Only cities which can make such residents happy can truly say they have arrived

SHOEHORN yourself into a shoebox apartment?

There is wide-eyed curiosity and some narrow-minded incredulity at the ballooning number of people doing that.

Sales of tiny apartments – nicknamed ‘shoebox’ for their size – have increased more than six times, from 300 units in 2008 to 1,900 last year. They represented 6 per cent of new private home sales in 2008, doubling to 12 per cent last year.

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan wrote on his blog in June warning that while he did not want to second-guess the market, buyers of tiny apartments should go in with their eyes open. Some market observers warn that the penchant for small living is just a fad, and suggest that small equals unrentable and unliveable.

Naysayers will tell you that living in a tiny apartment is a step backwards in the housing continuum. You do not go from a pondok to an HDB three-room flat to an executive condominium, only to retreat to a 400 sq ft shoebox.

I beg to differ. The way I see it, the popularity of small apartment living is an index of a city’s sophistication. Only cities which can make shoebox dwellers happy can truly say they have arrived.

You see, McMansions sprouting from the soil may spell prosperity, for the house owners and the neighbourhood. But mansions are about people building the bells and whistles (and bathrooms and pools) for themselves. They are buffered by their employees, driveways and groomed hedges from their country, evolved or not. The next-door neighbour could be an unhygienic hyena of a man – but he is producing dirt and noise hundreds of metres away.

Not so for a shoeboxer. Your country or city as a whole needs to be civilised before you can feel like a million bucks in 500 sq ft.

You have to have enough potential shoebox buyers who have evolved beyond the anxious and unsubtle race to accumulate and display ever more square footage and material goodies.

You have to have shoeboxers whose appreciation for design has evolved beyond demanding just sheer, voluminous space – attractive though that will always be – and embrace clever design.

You have to have public spaces that are beautiful, stimulating and yet safe enough for shoeboxers to relax in as shared extensions of their homes.

Little apartments can have the adventurous effect of pushing shoeboxers out the door.

I moved to a 431 sq ft home from a place that was more than twice as big, and while I like cooing in my bird’s nest, I also make emotional claims on parts of the neighbourhood as my home – the many eateries as my kitchen-fridge-dining room, the inviting parks as my garden and the cafes as my sofa-living room.

And sometimes, the lively neighbourhood claims my home as its own, when friends en route to the eateries nearby make a pit stop at my shoebox.

Eight of us once took ourselves on a food tour of the neighbourhood; we began with popiah at a hawker centre, moved on to garlic crayfish at a kopitiam in an industrial estate, then loaded on carbs in the form of beef hor fun with black bean sauce at another kopitiam at the foot of an HDB block.

The evening ended and the night began with all eight (8-1/2 if you count the engorged tummies) fitting themselves into one-third of my place for champagne and wicked laughter into the wee hours.

The ceiling may be relatively high, but I did not need to have my guests arranged in a vertical fashion. Thanks to interesting interior and product design as well as a tweak in my mindset, they were all parked on proper seating: A sofa that doubles as a bed, an ottoman that folds out into a bench (and can fold out into a bed if the bubbly overwhelms), a ghostly see-through chair that takes up little visual space and a black chair that disappears against a background of black cabinets.

When I started living here, I rearranged more than furniture. I rearranged my preconceptions of what I really need in a home and what goes into which room. Must a bedroom be literally a room with a bed? To go further, must a bedroom remain as a bedroom? Why must a room’s function and furniture be dictated by a property developer or architect’s vision? A room can shift its space and shape and be whatever you need it to be for the moment.

I dropped the notion of ‘bedroom’ and even ‘bed’. I regained space the volume of a queen-sized bed, which held my visitors that champagne night, and will become something else some other day.

Pillows and a blanket taken out of a cabinet make a bed wherever I snooze – just like the Japanese bring out futons at night to spread on tatami mats and turn rooms into bedrooms.

Lean on evolved mindsets, designs and public spaces, and you can have champagne dreams and tobiko wishes even in a small apartment.

However, you also need neighbours who have evolved beyond being unhygienic hyenas.

