 per cent of HDB upgraders who bought new homes a year ago in the first quarter of 2009, after the lull in 2008.

Added Mr Tan: ‘Most of the new launches then were mass-market type projects such as Caspian, Double Bay Residences and Mi Casa. In the first quarter of 2010, most of the projects launched were more upmarket and are located in the prime districts of Sentosa Cove and in the Downtown Core.’

Foreigners bought around 23.5 per cent of the new homes in Q1 2010. The top three nationalities were Indonesians, Malaysians and PRC Chinese.

CBRE expects the take-up of new homes to fall to around 3,000 units in the second quarter of 2010. Home prices are expected to rise at a gradual pace, held in check by the government measures.

Chua Chor Hoon, head of DTZ’s South-east Asia research unit, likewise said that if the buying fever and price increase continue or intensify, more government measures are likely to be introduced. She expects private home prices to climb by 5-15 per cent in 2010.

Source: Business Times, 31 Mar 2010

FRESH evidence has emerged of Singapore’s red hot property market with the Housing Board’s (HDB) latest launches attracting six applicants for every available flat.

A staggering 5,015 bids were received for 828 new flats in Sengkang and Sembawang by the application deadline of midnight on Monday.

The high level of interest outstrips that of recent years, when about four applications were typically received for each new flat, according to housing analysts.

Demand was particularly intense for five-roomers in Sengkang, where 1,341 applied for the 126 flats on offer – more than 10 applications for each flat.

This high level of interest follows January’s launch of four-roomers at Limbang Green at Choa Chu Kang, which attracted 14 applications for every flat.

The blistering demand for the developments at Fernvale Ridge in Sengkang and Sembawang RiverLodge is being attributed to the escalating prices of resale flats, which set a fresh record in the last quarter of last year.
HDB resale flat prices have risen by some 40 per cent over the past three years. ‘Demand has shifted from the resale market directly to HDB’s new flat queue, as many first-time buyers are likely to have been priced out of the resale flat market,’ said Dennis Wee Properties director Chris Koh.

PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail was not surprised by the high level of demand given that new flats were priced about 30 per cent lower than resale flats.

‘Couples who do not need flats so urgently will definitely join the queue,’ he noted.

HDB launched the Sengkang and Sembawang projects under its build-to-order (BTO) scheme, which builds only when a certain demand is reached and has a typical waiting time of three years. Combined, the projects offer 266 three-room, 436 four-room and 126 five-room units.

Fernvale Ridge’s 216 four-room flats attracted 1,671 applications, while its 180 three-roomers received 491 bids.

At Sembawang RiverLodge, the 220 four-room flats pulled 1,234 applications, while the 86 three-roomers drew 278.

Another 126 two-room flats in Sembawang RiverLodge will not be offered for sale, but set aside for lower-income families at a later date, said HDB.

Mr Ismail said he expects the demand for new flats to remain high given that resale flat prices are likely to stay robust at least in the short-term.

But Mr Koh suggested that demand for BTO projects might be less than it seems if flat applicants do not take-up flats when they are finally offered to them.

‘Some buyers who join the queue might be afraid to lose out, but are not that serious about buying,’ he said.
HDB has offered 3,653 flats this quarter, with a further 1,200 BTO units to be launched in Punggol next month.

Source, Straits Times 31 March 2010

CAPITALAND president and chief executive Liew Mun Leong said at a forum yesterday that there is no widespread asset bubble in China, because outside certain major cities, people’s mortgage payments have not become unaffordable relative to their incomes.

Mr Liew told students at the National University of Singapore Business School that there are ‘speculative forces’ in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

This can be seen from the so-called affordability ratio, which measures the proportion of the actual monthly cost of the mortgage to monthly take-home income, he said.

High numbers were flagged for Shanghai (47 per cent) and Beijing (45 per cent).

However, for the ‘whole of China’, it was only about 17 per cent – way below the 30 per cent to 40 per cent benchmark of debt service to income which experts regard as the international standard for housing affordability.

Mr Liew urged the Chinese government to continue to rein in speculation and increase the stock of affordable housing.

Affordable housing should come under a different set of policies from high-end housing because strong fundamentals underpin demand, he said. ‘Income growth still exceeds housing price growth for affordable housing.’

Mr Liew’s comments come at a time when new figures have shown that China’s property prices rose at the fastest pace in almost two years last month.

