A RESIDENTIAL site facing Bedok Reservoir that failed to be sold 18 months ago after attracting only one bid of $84.6 million is now sought after by eight developers, with one offering $302 million.

The Tampines site was a victim of the financial meltdown when it closed for tender in August 2008, but the property market rebound has brought it back into favour.

Sim Lian Land lodged the highest bid for the 99-year leasehold plot, which would be suitable for mass market housing – the property industry’s hottest sector these days.

Sim Lian’s offer – $302 million or $420.90 per sq ft per plot ratio – topped seven others for the land at the junction of Tampines Avenue 1 and Avenue 10.

The huge rebound in price follows a similar tender last month when a site at the junction of Choa Chu Kang and Woodlands roads above Ten Mile Junction attracted a top bid of $164 million, yet in 2008 it drew a top bid of $61 million and was therefore not sold.

The Sim Lian offer was above the $300 to $400 pricing tipped by some experts but within the $410 to $470 psf ppr range forecast by Ngee Ann Polytechnic lecturer Nicholas Mak.

The second-highest bid from a venture between Far East Organization and Frasers Centrepoint came in just 4.3 per cent lower at $402.80 psf ppr.

Other bidders included MCL Land, Allgreen Properties and GuocoLand, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday.

A unit of CapitaLand Residential was in seventh place with a bid of $179.4 million or $250 psf ppr, while Boon Keng Development was last with a bid of $234.20 psf ppr.

The tender is ‘another demonstration of developers’ interest in the mass market segment’, said Mr Joseph Tan, CBRE’s executive director, residential. Of the eight bids submitted, the first six were very close to one another, he noted.

DTZ’s South-east Asia research head, Ms Chua Chor Hoon, concurred, saying the results showed that developers were still very eager to replenish their land banks and optimistic about the market outlook.

Sim Lian Group executive director Diana Kuik told The Straits Times: ‘Our bid is competitive but not very aggressive. Land prices in general have gone up.’

Also, the site is in a mature estate and it offers a nice living environment, she said.

‘We are looking to build 600 to 650 units with a range of sizes, from small two-bedroom units to four-bedroom units as well as penthouses,’ she added.

CBRE estimates a break-even level of around $700 psf, based on the top bid.

It pointed out that caveats lodged for sales in new projects in the Bedok Reservoir area, such as Waterfront Key and Waterfront Waves, have ranged from $700 psf to $850 psf in the past four to five months.

‘When the new project is ready for launch in six to eight months’ time, we would expect it to be launched within the same price range or higher, subject to market conditions,’ said Mr Tan.

Sim Lian as a contractor would be able to manage its development costs and so may be able to sell units for around $800 psf, based on its bid, said Ms Chua.

The Tampines site, which has a maximum gross floor area of 66,655 sq m, is the fourth residential site launched for sale on the confirmed list this year.

Confirmed list sites are tendered out on scheduled dates, without the need for developers to indicate interest.

The Tampines plot is next to The Tropica condominium and about five to 10 minutes’ drive from Tampines Central and Tampines MRT station.

Only one firm, Boon Keng Development, bothered to bid for the site when it was first offered for sale in August 2008.

Source: Straits Times, 17 Mar 2010

I dread this time of the year. It’s nearing April, the month when the lease on my current rental apartment will expire.

Since the option of a year-long extension in my existing contract has been exhausted, the nerve-racking and tedious ritual of hunting for a decent new roof over my head has begun.

And I have slipped into anxiety mode.

The fear of not finding a suitable replacement in time has forced me into action at least two months in advance. Besides, my long list of demands in a rental home makes my search even more difficult.

For the last 21/2 years that I have been in Singapore, I have shared living space with a flatmate in two separate, as near-perfect HDB flats as any expat could wish for. I have also been fortunate enough to find a quiet, friendly and safe neighbourhood and two accommodating and understanding landladies.

Now I insist that the next apartment be as good as the last two, if not better. But the actual process of finding something suitable gives me the jitters.

The search is a long, rough one which involves daily scans of the classifieds, incessant and sometimes untimely phone calls by poacher agents offering their services, sweaty walks to prospective locations and sleepless nights worrying about an uncertain tomorrow.

It drives me to the edge, like a student who is taking the O-level exams after not having studied at all for the whole year.

The initial worry is finding a good agent, someone whose accent I can decipher and who, in turn, can decipher mine. Then comes the most difficult part of explaining to him my exact requirements.

After two years of living in apartments enviably close to an MRT station and just a 20-minute ride away from the office, I am averse to spending an additional second travelling to work.