When I visited Japan, I deeply appreciated the country’s standard of courtesy, even in packed conditions. You could be cheek by jowl with your fellow commuters or pedestrians, but you did not feel crowded; the polite words and apologies, the sense of spatial awareness and the valiant attempts to inch away to avoid bumping into you softened the stress.

Don’t get me wrong. This is not a call to turn Singapore into a nation of shoeboxers. I still dream of a home of airy art gallery proportions for myself.

But being able to live well together on less is cause for celebration, not regret. Just as we can feel pleased that we can live together fairly amiably in the shoebox of a nation called Singapore.

Are we fully there yet? No way. But we are on the way. Enough for me to feel at least half a million bucks in less than 500 sq ft.

Doing well living large in a shoebox apartment — ST ILLUSTRATION: MIEL

Source: 27th Sept 2011

HONG Leong Garden Shopping Centre, a mixed-use development in the West Coast neighbourhood, has been sold to an Oxley Holdings-led consortium for $171 million.

This hefty sum is the largest collective sale of the year in value and is also the largest collective sale in terms of land size for the past four years.

The other members of the consortium are Heeton Holdings, KSH Holdings, TEE International and Zap Piling.

Measuring about 150,800 sq ft, the development has a gross plot ratio of 1.6 and can be built up to an allowable height of 12 storeys, with a maximum gross floor area of 241,306 sq ft.

Credo Real Estate, the agency handling the sale, said the tender exercise was keenly contested, with four interested parties taking part.

‘The sale price translates to a land rate of approximately $804 to $819 psf per plot ratio, depending on the mix of commercial and residential quantum proposed by the developer,’ said Mr Tan Hong Boon, deputy managing director of Credo Real Estate.

The offer is slightly higher than the sellers’ initial expected offers of between $160 million and $170 million.

Built in the 1980s, the development consists of 72 apartments and 66 shop units.

The sale price of $171 million will mean that each apartment owner stands to receive between $1.17 million and $1.64 million, with shop owners getting between $792,000 and $1.51 million each.

The site is zoned for residential use, with commercial use on the first storey.

Mr Tan said the site could be transformed into a condominium development that could offer an array of amenities and dining options for West Coast residents.

The first nine months of this year saw a total of 37 collective sales, totalling close to $2.24 billion. This far exceeds last year’s total of 36 deals amounting to $1.77 billion.

Source: Straits Times, 22nd Sept 2011

Those with provisional licences given six more months to pass industry test

PROPERTY agents who have yet to pass a manda-tory industry exam by the year’s end will have six more months to do so.

The Council for Estate Agencies’ (CEA) new deadline of June 30 next year will spell respite for 2,753 provisionally licensed agents who, as of Aug 31, make up 8 per cent of some 33,000 registered property agents here.

Earlier this year, the CEA said agents who brokered at least three transactions over the last two years have up to Dec 31 to pass the Real Estate Salesperson Examination. They were given provisional licences in the meantime.

CEA’s director of licensing and investigation, Ms Purnima Shantilal, said the extension stems from the council’s acknowledgement that agents need more time.

‘The extension will thus help them to better prepare for the exam. The CEA will work with the estate agents closely to ensure that their salesmen take the exam by the deadline,’ she said.

The new deadline also applies to those sitting the Real Estate Agency Examination, which is for partners, directors and key executive officers of property agencies.

The CEA, a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development, made it mandatory for all agents and those running agencies to take proficiency exams to raise the professionalism of the industry, which was largely unregulated before the council was set up in October last year.

But property agencies said they received feedback from some agents who had problems passing the exams set in English mainly because they were not proficient in the language. The CEA said it has arranged with the Institute of Estate Agents to come up with Mandarin courses to teach agents how to pass the Real Estate Salesperson exam.

The exam is a mix of multiple-choice and short-answer questions testing issues such as an agent’s knowledge of property law and regulations.

PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said agents need to take the exam more seriously, now the CEA has given them more time to do so, as well as try to overcome the language barrier.

This is because the CEA expects agents to understand English, which is used in documents in property transactions.

‘They should not expect the CEA to keep extending the deadline. The reason the CEA has announced this extension is really because it recognises that this job is a ‘rice bowl’ for many people, so agents now have to play their part,’ he said.

The news comes as a relief to Mr Colin Zhang, 30, a property agent with real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.