Residential and commercial real-estate prices in 70 cities climbed 10.7 per cent from a year earlier, topping a gain of 9.5 per cent in January.

To cool speculation, the authorities in January re-imposed a tax on houses sold within five years of their purchase, after having cut the taxable period to two years in January last year to bolster the then-flagging market.

Mr Liew said while China has plenty of growth potential, human capital will pose the ultimate challenge.
‘China will have 25 million tertiary students in 2010 but by this time, China will need 75,000 top level executives with global experience. Where will they come from? How will they be trained?’ he questioned.
Still, the rise of China is unstoppable, at least for now, he said.

‘There will be a rebalancing of global economic power between Asia/China and the rest of the world. The world has to adapt to this new rebalance of economic power and China too has to adapt to her new role in the changing economic world to sustain its renaissance growth.’

Source, Straits Times 31 March 2010

PRICES of private, leasehold resale homes have shot past their previous peak – in late 2007 – according to a new report by property consultancy DTZ.

The latest price rises for this segment, dominated by upgraders, while relatively modest, were enough to push average prices past the previous high. Landed resale homes saw the biggest price rises in the first quarter of the year to reach another new high while prime freehold prices edged nearer their previous peak.

Sales of new homes were strong too. A CBRE report said nearly 4,000 new homes were sold in the first quarter – more than double the 1,860 in the previous quarter.

Data from DTZ Research shows that prices of leasehold non-landed homes rose 2.1 per cent to $623 per sq ft (psf) in the first quarter, surpassing the $615 psf achieved in the fourth quarter of 2007.

DTZ said prices of these homes saw the least increase among the main property categories as they were already at high levels and there was more resistance to higher prices in the mass market.

Prices of prime freehold non-landed homes rose 3.7 per cent to $1,456 psf, 1.9 per cent below the previous peak. Luxury non-landed home prices rose 4.2 per cent to average $2,500 psf, which is 10.7 per cent below the previous peak, said DTZ.

The Singapore Residential Price Index shows private home prices rose a mere 0.2 per cent month-on-month last month after a 2.2 per cent rise in January.

Landed homes turned in another stellar showing in the first quarter, up 5.7 per cent to another new high of $1,529 psf.

This sector has now rebounded by 28.2 per cent from its bottom a year ago. It was already the star performer of the private home market last year, rising far more in price than other housing types, and lifting it safely above the 2008 peak.

Urban Redevelopment Authority data shows landed home prices jumped 7.7 per cent last year, compared with the 0.5 per cent rise in prices of non-landed homes.

The leasing market, DTZ said, was stable, with rental values remaining unchanged for the third straight quarter. The average rental value of prime non-landed homes was $3.32 psf a month, still 32.8 per cent below the high in the second quarter of 2008, it said.

The lower yields, however, had little impact on demand for new homes, as did recent government measures.
‘Many investors are buying in anticipation of a future rise in rents and prices as the economy is improving and the long-term fundamentals of Singapore are strong,’ said DTZ’s executive director (residential), Ms Margaret Thean.

The firm’s head of South-east Asia research, Ms Chua Chor Hoon, cautioned that more government cooling measures may be introduced if buying fever and price rises keep up – or intensify.

Said Colliers International director for research and advisory Tay Huey Ying: ‘At the rate the market is moving right now, there is some cause for concern. But unless mass market prices continue to rise by more than 5 per cent a quarter, the Government may not step in.’

Ms Chua expects prices to rise more moderately – by 5 per cent to 15 per cent this year. ‘The rise in landed home prices is expected to moderate this year, considering it has already risen quite a bit.’

CBRE puts the rise in first-quarter home prices at 2 per cent to 5 per cent over the fourth quarter of last year, supported mainly by resale transactions as developers have maintained prices of new launches in the same locations at last quarter’s levels.

For instance, deals at The Sail @ Marina Bay averaged $2,213 psf in the first quarter, up from $2,101 psf in the previous quarter while Ardmore Park units sold at $2,982 psf, up from $2,936 psf.

The high volume of new homes sold this quarter compared with last quarter shows the resilience of residential demand from both owner-occupiers and investors, CBRE said.

Some new projects that did well recently include West Coast’s The Vision, which sold 230 units, and 76@Shenton, which sold all its 202 units.