Besides a good location, I want the flat to be on a high floor with plenty of sunshine, and have good ventilation and big bathrooms with clean toilets (seats not squats). Budget, of course, is a big consideration and so is the cleanliness and safety barometer of the neighbourhood. Proximity to foodcourts, supermarkets, golf clubs and so on are an added advantage. (What can I say, I am high-maintenance.)

The length of my list makes most agents slump with exasperation, while the tolerant few try to talk me into striking out at least one demand. I end up striking out, you guessed it, the agent.

In my defence, my work hours compel me to seek such comforts. But, some of the roadblocks are not of my making. For instance, if the flat meets my expectations, chances are the owners insist on letting it out only to families or to non-Indians.

At other times, they have a list of demands, like no cooking (a hobby of mine), no parties (they don’t know that I’d rather go to Clarke Quay) and no boyfriends (I am single leh! Don’t they read my columns?).

Last year’s recession has added to my woes, as I try to tighten my belt without trying to compromise on my needs. The process is upsetting, making an eternally optimistic and adventure-loving person like me want to run home to Mummy in Mumbai.

But, then I comfort myself with positive thoughts.

Singapore’s Housing Board has an excellent record of building affordable apartments for nearly 85 per cent of its people. So I tell myself that even though I may run out of energy, it is highly unlikely that I will run out of choices.

Besides, despite all the hurdles in finding a flat, some of them of my own creation, I am confident that for every failed viewing, I will have 100 more choices every day. For every exasperated agent, I will have 10 other tolerant types who will be ready to assist me.

Having jumped into the fray early, I still have the luxury of time to choose according to my whims.

And I am sure that the keys to the new rental flat will be handed to me before it is time to move out of the old one.

The writer is an assistant to the foreign editor in The Straits Times and has lived in Singapore for 21/2 years.

Source: Sunday Times, 21 Mar 2010

Hainan: An announcement that the tropical island would be transformed into a top international tourist hotspot prompted investors from across the country – and beyond – to rush in and snap up properties.

Shanghai: Land and property prices in the Pudong New Zone area, especially plots near where the new Disney theme park would be sited, shot up to record highs.

Beijing: The 2008 Olympic Games benefited residents and property developers alike as a massive building spree gripped the city in the two years leading up to the Games. Prices slumped after the Games and dipped further when the global economic crisis bit. But the government’s massive stimulus measures, announced last year, boosted them again to new heights.

Guangdong: Property prices in key cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou shot up, thanks to stimulus-funded projects, such as schemes to rejuvenate the Pearl River Delta region, the high-speed railway linking Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen, and the ultra-speedy Wuhan-Guangzhou rail connection.

Source: Sunday Times, 21 Mar 2010

On Jan 6, a day after the government announced a grand plan to transform Hainan province into a world-class tourism paradise, retiree Zhou Yafen woke up to see crowds ‘rushing madly to buy apartments’ on the island.

‘Property prices shot up like an arrow,’ said the 59-year-old, who owns a 125 sq m flat in provincial capital Haikou that she bought in 2005. Its value today has gone up by more than eight times.

‘Just one word from the government, and miracles happen! If only I had money to buy another property, I’d be so rich now,’ she told The Sunday Times in a phone interview.

Thanks to a buying frenzy like the one in Hainan, one of the hottest topics around dinner tables and on Internet forums these days is how to bao fa (get rich overnight) by betting your money on China’s modern-day God of Fortune – the government.

All it takes is an announcement from Beijing of a new mega project somewhere and both stock and real estate prices in that area will skyrocket.

In Hainan, for example, property prices soared by 20 per cent in January alone while share prices of companies like Lawton Development, which owns hotels in Hainan, Hainan Expressway and Haikou Agriculture, almost doubled in value within five days of the announcement.

Or just look at Pudong New Area in Shanghai, which is blessed with not one but two mega projects: the World Expo which opens in May and the planned Disney park.

On Nov 4 last year, less than two hours after the long-awaited Disneyland in Shanghai was finally confirmed, a land parcel near the theme park’s future site was auctioned off for an eye-popping 1.19 billion yuan (S$240 million). This price was more than 3.5 times the minimum asking price.

The property fever in anticipation of Disney has gripped Shanghai residents – and scores of rich investors from across China – for several years. In 2006, new apartments in areas such as Chuansha were already sporting billboards covered with dollar signs and Mickey Mouse ears to push sales.

But it was only after Beijing finally gave the long-awaited green light to Disney that the speculative frenzy sent average prices jumping by as much as 25 per cent within one month.