‘I’ve not really had the time to sit down and study for the exam, which deals a lot with property law,’ he said.

‘If not for the extension, I would have had a real headache by the year’s end. Now I have more time to study, the exam shouldn’t be a problem.’

The CEA will also conduct its first licensing and registration renewal exercise – for those who have passed the mandatory exam and whose registration expires on Dec 31 – from Oct 1 to Nov 15 and update the list of property agents registered for next year.

They are also urged to undergo six hours of continuing professional development (CPD) before March 31 next year.

CPD is a scheme to update agents and property companies on the latest government policies and real estate procedures.

The courses, which are recognised by the CEA, are conducted by vendors from the public and private sectors.

Source: Straits Times, 22nd Sept 2011

$480m to $500m expected for prime site near Orchard Road

THE Cavenagh Gardens condominium near Orchard Road is up for collective sale with an expected price of between $480 million and $500 million.

Owners stand to reap between $2.5 million and $3 million each for their units – 35 to 45 per cent more than if they sold their homes individually, said marketing agent PropNex yesterday.

The expected price is between $1,620 per sq ft per plot ratio and $1,688 psf ppr for the 130,000 sq ft site. This includes the additional 10 per cent balcony allocation.

If adjoining parcels of state land are included, the freehold site in Cavenagh Road could increase to 150,000 sq ft and bring the price down to $1,413 psf ppr to $1,471 psf ppr.

Cavenagh Gardens consists of 172 homes spread across two 13-storey towers and a five-storey block. The estate in Cavenagh Road could be redeveloped into 350 units of 1,000 sq ft each.

This is at least the third time the development has been up for collective sale. Owners wanted $619 million in October 2007 but dropped that to around $450 million in June 2008 amid the global financial crisis.

PropNex added that developers can apply to retain the towers and develop them with additions and alterations.

While the estate is in a prime area, a successful deal might be hard to pull off as collective sales of more than $500 million, including those of Pine Grove, Pearl Bank Apartments, Tulip Garden and Hawaii Tower, have failed to find buyers.

Developers have shunned large projects in favour of less risky investments of less than $100 million. A big supply of state land released has also siphoned capital away from the en bloc market, say experts.

‘With the influx of foreign investors and the interest of high-end home buyers, this land site has (many) opportunities,’ said Mr Charles Chua, head of PropNex investment sales department.

‘(It can) be developed into high-end residences, serviced apartments or small office, home office apartments.’

He added that the project’s price of about $1,620 psf ppr is ‘reasonably attractive’. By comparison, the collective sale of nearby Cairnhill Mansion has a reserve price of about $2,308 psf ppr.

The breakeven price of a re-developed Cavenagh Gardens is estimated to be between $2,138 and $2,223 psf ppr or reduced to $1,950 to $2,028 psf ppr if adjoining state land parcels are included.

But the selling price is expected to range from $2,500 psf to $2,600 psf in both cases, Mr Chua noted.

Nearby 200-unit Waterscape at Cavenagh was launched at an average selling price of about $1,880 psf in March last year. About 75 per cent of the units have been snapped up.

The average transacted price for two units sold in May and June this year was $1,939 psf, according to caveats lodged with the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Mr Tan Kok Keong, OrangeTee’s head of research and consultancy, said developers’ risk appetite has decreased further amid global market uncertainties.

Smaller sites are still preferred as they also require a shorter time to be launch-ready, reducing the risk.

‘The sale of bigger prime collective sales can still take place but the unsold inventory in the market must first be cleared before developers’ appetite for these large sites comes back,’ Mr Tan said.

‘Even with the Government’s bumper supply of state land, collective sales are still the main way for developers to get prime freehold sites.’

The sale of Cavenagh Gardens, consisting of two 13-storey towers and a five-storey block, may fetch owners 35 to 45 per cent more than if they sold their homes individually. — PHOTO: PROPNEX

Source: Straits Times, 22nd Sept 2011

ONLY three bidders joined the tussle for a commercial site fronting both Robinson Road and Cecil Street as bullish sentiment fizzles out amid economic uncertainties.

Far East Organization and Orchard Parade Holdings jointly lodged the top bid of $311.8 million, or $882 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), for the 99-year leasehold site.