Most new launches in the first quarter were prime freehold projects; private home owners made up two-thirds of the buyers, with HDB upgraders accounting for the rest, said CBRE’s executive director, residential, Mr Joseph Tan. The opposite was true a year ago, when most new launches were mass market ones, he said.
Foreigners bought 23.5 per cent of the new homes in the first quarter, with the top three nationalities being Indonesian, Malaysian and Chinese.

Up and up

Source, Straits Times 31 March 2010

Phase two project studies over; Pulau Sebarok likely site

SIGNALLING practically a go-ahead for offshore oil/petrochemicals storage here, JTC Corporation said it is now progressing to prepare construction tenders for the very large floating structures (VLFS), following its completion this month of phase two project studies.

‘Moving forward, JTC is targeting to call a tender for the technical consultant in the second quarter,’ a JTC spokeswoman told BT yesterday.

‘The work scope for the technical consultant would include looking into the front-end engineering design as well as calling of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender,’ she added.

She said this in response to BT queries on whether JTC had made a final decision to proceed with the floating oil storage project – as it had earlier said it would – following the completion of its phase two studies at end-March.

But JTC declined to say more, including specifics like when it expects to embark on actual VLFS construction.

Still, there is strong rationale to proceed with the project, given the limited land available here to satisfy traders’ demand for additional on-shore storage in the oil hub here. This has led to many Singapore-based trading firms setting up tankfarms in neighbouring Johor instead.

The VLFS will most likely be anchored off Pulau Sebarok, which it earlier identified as a potential site for the project.

Sebarok – currently being used for on-shore oil storage by Dutch tankfarm operator Vopak and PetroChina-owned Singapore Petroleum Company – is very close to Shell’s Bukom refinery and not far from Jurong Island, Singapore’s main oil and petrochemicals hub.

JTC’s just-completed phase two studies covered environmental impact, engineering design, business model and security aspects.

It followed phase one studies, completed in late-2007, which showed VLFS to be technically feasible and comparable in cost to land-based oil storage. Its earlier cost estimate for a VLFS was at least $180 million.

Some industry officials, however, argue that the cost of building a VLFS – estimated at US$400 per cubic metre of storage – is slightly more than the US$300 per cu m cost of building an onshore tank, depending on steel prices.

The JTC studies had ascertained that to be economical, the minimum storage capacity of a VLFS should be 300,000 cubic metres, or equivalent to that of a very large crude carrier. VLFS would comprise two rectangular modules, each measuring 180m by 80m by 15m and with 150,000 cu m capacity.

JTC, meanwhile, has also started building the $890-million first phase of Jurong Rock Cavern (JRC) to store oil underground. Comprising five caverns, the JRC project – considered more for strategic oil storage – will offer 1.47 million cu m when completed in 2014.

Source: Business Times, 30 Mar 2010

(SINGAPORE) Stamford Land Corporation could be selling its Grade A office tower in Perth’s central business district for at least A$140 million (S$179 million).

According to The West Australian, the 13-storey Dynons Plaza at Hay Street is under construction and Stamford Land is ‘gearing up to place the asset on the market’.

Industry sources told the Australian paper that the building has a value of A$130-140 million. Chevron will be leasing the entire place – which has 13,000 square metres of office space – when it is ready in the next few weeks.

‘It is a new building, a quality long-term lease, so those sorts of assets are attractive to the market,’ said Colliers International director of investment sales Ian Mickle to The West Australian.

BT understands that Stamford Land is expecting offers of more than A$140 million. This could reap a considerable profit for the company given that the total cost of buying, holding and developing the land could have come up to some A$80-90 million.

Dynons Plaza is located next to Woodside Plaza, which serves as the headquarters for another energy firm Woodside Petroleum.

The Dynons Plaza site is part of a bigger parcel which Stamford Land bought for A$20 million in 1996. The company has sold the other parts of the land.

The West Australian reported that Stamford Land had originally planned to build a five-star hotel at the Hay Street site, but it later constructed an office block when there was no business case for a hotel.

The change seems to be working in Stamford Land’s favour. BT understands that Chevron’s lease for Dynons Plaza lasts for ten years, and its rents are set to escalate every year. Despite this, Stamford Land is said to be selling the site to focus on its core business of running luxury hotels.