Yet other fortunate places in recent times include Guangdong – one of the focal points of Beijing’s mega high-speed rail project unveiled last year – and Tianjin. Beijing is promoting the northern port city as the gateway to the next frontier of economic growth.

With the advent of Tianjin’s Binhai Industrial New Zone – which has attracted major investments such as the Sino-Singapore Eco-City, home prices in some parts of the once-sleepy city have risen by as much as 80 per cent in the past two years.

These two cities, together with first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, led the 24 per cent hike in average property prices across the country last year even as fears of a bubble grew.

Smaller cities also have a share of the fortune. Chengdu, for example, benefited from Beijing’s massive reconstruction effort after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Xiamen was last year identified as a new centre for cross-strait commerce with Taiwan.

Beijing’s ‘magic words’ alone did not spur the double-digit price jumps, said analysts. Economic growth, speculation, a growing number of affluent urbanites and demand for marriage homes financed by couples’ parents were also factors.

Still, ‘hyped-up expectations that state-driven projects are bound to take off in a big way do help to push up sales significantly’, noted Shanghai-based property consultant Sherry Li, who helps Chinese investors scout for such investments.

But such hype sometimes falls flat. ‘Take Dalian. It attracted a lot of attention a few years ago when there were big plans to make it a tourism and oil refining centre. Prices jumped 20 to 30 per cent and then flopped after that,’ said Ms Li.

‘I don’t think the Hainan craziness will last that long either.’

Source: Sunday Times, 21 Mar 2010

Some return to home and hearth. Mr Robert Crivelli returns to his home and berth.

His family of four lives on the Melivia, a 21m-long houseboat berthed at ONE?15 Marina Club.

Mr Crivelli, 44, senior director at a private bank, was inspired by friends who lived on boats in Hong Kong’s Discovery Bay.

The Swiss was hooked after going to a boat show at ONE?15 Marina Club in 2007.

The family was then living in a $7,500-a-month rented house in Bukit Timah.

His wife, Rakia, 44, and two children Bruno, 15, and Dounia, 11, like their new lifestyle too.

The houseboat has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, a terrace, a kitchen and a laundry room. It has about 2,500 sq ft of living space.

Melivia cost less than $1.5 million and took six months to build in Zhuhai, China, before being delivered to Singapore in early 2008. The family moved in soon after.

‘Some friends could not imagine life on a boat. But after visiting us, they agree it doesn’t move and you don’t really feel like you are on water,’ Mr Crivelli said.

A Sunday Times check with marinas and clubs found that at least a dozen expatriates – mostly from the United States, Germany, Britain and Australia – live on boats here. Some do so with family members.

Software architect Kris Beevers, 29, came to Singapore in September 2008. The New Yorker decided he would move onto a boat after six months of living on land.

His housing agent laughed and told him ‘it was impossible and too expensive’, he said.

Mr Beevers had always wanted to live on a boat but the cold weather in New York was a problem.

Last month, the bachelor finally found a second-hand 12m sloop in Phuket, Thailand which he bought for US$60,000 (S$84,000).

‘There aren’t many affordable boats for sale in Singapore. It’s a bit laborious to fly out to see boats but the difficulties are surmountable.’

His boat, Oia, will arrive here at the end of the month. It will berth at the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club.

Mr Beevers’ decision to live on a boat took into account the property prices in Singapore.

‘At $700,000, a two-bedroom apartment here is the cost of a mansion in many other places,’ he said, adding that living on a boat is generally cheaper, with owners paying about $2,000 a month for berthing and utilities.

‘Buying a boat and living on it is cheaper than paying rent for the same period. And after that, it just gets cheaper and cheaper,’ he said.

There is a bonus too.

‘When I need a break, I can sail my home off to a secluded island and relax for a few days,’ he said.

Source: Sunday Times, 21 Mar 2010

It looks like Singapore the Garden City is on target to become a City of Waterways too.

With World Water Day falling tomorrow, PUB, the national water agency, is confident that its masterplan targets will be met.

The banks of the country’s 32 rivers and 7,000km of canals and drains are being transformed, as are its 15 reservoirs which will teem with water activities.

A key element of PUB’s Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) programme is the people factor: projects will involve residents so that they have ownership too.

The masterplan identified more than 100 locations where projects will be implemented in phases till 2030.

The PUB first identifies a waterway or reservoir for transformation by looking at such factors as demographics, surrounding facilities and upcoming developments.

It then sees how the ABC Waters project can complement the surroundings and add value to the area.

Grassroots groups, schools and residents are involved: Feedback, ideas and views are gathered from them. After all, they will participate in and organise activities around the completed projects.