This was below market expectations: Experts had expected bids of between $325 million and $530 million when the 0.29ha site was launched in June.

The other bidders were not far behind: IOI Properties unit Multi Wealth (Singapore) offered $303 million while Frasers Centrepoint bid $300.5 million.

Colliers International’s director of research and advisory, Ms Chia Siew Chuin, said the lukewarm interest was unexpected as the plot is a rare commercial site in the Central Business District.

‘The interest level and bid prices point to cautious bidding amid the current uncertainties surrounding the economic climate, as well as concerns about the upcoming ample supply of some 11.3 million sq ft of office space till 2016,’ she added.

Mr Ong Teck Hui, Credo Real Estate’s head of research and consultancy, noted that the site’s top bid was only 1 per cent higher than the $872 psf ppr sale of a suburban Paya Lebar site tendered in April.

‘The caution we have seen in recent residential tenders has filtered through to the commercial sector,’ he added.

‘The mood in April was much more upbeat compared to current sentiments, (and) may spell a slowdown for the economy as well as the commercial property market.’

The site can be developed into a good quality office block of up to 35 storeys.

At least 80 per cent of the maximum permissible gross floor area of about 32,800 sq m must be used for offices.

Mr Alan Cheong, Savills’ research and consultancy associate director, estimates that a top-grade office building erected on the site would have a break-even price of $1,975 psf of net lettable area.

‘Over the longer term, after the global economies and financial markets have stabilised, Far East would reap handsome rewards from this decision,’ he added.

Source: Straits Times, 21st Sept 2011

SALES of executive condos (ECs) have picked up strongly just days after the higher income ceiling for eligible buyers was backdated to include all unsold units.

Developers have reported quicker sales since last Wednesday’s announcement that the revised household income cap of $12,000 – up from $10,000 – would now apply to five other EC projects with unsold units.

The higher ceiling had initially applied only to EC projects launched after Aug 15, when the announcement was made.

ECs are a hybrid of public and private housing, reintroduced to the market last year after a five-year hiatus.

Qingjian Realty said that more than 50 units had been snapped up at EC project RiverParc Residence in Punggol since Wednesday, with the ‘majority’ of buyers falling into the newly eligible $10,000 to $12,000 income bracket.

This brings total sales to 468 units – or 93 per cent – of the 504-unit project.

City Developments’ (CDL) 602-unit Blossom Residences in Segar Road also found buyers for 20 units over the past week, bringing total sales to 400 units.

Mr Chia Ngiang Hong, CDL group general manager, said that about half of these additional buyers are from the $10,000 to $12,000 income segment.

‘We expect to see continued healthy sales based on the positive feedback from this group of potential buyers that the latest government announcement is beneficial as it offers them more choices for their selection,’ he added.

Similarly, buyers also more than doubled in number compared to a normal weekend before the revised ceiling at United Engineers’ 540-unit Austville Residences in Sengkang, a spokesman said.

About 350 units or 65 per cent of the 540-unit project launched in January have been sold, with visitors at the showflat also doubling over the weekend.

‘In particular, we saw quite a large number of interested buyers, who were previously disqualified due to their combined household income exceeding $10,000, coming back to our showflat to make a purchase,’ he added.

The spokesman added that the firm is positive about the outlook of ECs in the future. Moreover, new EC launches in the past year are better designed and promise a higher building quality, he said.

‘With increased incomes and widespread aspirations of living in a condominium among Singaporeans, young couples and HDB upgraders will always consider ECs as a housing option, especially when EC prices continue to be below those of private condominiums.’

The 406-unit EC project The Canopy in Yishun, which had only about 30 units left last week, also experienced a larger-than-usual crowd at its showflat.

MCC Land managing director Tan Zhiyong said, however, that the new ruling would have little impact on the project’s sales as fewer than 30 units were left unsold. About five units were sold over the weekend, he added.

The new ruling meant that about 600 more unsold units from five earlier EC projects – as well as units from the most recent EC project launched on Aug 31, Arc at Tampines – are available to buyers who meet the new income requirements.