Stamford owns and operates Stamford Hotels in Australia and New Zealand. The Singapore-listed counter gained 1.5 cents to close at 47.5 cents yesterday.

Source: Business Times, 30 Mar 2010

Prospect of lower bonuses for bankers, increased taxes for higher earners cited

(LONDON) Luxury-home prices in central London increased at the slowest rate since a recovery started a year ago on the prospect of lower bonuses for bankers and increased taxes for higher earners, Savills plc said.

The average value of houses and apartments costing more than £1 million (S$2.1 million) increased 3 per cent in the first quarter from the previous three months, according to the London-based property broker.

Prices gained almost 17 per cent from the year-earlier period, when an 18-month slide ended.

‘Some of the heat has come out of the market,’ said Yolande Barnes, head of residential research. ‘We’ve also yet to see any significant influx of bonus money, suggesting buyers are still keeping their options open.’

The British government announced in December a one-time 50 per cent tax on bonuses exceeding £25,000 paid to bankers in the current fiscal year. This was in response to the outcry over their compensation following state bailouts or aid that enabled banks to weather the financial crisis.

Ms Barnes predicts that prices will decline one per cent this year, following an 8.8 per cent gain in 2009, as the fragile economic recovery and higher taxes on luxury properties damp buyers’ appetite to buy homes in neighbourhoods like Chelsea, Kensington and Belgravia.

For properties worth more than £10 million, prices were 6.8 per cent higher than a year ago. ‘This sector of the market was far more resilient in the downturn, growing throughout most of 2008,’ Savills said.

Next month, a 50 per cent tax on earnings exceeding £150,000 also takes effect and the governing Labour Party will be campaigning to win a fourth term in legislative elections that must be held by June.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling last week announced that the property transfer tax, known as stamp duty, for homes costing more than £1 million will be lifted to 5 per cent from 4 per cent starting in April 2011.

‘With the expectation of a second, more unforgiving Budget later this year, activity is already noticeable lower as buyers wait to see how the wind blows,’ said Charlie Ellingworth, founder of Property Vision, the unit of HSBC Private Bank that advises wealthy buyers. — Bloomberg

Source: Business Times, 30 Mar 2010

(LONDON) UK mortgage approvals unexpectedly fell to a nine-month low in February, adding to signs that credit constraints are impeding the housing market’s recovery.

Lenders granted 47,094 loans to buy homes, compared with 48,099 in January, the Bank of England (BOE) said yesterday in London. That was the lowest since May. The median of 19 economist forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey was for 48,400.

Britain’s property market is showing signs of faltering as the economy struggles to cement its recovery from the worst recession since World War II.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party, which faces an election by June, last week eliminated a tax for most first-time home buyers in a bid to unblock strains in the market.

‘This reinforces our belief that house prices will be no more than flat this year,’ said Howard Archer, an economist at IHS Global Insight in London.

‘The government’s stamp-duty holiday will probably give the market a boost but the economic fundamentals of the housing market are pretty poor at the moment.’

Yesterday’s mortgage approval figure compares with a low of 26,600 at the trough of the financial crisis in November 2008, though it’s still less than half the 120,000 reading at the peak of the boom.

Recent data on house prices have been mixed. Hometrack Ltd said on March 23 prices rose 0.3 per cent this month from February, while Lloyds Banking Group plc’s Halifax division says the average cost of a home fell 1.5 per cent last month.

Mr Brown’s government, which is narrowing the gap in opinion polls with the opposition Conservatives, is trying to help potential homebuyers in the run-up to the election.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling last week scrapped a tax on house purchases for first-time buyers spending £250,000 (S$524,273) or less. The tax previously started at one per cent for properties costing more than £125,000.

Mr Darling said the policy will mean nine in 10 first-time buyers will avoid the levy.

A ComRes Ltd poll conducted after Mr Darling ended his Budget speech on March 24 showed 33 per cent of respondents now trust him and Mr Brown to run the economy, compared to 27 per cent favouring the opposition Conservatives.

The BOE said net mortgage lending rose £1.6 billion, the most since December 2008.

Yesterday’s report showed that households added to their unsecured debts in February. Net consumer credit rose by £528 million. Economists predicted a £400 million increase, according to the median of 15 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey.

Credit-card lending increased £374 million, while personal loans and overdrafts climbed by £154 million. — Bloomberg

Source: Business Times, 30 Mar 2010