Twenty eight projects have more than 100 unsold units each

DEVELOPERS are sitting on close to 12,000 unsold units in private residential projects that have already been launched.

Data compiled by The Business Times using information from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) shows that as at end-November this year, developers had a stockpile of 11,849 units in projects that they have already started marketing – that is, projects in which at least one unit has been sold.

While some developments have just a handful of units left unsold, a total of 138 launched projects scattered across the island have 10 or more unsold units left. And of these, 28 projects have more than 100 unsold units each.

The more recently-launched projects include Kheng Leong’s The Minton; Frasers Centrepoint’s Flamingo Valley; and City Developments’ Residences At W Singapore Sentosa Cove – all of which were put on the market in the first half of this year when sentiment was buoyant.

But six projects with more than 100 unsold units each have been on the market for at least three years. These include prime developments such as Keppel Land’s Reflections at Keppel Bay; SC Global Developments’ Hilltops; Allgreen Properties’ The Cascadia; and Wheelock Properties’ Scotts Square.

The 11,849 units are held by the entire range of both big and small developers and include landed projects, though the majority are condominium developments.

Market observers say the stockpile could have been accumulated as developers typically roll out units in large developments in phases.

Those with strong holding power may also hold back some units in their projects as part of a larger marketing strategy. Keppel Land, for instance, did this with its Caribbean At Keppel Bay condominium.

But the ample supply of ready-to-buy homes should show prospective homebuyers that there is no need to rush to pick up units in new launches, said another industry veteran.

Homebuyers snapped up 1,909 new private homes in November even as developers launched a strong supply of 2,329 new homes for sale. The strong demand from buyers took the total sales volume for 2010 to a record 15,025 units – even higher than the then-record 14,811 homes sold in 2007 during the last property boom.

‘The fact that we have recovered so quickly from the financial crisis has given a lot of false confidence to many people with money,’ the industry veteran said. ‘They think that it is the right time to jump into property.’

In October, URA said that at the end of Q3 2010, there was a total supply of 64,358 uncompleted units of private housing from projects in the pipeline. Of these, 33,771 units were still unsold. The numbers include both launched and unlaunched projects.

But data compiled using URA’s monthly update on the number of units launched, sold and unsold in residential projects in Singapore, released yesterday, showed that as at end-November, there were 11,849 units left unsold in launched projects.

Source: Business Times, 16 Dec 2010

NEW property launches and robust sales have given this usually sleepy month a surprisingly strong start.

December is traditionally a slow one early on, but the way buyers came out in force at the weekend overturned that notion.

However, it is too soon to tell whether this market enthusiasm will stay the course of the month, said one analyst.

‘It’s usually a trend to see people travelling and going on holidays in December, especially in the second half of the month,’ said Credo Real Estate executive director Tan Hong Boon.

The big winner was Robinson Suites, which chalked up a 97per cent take-up within the first two hours of its weekend launch, said DMG & Partners analyst Brandon Lee. The freehold project in Robinson Road has 167 flats, primarily 600 sq ft and below. Prices range from $2,300 to $3,300 per sq ft (psf).

CapitaLand’s d’Leedon also enjoyed a good response and has offloaded 205 units since its public launch last weekend – about 82per cent of the 250 units on sale.

Prices have been about $1,680 psf. So a 635 sq ft one-room plus one-study apartment went for $1.1million, while a 1,055 sqft two-bedder cost $1.5million or so.

The development in King’s Road, on the former Farrer Court condominium site, consists of 1,703 apartments and 12 semi-detached houses.

CapitaLand said Singaporeans made up 80per cent of buyers with foreigners and permanent residents making up the rest.

Executive condominium (EC) Prive at Punggol Central is another hit, with more than 800 applications as of last night.

Prive is the first EC in the area and will feature about 680 units. Applications close today, with balloting due on Friday.

The busy start to the month has confirmed to CBRE residential director Joseph Tan that the concept of anticipating property trends by ‘seasons’ is outdated.