They can now tap an estimated 68,700 additional households that qualify for ECs when the cap was lifted to $12,000, UOB Kay Hian property analyst Vikrant Pandey estimates.

Since the EC scheme returned last year, eight sites have been sold to developers. In all, 4,194 units have been released into the market for sale and over 3,000 more units are expected to be launched in the next 12 months, a Kim Eng research note said last week.

Soucre: Straits Times, 20th Sept 2011

A FREEHOLD ‘build-to-suit’ industrial development near the Central Business District is up for sale.

The four-storey property at 243 Alexandra Road is zoned for Business 1, which means light and clean industry or warehouse uses.

The 14,753 sq ft site has a plot ratio of 2.5, so it could be redeveloped into a six-storey building, said Colliers International, the marketing agent.

The buyer ‘could tailor the building features and design to fit his or her business requirements’, said Ms Tang Wei Leng, executive director for investment services at Colliers International.

‘The buyer could also sub-divide the new development into strata units for sale,’ she added.

A build-to-suit development involves customising the property to meet the occupants’ needs.

Ms Tang said that while similar build-to-suit industrial spaces are usually in outlying areas like Jurong and Tuas, this site is on the fringe of the CBD.

A 99-year leasehold plot of about 33,000 sq ft at nearby 11 Kung Chong Road sold for more than $20 million earlier this month.

The Alexandra development is leased to a single tenant whose term expires in February. The tender ends on Oct 20.

The building is owned by the Le Mercier family behind the high-end furniture group. The sale announcement comes less than six months after it laid out plans to lease the Alexandra industrial development.

The Le Mercier family has not used the building for its business, preferring instead to lease it out.

The Straits Times understands the family wants to sell the building as it does not want to develop the site.

The Le Mercier family also sold a seven-storey freehold office building at 22 Martin Road in April.

In a separate land offer, a site zoned for office use in Mountbatten Road has been triggered for sale through the Government’s reserve list system.

The 15-year leasehold site of 126,354 sq ft has a plot ratio of 1.0 and can be built up to three storeys.

A developer has committed to bid at least $8.2 million, pricing the land at around $65 per square foot per plot ratio.

The site will be launched for public tender in about two weeks.

An artist’s impression of the ‘build-to-suit’ site whose building features and design can be tailored to suit the buyer’s needs. — PHOTO: COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL

Source: Straits Times, 20th Sept 2011

S’poreans hold back but foreign demand holds steady in first 8 months

SINGAPOREANS have bought far fewer homes so far this year compared with the figure in the same period last year.

They have retreated from the market in droves as tough cooling measures and sky-high prices took a significant toll on buying demand.

But foreigners have apparently been less concerned about these factors. This has boosted their share of the non-landed housing pie to a record high of 33 per cent in the first eight months of this year.

The figures emerged in an analysis of caveats lodged with the Urban Redevelopment Authority carried out by property consultancy Savills.

The 33 per cent figure is a marked rise from the 28 per cent market share held by overseas buyers for all of last year.

Purchases by local buyers sank to a near-record low of just 65 per cent in the first eight months, down from 70 per cent for all of last year. Since 1995, the only other year with a lower proportion was 2007, when Singaporeans accounted for only 64 per cent of the market.

Singaporeans bought 11,254 apartments in both the primary and secondary markets this year. This is sharply down from the 15,947 units that were sold to local buyers in the same period last year.

By comparison, purchases by foreigners, including permanent residents (PRs), held relatively firm at 5,803 in the first eight months of this year, down a whisker from 6,056 units in the same period last year.

The remainder of the purchases were made by companies.

Experts say the four rounds of government cooling measures – including tighter financing rules and a sellers’ stamp duty of up to 16 per cent – have sent local speculators scurrying from the market, with subsale volumes plunging about 25 per cent year-on-year.

Some Singaporeans might also have been deterred by record prices, choosing instead to buy commercial and industrial space in their search for higher yields, the experts added.

But foreigners, especially PRs, remain active because Singapore is still viewed favourably for business, education, investment and as a place to live, said Mr Png Poh Soon, Knight Frank’s head of research and consultancy.

‘For foreign investors, the strong, stable Singdollar appeals to them as they seek to diversify their funds,’ he noted.