Mr Yew Kai Lih, 54, senior constituency manager in the Kolam Ayer constituency office, says: ‘Our waterway is now our trademark.’

Residents along the Kallang River/Kolam Ayer area now enjoy landscaped river banks and a floating deck.

Upgrading work to the waterways of Kolam Ayer, MacRitchie and Bedok have so far cost $23 million.

Mr Yew believes that the property prices in his constituency have gone up as the waterway now provides waterfront living amenities.

He feels that there is now a sense of ownership of the waterway. The constituency club organises activities such as gardening and performances on the floating deck.

Among the projects that are expected to be completed this year are: Sungei Punggol, Lower Seletar Reservoir, Pandan Reservoir and Jurong Lake. So too will Sungei Whampoa (St George’s Lane), Sungei Kallang/Whampoa RC31, Kranji Reservoir, Pang Sua Diversion Canal and Alexandra Canal.

Kallang River-Bishan Park and the Serangoon Reservoir – Lorong Halus waterway will be completed next year.

A problem that currently plagues canals here is pollution, but ‘pollution of the waterways has decreased over the years’, said Mr Tan Nguan Sen, director, Catchment and Waterways, PUB.

Last year, an average of 14 tonnes of flotsam was collected daily from the waterways. This is a reduction from the daily average of 15 tonnes collected in 2008, despite a steady increase in Singapore’s population.

Mr Eugene Heng, 60, chairman of the Waterways Watch Society, sees these changes to the waterways as a positive thing.

The society is a volunteer group that monitors, restores and protects the aesthetics of the waterways.

Mr Heng feels that ‘allowing more water activities in select areas is something that the society believes will help the public enjoy and, at the same time, appreciate, understand and value our waters’.

Source: Sunday Times, 21 Mar 2010

A 99-year leasehold condominium The Vision, in the quiet suburbs of West Coast Crescent, was launched recently at an eye-popping price of around $1,000 to $1,200 per sq ft (psf).

Nevertheless, at least 160 buyers put down money for the mass market homes that come with branded goods and quality finishes, said the developer Cheung Kong (Holdings).

That set the benchmark price for the area. And this will not be the last of such pricey projects, industry players said.

PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said the trend of a sizeable number of properties sold above $1,000 psf will likely continue over the next few months.

Still, this price level is not yet likely to become the norm for the entire mass market category, given that affordability will be a serious issue, said those in the industry.

This price level first came up in the mass market segment after Far East Organization launched its 329-unit Centro Residences in Ang Mo Kio at more than $1,100 psf last year.

At that time, property experts were caught by surprise, pointing out that the price would be a new suburban record.

Until then, the leasehold record was believed to be held by Bishan 8, which Far East launched at $1,100 psf in 1997.

Still, there were buyers at Centro, with five February deals registered at a median level of $1,220 psf.

At some of last year’s popular mass market launches, some units did cross this $1,000 psf price level, though the average launch price was below that mark.

These included Trevista in Toa Payoh, Meadows@Peirce in Upper Thomson and Elliot at the East Coast.

Looking ahead, the $1,000 psf price may not be surprising, based on some of the aggressive bids achieved at recent government land tenders, industry players said.

‘For the next half year, you will likely see new mass market launches hitting the price level,’ said Knight Frank managing director (residential services) Peter Ow.

‘The psf price is one thing, the quantum is another. As long as the total quantum is at $1 million or less, buyers can still afford to buy.’

Units will thus become smaller to keep the quantum affordable, he added.

‘If the developers bought land above $500 psf ppr, they would try to sell it for more than $900 psf ppr,’ said Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak. (The term ppr refers to per plot ratio.)

However, the aggressive bidding situation will not last.

‘Demand is still strong. But as more supply comes onstream, developers’ landbanking needs will gradually be satisfied,’ said Mr Mak.

Their bids will come down gradually, he said.

Developers are also wary about overpricing their projects as they would then have difficulty selling them, he said.

Said DTZ’s South-east Asia research head, Ms Chua Chor Hoon: ‘Not all mass market projects can be sold at above $1,000 psf. They would need to have very attractive attributes in order to attract home owners or investors.’

This would include proximity to town and MRT stations, and proximity to employment hubs or sought-after educational institutions to provide a ready pool of good tenants, Ms Chua added.

‘Developers will try to maintain the ($1,000 psf and above) price level as the norm for very well-located mass market condos,’ said Mr Mak.

But it will not be the norm for mass market condos in general, he stressed.

‘We are not seeing a strong growth in household income, so how can we support those kind of prices?’

Source: Sunday Times, 21 Mar 2010