‘It used to be that people would avoid buying property during the seventh lunar month,’ said Mr Tan. ‘But if the (economic) climate is good, the product is good, there’s good expectations for a development, then there’s no reason to wait.’

Meanwhile, a survey out yesterday from the non-profit Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers found Singapore has emerged as a top real estate investment destination among 20 Asian cities.

Based on the responses of more than 280 property professionals, strong economic growth here and brisk activity in the financial and high-tech industries set it apart from Osaka, Bangkok, Mumbai and other centres.

Analysts agree that all indicators point towards a more positive local property market next year. ‘Property is directly linked to the economy, so when the economy performs well, property as a subset also performs well. Now with liquidity and low interest rates, buyers who are looking to buy property are also fuelling the demand,’ said Mr Tan.

Small indicators, like the expansion of the financial market and staff movements, also support the prediction, he added.

On another front, CapitaLand unit The Ascott has been awarded the master tenancy of 33 black and white bungalows at Mount Pleasant for residential use. The serviced residence firm submitted the third highest bid of $435,000 per month.

The bungalows are being offered for an initial tenancy of three years with an option to renew for two more three-year terms. They are popular with diplomats and business executives, said Ascott.

Source: Straits Times, 7 Dec 2010

DEVELOPERS DANGLE GOODIES TO DRUM UP SALES

SOME developers are trying to lift sales by offering cash handouts and generous discounts if existing owners refer other people who then buy a flat in one of the company’s condominiums.

The owner making the referral can get a cash reward – it could be as much as $7,500 if a $1 million flat is sold – while the referred buyer gets a discount on his new purchase.

Other developers are using inducements such as free air tickets and other gifts to entice buyers to sign up.

But there is a catch: incentives like discounts, rebates and gifts must be declared when a mortgage application is filed with the bank.

A spokesman for the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said that financial institutions are required to deduct benefits offered by the developer from the property’s purchase price, and apply the loan-to-value (LTV) limit on this lower amount.

This housing loan rule applies to any benefit that reduces the purchase price of the property.

Several financial institutions, including OCBC and United Overseas Bank, require that clients declare any incentives received in cash or in kind.

One bank told The Straits Times that making a false application could even spell legal trouble.

But the tight rules have not stopped developers dangling carrots in front of buyers.

The Straits Times understands that Far East Organization’s scheme rewards an existing Far East home owner making the referral and a buyer who signs up.

The kitty is 1.5 per cent of the initial purchase price of the new unit: the person making the referral gets 0.75 per cent, while the new buyer enjoys a 0.75 per cent cut in the price.

Assume the person you referred to Far East buys a $1 million home. You can get a cheque for $7,500 and he gets a $7,500 cut on the price.

Property developer EL Development also gives out similar ‘goodwill discounts’. Managing director Lim Yew Soon said the initiative, which started in 2008, rewards buyers referred by friends or relatives with discounts of 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent of the purchase price.

But the scheme applies only to certain developments, including Rosewood Suites in Rosewood Drive and Steven Suites in Stevens Close.

Discounts are assessed on a case by case basis and only six clients have been approved, he added.

Last month, Wing Tai Holdings gave air tickets for a Hokkaido ski trip to buyers who bought units at its Ascentia Sky project in Alexandra View.

Industry experts said such schemes are not new and usually apply only to selected developments, such as those with units that need to be sold quickly.

ERA Asia Pacific associate director Eugene Lim said these strategies are also often used as a long-term game plan to buff up their customer loyalty and brand name.

Ms Wendy Tang, Knight Frank’s director of residential services, added: ‘Previous buyers make the best ambassadors because they will say, ‘I’ve purchased it and I’m recommending it because I believe it’s good’.’

Situations where buyers refer family and friends are also now a common occurrence – especially with the bigger developers, experts added.

‘They might have sold (previous projects) to buyers and now they’re selling to their children. Friends who like the idea of living together might also band together to purchase units near each other,’ DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah said.