Colliers International’s director of research and advisory, Ms Chia Siew Chuin, said tough cooling measures in mainland China and Hong Kong might also have diverted some buying interest to the market here. The flow of hot money from the troubled Western nations to the East has also played a part.

‘Additionally, those with ample funds and looking for alternative investment avenues were diverted to non-residential segments as a result of the various measures,’ she added.

‘These include the strata-commercial and industrial markets, where buyers were encouraged by the comparatively smaller capital outlay required and higher returns expected from such properties.’

Record prices are also putting off Singaporeans more familiar with the cyclical nature of the market, some experts say.

Mr Colin Tan, Chesterton Suntec International’s research head, said: ‘Because locals have been around long enough, they are more likely to feel that current high prices are unsustainable.’

Mr Alan Cheong, Savills’ research and consultancy associate director, agreed that the drop could be due to more Singaporeans holding back on purchases in anticipation of a price drop due to the onslaught of upcoming supply.

On the landed front, local buyers accounted for 88 per cent of transactions, similar to the figure last year. Strict conditions apply to foreigners buying landed homes. They need permission from the Land Dealings (Approval) Unit before they can own landed property.

But the 1,989 landed homes local buyers bought in the first eight months were well down from the 2,723 units in the same period last year.

Savills said strong foreign buying interest is poised to strengthen further on the back of more overseas funds flowing into Asia and more tightening measures in Hong Kong and mainland China.

While the Singapore Government is expected to tighten immigration policy, foreign talent is still needed to support the country’s economic growth, and this will ensure continued foreign interest in the housing market, Colliers’ Ms Chia said.

Singapore’s reputation as a safe investment haven, conducive investment environment, strong currency and triple-A credit rating will also sustain foreign interest, she added.

But Knight Frank’s Mr Png cautioned that foreign demand is still dependent on overall macroeconomic conditions such as how the uncertainty in Europe and the United States pans out. Overseas purchases fell in 2008 during the global financial crisis, he pointed out.

Source: Straits Times, 17th Sept 2011

Town council will lease system from Sunseap to power Punggol blocks

THE largest property developer here has unveiled an innovative solar project that will soon power 45 residential blocks in Punggol with the sun’s energy.

The Housing Board yesterday inked a ‘solar-leasing’ agreement with local solar manufacturer Sunseap Enterprises, which will design, install and maintain the $11 million system.

The 2MWp (megawatt peak) solar photovoltaic set-up converts sunlight into electricity, which will then power common-area facilities such as corridor lights and lifts in the 45 blocks. A watt peak is a measure of power output used in relation to photovoltaic solar energy devices.

It will be the biggest solar installation here to date, and the first solar-leasing project.

The Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council will take out a 20-year lease on the system from Sunseap Leasing, a unit of Sunseap Enterprises.

The town council will thus be spared the cost of the panels and their installation, but instead of buying power from the national grid, it will do so from Sunseap Leasing. The electricity will be priced at the current tariffs, with a 1 per cent discount thrown in.

HDB chief executive Cheong Koon Hean yesterday described the solar-leasing model as a ‘win-win’ one.

If the arrangement takes off, it could pave the way for more solar projects across the island, marking a turning point in Singapore’s growing solar industry.

As this is a test-bed project, HDB will cover 30 per cent of the cost, or $3.28 million; Sunseap will foot the rest.

Sunseap Leasing director Frank Phuan said the company has obtained financing from overseas banks to cover the cost, and will make its money by selling electricity to the town council over the next 20 years.

Up till now, the HDB has bought and installed its own solar panels – for 40 blocks in 10 towns.

With the solar-leasing model, it taps private enterprise to grow the solar programme, said Dr Cheong. She added that the HDB could look into doing the same for another 70 blocks, although their locations have yet to be identified.

‘We are going to learn about solar power generation through this test bed – what works, what doesn’t work… The solar-leasing model enables us to ramp up more quickly the introduction of solar power into HDB towns,’ she said.

Punggol, as Singapore’s first eco-town, is the ideal location for the HDB to start, she added. The agreement comes under the HDB’s $31 million, five-year scheme to test-bed solar energy at 30 of its precincts.

Three companies had bid for the contract, and Sunseap won due to its price and technical abilities, said the HDB.