But depending on such tactics could backfire on developers and ultimately affect their profit margins, said analysts. Still, they are seen as preferable to cutting prices, which can become a slippery slope.

‘If you launch at this price from the onset and then reduce, buyers might expect prices to be slashed even further. Buyers might even expect (developers) to move their prices before they launch,’ said OrangeTee research head Tan Kok Keong.

But Ms Tang pointed out that factors like price and location ultimately outrank incentives when it comes to making the final purchasing decisions.

Source: Straits Times, 4 Dec 2010

UNITS at the newly unveiled d’Leedon condominium will be launched at an average initial selling price of $1,680 per square foot (psf).

That makes the cheapest apartments – 635 sq ft units with a bedroom and study – less than $1 million. A typical two-bedder of 1,055 sq ft would set a buyer back $1.5 million.

The project is on the site of the former Farrer Court estate, which was sold in a collective sale in 2007. A first phase of 200 units will be launched for sale this weekend to former Farrer Court residents.

Developer CapitaLand said a public launch would likely follow soon after.

There has been a healthy level of interest among former Farrer Court residents, said Mr Wong Heang Fine, chief executive officer of CapitaLand Residential.

He told a briefing yesterday that 300 of the 600 former residents said they would attend a preview last night.

The Straits Times understands that CapitaLand could adjust prices, depending on how this weekend’s launch goes.

CapitaLand Group chief executive Liew Mun Leong expects that once the project is launched for public sale, it will attract interest from foreign investors looking to park their money in Asia.

‘Funds will come in because of the liquidity chase coming to Asia. And if they come to this part of the world, of course they will buy property, because it’s the safest form of investment,’ he said.

The 200 units being launched this weekend range from one- to four-bedroom apartments and are in two 36-storey towers. The entire project consists of 1,703 apartments in seven towers and 12 semi-detached villas.

Although d’Leedon sits on a huge site of over 840,000 sq ft, only 22 per cent of the land area is being taken up by homes. The rest is slated for gardens, facilities such as two swimming pools and a gym and retail outlets, which could include restaurants, a laundromat and a clinic.

Mr Liew also said that it was ‘a possibility’ that CapitaLand could be interested in bidding for a similarly large site – the collective sale of Pine Grove estate in Ulu Pandan.

While the site is attractive, the price tag of $1.7 billion is a hefty one for any single developer to take on alone, he said.

‘I don’t know how many of us can afford it,’ he quipped.

However, he said CapitaLand would consider getting partners to bid for the site – as it had done for Farrer Court, when it formed a consortium with Hotel Properties, Wachovia Development Corporation and a fund managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate.

Source: Straits Times, 26 Nov 2010

Average selling price is $1,680 psf; or under $1m for a one-plus-study unit

CAPITALAND will release 200 units of its highly anticipated 1,715-unit residential project, d’Leedon, this weekend for sale to former owners of Farrer Court, who sold the land to CapitaLand in 2007.

CapitaLand said that the public launch of the 99-year leasehold residential project on Farrer Road will be ‘soon’ after this preview.

The units that will be on sale range from one-plus- study to four-bedroom units. The average selling price is $1,680 per square foot (psf), which translates to below $1 million for the smallest units to $1.5 million for a two-bedder.

These units are drawn from two of d’Leedon’s seven 36-storey towers, which are near its King’s Road entrance. They make up barely one-third of the two towers’ 678 units.

d’Leedon will also have penthouses, three-storey garden homes and landed property. The latter, 12 semi-detached garden villas, will be rolled out in d’Leedon’s last phase. CapitaLand would not say how many phases the project will have.

The total cost of developing the District 10 project is about $3 billion. This includes the $1.3 billion price tag for the 840,049 sq ft site which was bought in a collective sale in 2007.

The breakeven cost remains at CapitaLand’s previous estimates of $1,350 to $1,450 psf.

d’Leedon is being developed by a CapitaLand-led consortium that includes Hotel Properties Limited, a fund managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate, and Wachovia Development Corporation.