The 11-year-old Sunseap has 35 staff and a factory in Boon Lay where it manufactures its solar panels. Most of its output is exported to Germany, which has a thriving solar industry.

Dr Thomas Reindl, a director at the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, said solar leasing, though popular in countries such as the United States, is new in Asia.

The benefits of this system are that building owners can buy green power without having to pay upfront costs; and they also do not have to pay more than the prevailing electricity tariffs.

‘However, this concept works out for the leasing company only when electricity prices are not subsidised, such as in Singapore,’ he added. In countries where electricity costs are subsidised, it will not work because the leasing company will incur losses.

HDB’s Dr Cheong said she hoped the test-bed project will contribute to Singapore’s search for solar power generation technologies and develop the regional solar industry.

The installation of the solar panels will be completed by the middle of next year.

Up till now, the HDB has bought and installed its own solar panels. In the new deal, Sunseap will install them, and the town council will buy power from the company.
– ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN

Source: Straits Times, 16th Sept 2011

SALES of new private homes defied the economic horror stories and the dampening effects of the Hungry Ghost Festival to post healthy numbers last month.

Buyers snapped up 1,348 homes last month, just shy of July’s 1,398. The total number jumps to 1,638 when executive condominiums (ECs) are included.

Experts say the sustained buying activity for a typically quiet month shows that Housing Board (HDB) upgraders are still buying and that confidence in property generally remains solid.

Last month’s numbers were also achieved despite a new policy that raised the income ceiling for new HDB flats and ECs, said real estate consultancy Colliers International’s director of research and advisory Chia Siew Chuin. This change would have creamed off some private market demand.

Suburban homes continued to lead the charge with 1,114 sales last month, comprising 83 per cent of total sales, according to Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) data out yesterday.

This is the highest number of homes sold in the suburban region this year and the highest proportion of total transactions since URA’s monthly sales data series started in June 2007.

While suburban prices seem to have remained relatively stable and are likely to continue holding firm this year, Ms Chia noted that the band for mass market sales has moderated.

Prices ranged from $600 to $1,679 per sq ft (psf) last month, down from $705 to $1,742 psf in July.

This could be due to developers pricing units more competitively in the light of more choosy buyers, she added.

But most experts believe that developers are unlikely to lower prices in the light of last month’s healthy sales.

Dr Chua Yang Liang, head of research at Jones Lang LaSalle South-east Asia, said demand driven by population growth remains the market’s key driver.

This will continue to support the market beyond the economic uncertainty in the euro zone, he added.

Developers recently called for the Government to review the cooling measures in the coming months given fears that global economic woes could undermine the property market.

But experts say last month’s healthy sales coupled with low interest rates that should stay in place until 2013 have supported demand.

Last month’s launch of an ‘optimistic’ 1,435 units also kept pace with July, when 1,437 units were released.

Experts say developers might have fast-tracked new projects in case the economic climate deteriorates and scares buyers away.

There won’t be ‘double-digit’ growth in Singapore’s residential property prices this year, Capitaland Residential Singapore chief executive officer Officer Wong Heang Fine said yesterday at an event to unveil its Bishan Central condominium design.

‘Some developers are taking the opportunity to launch their projects while the market is still positive,’ Mr Ong Teck Hui, Credo Real Estate’s head of research and consultancy, said.

‘For this reason, we may expect more new projects to be launched during this period and sales take-up could be encouraging, depending on pricing.’

City centre and city fringe homes had less robust activity with the number of both new launches and sales significantly lower.

Experts add that between 15,000 and 16,000 new homes could be sold this year, barring further economic volatility.

They add that more affordable pricing for new project launches by cautious developers might also sustain sales.

This month, more than 500 units have already been sold at Sim Lian’s A Treasure Trove in Punggol at an average price of about $866 psf.

Credo’s Mr Ong said many mass market buyers are owner-occupiers with a long-term view and less influenced by the global market turmoil.

‘Many buyers (now) are probably not too negative about the economic outlook. (They) acknowledge that there will be some slowdown but not a bad recession and in their view, prices, even if they correct, may not be substantial,’ he added.

Source: Straits Times, 16th Sept 2011