Yesterday, CapitaLand Residential Singapore’s chief executive Wong Heang Fine said that interest in d’Leedon seems to be good, with 300 of Farrer Court’s 600-odd residents indicating that they would come to the preview.

When asked why the project took this long to come to market when the land was bought in 2007, CEO and president of CapitaLand Group Liew Mun Leong said that it was partly to do with the recession when it was ‘senseless to do any launch’.

He also quipped: ‘It also takes time to get our architects to conceive the design – and good architects are difficult to manage.’

The architect behind d’Leedon is Zaha Hadid, the first female winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Patrik Schumacher from Zaha Hadid Architects who also worked on the project with Ms Hadid said that the buildings’ inspiration was very much taken from nature.

The 150-metre tall towers were conceptualised as flowers growing upwards from a central strip of private gardens. Each tower is unique as they are sub-divided into ‘petals’ according to the number of units on each floor.

The towers take up only 22 per cent of the land area. The rest of the 655,000 sq ft space, said Mr Schumacher, is dedicated to two swimming pools, greenery and recreational facilities such as clubhouses.

One tower of d’Leedon will have its third to 10th levels host 80 elderly friendly units. Mr Wong said they are meant to encourage multi-generational families to live close to one another.

Viewers of d’Leedon’s show galleries would see luxurious customised decor. Four show suites were decked out by Hong Kong- based interior designer Terence Tam from Union-Tech Services. Each apartment comes with its own scent, such as baked bread or marinated salmon.

The last, a three-storey garden home, was specially designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and bears Ms Hadid’s signature use of curves in its furnishings, bed linen and even wallpaper.

d’Leedon is expected to obtain its temporary occupation permit by 2015.

Source: Business Times, 26 Nov 2010

Demand buoyed by low interest rates and potential for upside
BUYERS appear to be returning to the high-end housing market, with strong sales at a string of recent luxury projects.

City Developments’ (CDL) freehold project The Glyndebourne saw 112 apartments – or about 75 per cent – of the 150 units snapped up during a private preview which began last Friday.

The apartments – housed in eight blocks of five storeys each – were sold at an average price of $2,100 per sq ft (psf).

However, prices ranged from $1,900 psf to $2,350 psf, ranging from about $1.59 million for a one-bedroom plus study unit to about $7.15 million for a five-bedroom penthouse, CDL said.

The project – located on the Copthorne Orchid Hotel site – saw all one-bedroom with study, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom with study units sold. CDL said that 10 out of the 23 penthouses, which ranged from 3,541 sq ft to 3,563 sq ft, were also snapped up.

Seventy per cent of the buyers were local, with permanent residents and foreigners from countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea and China making up the remaining 30 per cent.

CDL said that it had initially planned to release just 60 units in phase one of the preview. However, ‘to cater to the strong demand’, the firm released additional units progressively. It is managing the marketing of the condo on behalf of its hotel unit Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, which owns the hotel.

This strong performance comes on the back of similarly strong sales at Allgreen Properties’ 118-unit Suites at Orchard. In the first two days after it went on sale last month, about 65 apartments were sold in the $2,000 to $2,200 psf range.

SC Global also sold a penthouse last month at The Boulevard Residence for $30 million, or $4,242 psf. Both in terms of the total price and the price psf, this is the highest achieved in the development.

Experts said that high-end homes have done well because of the low interest rate environment and the fact that luxury segment prices have yet to surpass their previous peak. There is also plenty of liquidity still in the market, they added.

Cushman & Wakefield managing director Donald Han said that high-end prices are about 12 per cent lower than their peak in the first quarter of 2008, providing investors, who were looking to park their money in good and stable investments, with the potential for upside.

It is the only segment of the property market here that has yet to surpass its previous price peak.

‘The bottom line is that, as interest rates remain at historic lows, investors are looking for good opportunities and compelling buys to park their money,’ he added.

A UOB Kay Hian report said that it expects high-end segment projects to do well in the coming months.

‘They offer relatively better value compared to other segments and are well supported by lower interest rates and liquidity inflows,’ it added.

Far East Organization also sold 30 units across its portfolio last week, including sales at Waterfront Gold in the Bedok Reservoir area; Vista Residences off Thomson Road; The Shore Residences in the Katong area; The Greenwich in Seletar Road; and Silversea in the East Coast area.

The firm will be officially launching the 214-unit The Lanai – which consists of two-, three- and four-bedroom units that range from 947 sq ft to 1,615 sq ft – along Hillview Avenue this weekend.

The 999-year leasehold project has already sold 76 units at a preview last month, which included a bulk purchase, with prices starting from $1,290 psf.

Industry players also said that several other high-end launches, such as Robinson Suites, Spottiswoode Residences and Helios Residences, might be launched soon.

They added that the launch of CapitaLand’s former Farrer Court site, with more than 1,700 units, will also give further indications on the momentum in the high-end segment.

Source: Straits Times, 2 Nov 2010

CDL sells 112 units at its 150-unit Glyndebourne condo on Dunearn Rd

(SINGAPORE) As City Developments (CDL) announced yesterday that about 75 per cent of the 150 units at its freehold Glyndebourne condo have been sold since the preview began on Friday, some other developers are rushing to try to release projects before the year-end holiday season sets in.

UOL Group is expected to preview the freehold Spottiswoode Residences condo next week, and the price is expected to be about $2,000 per square feet (psf). About 90 per cent of the 351 units comprise one-bedroom, one-bedroom-plus-study and two-bedroom apartments.

The project, a 36-storey tower, is next to Spottiswoode Park, a green lung in the area, and close to Tanjong Pagar, which is slated to be transformed into a new bustling waterfront district after the container terminals in the vicinity eventually move out.

The Tanjong Pagar Railway Station site is also expected to be redeveloped after Keretapi Tanah Melayu vacates the site under a historic land-swap deal between Singapore and Malaysia announced in September.

Over at Robinson Road, agents are said to be gathering interest for the freehold Robinson Suites at prices ranging from $2,300 psf to $3,300 psf. The 42-storey project, to be developed on the VTB Building site, comprises 167 apartments and three ground-floor shop units. All the apartments are either one-bedroom-plus-study units or two-bedders. Unit sizes start at 484 sq ft.

The developer – a consortium whose shareholders include Cheong Sim Lam (whose family developed International Plaza), Fission Holdings, Tan Koo Chuan and Saw Pik Kee – is pitching the project as the ‘first-ever freehold apartments along Robinson Road’.

CapitaLand, meanwhile, is getting ready to release the first phase of its 1,715-unit condo on the 99-year-leasehold Farrer Court site. The 36-storey Zaha Hadid-designed project will feature one to four-bedroom apartments, penthouses and six pairs of strata semi-detached houses.

In the mass-market segment, Sim Lian is said to be gunning to release Waterview, a 99-year-leasehold condo comprising 696 units at Tampines Ave 1/10 facing Bedok Reservoir, as soon as it gets all the necessary approvals from the authorities.

The project will comprise two, three and four-bedroom apartments and penthouses. The average price is expected to be in the $820-920 psf range.

Meanwhile, CDL said yesterday it sold 112 units at its 150-unit Glyndebourne condo on Dunearn Road between Friday and Sunday.

‘All one-bedroom-plus-study, two-bedroom and three-bedroom-plus-study units have been snapped up. A wide spectrum of other unit types was also sold, including 10 out of the 23 penthouses,’ CDL said in a statement yesterday.

Seventy per cent of the buyers are Singaporeans, with permanent residents and foreigners from Malaysia, the United States, Indonesia, China, India, Myanmar, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Brunei making up the remaining 30 per cent.

CDL began previewing the project on Oct 29 on behalf of its London-listed hotel unit Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, which owns the freehold site on which the condo will be developed.

The Copthorne Orchid Hotel Singapore on the site will be closed at the end of March 2011 to make way for the redevelopment of the site into Glyndebourne.

CDL said the 112 units sold were at prices ranging from $1,900 to $2,350 psf, or at an average price of about $2,100 psf.

Source: Business Times, 2 Nov 2010

Sentiment index for the next six months drops slightly following Govt’s recent curbs

PROPERTY companies are less optimistic about market conditions in the next six months, following the Government’s introduction of cooling measures in August.

According to the third-quarter Real Estate Sentiment Index (Resi), the future sentiment index – which gauges sentiment about the next six months – dropped to 4.8 from 5.9 in the second quarter of the year.

Released yesterday, the quarterly questionnaire survey developed by the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas) and the National University of Singapore’s Department of Real Estate (NUS DRE) polled 71 Redas members, of which 61 per cent were developers.

Although slightly less upbeat, developers did not expect the market to weaken significantly over the next six months, the survey found.

But fewer of them expected more new residential units to be launched in the next six months – 44 per cent as compared to 68 per cent in the second quarter of this year.

On prices, those questioned suggest levels will moderate over the coming months.

More than half – 54 per cent – anticipated residential prices remaining unchanged over the next two quarters, and 34 per cent saw them becoming moderately lower. Just 12 per cent thought they would rise, compared to 51 per cent when the survey was last conducted in June.

In a statement released yesterday, Associate Professor Sing Tien Foo of the NUS Department of Real Estate said ‘the strong historical price growth is not likely to be sustained moving forward’.

Resi’s composite sentiment index – an indicator of overall market sentiment – also dropped to 4.8 from 5.9, indicating that respondents were less upbeat and expected more uncertain market conditions over the near term.

The survey found that respondents were negative about prospects for the suburban residential market, expecting it to perform less well over the next six months.

The sector had a ‘net balance percentage’ of minus 43 per cent.

This figure indicates the overall direction of change in sentiment according to the Resi report.

Some 76 per cent of respondents anticipated that recent government measures would have a significant impact on the HDB resale market over the next half-year, and 65 per cent thought they would hit mass-market private housing. About 45 per cent of developers did not expect to see a change in the level of interest in government land sale (GLS) sites and collective sales, but 47 per cent thought interest for government land sale sites would reduce over the next six months, compared to 24 per cent in the last quarter.

About 33 per cent of developers anticipate less interest in collective sales, compared to 15 per cent in the previous quarter.

Redas chief executive Steven Choo said the divergent views reflected short-term uncertainty about market movements, ‘but by and large, the development industry is expected to stay on course to meet demand in the housing market’.

Source: Straits Times, 29 Oct 2010

34% expect prices of new launches to fall; some fear more cooling measures

(SINGAPORE) The worst- kept secret in the property market is out in the open. Not only are developers less upbeat about the future but a third of them actually expect prices of new homes to decline. And market performance for the suburban residential sector may be the worst hit.

This dose of pessimism was reflected in the latest readings of Real Estate Sentiment Index (RESI) put out by the developers body and NUS.

In the wake of the Aug 30 cooling measures, some 34 per cent of developers polled for Q3 expect prices for new residential launches to decline, albeit by less than 10 per cent, over the next six months. None of the developers surveyed in Q1 and Q2 had predicted price drops.

Just 44 per cent expect more new residential units to be launched over the next half year, down from 68 per cent in the previous quarter.

The sentiment indices slipped below the psychologically significant mark of 5 in Q3, indicating respondents were less upbeat in the quarter and expect more uncertain market conditions over the next six months.

The consensus as indicated by net balances is generally weaker.

Polled on how the suburban residential sector would perform, the net balance in Q3 was -43 per cent. This means that most expect the sector to perform worse over the next six months. In Q2, this net balance was +27 per cent, hinting at better future performance.

‘The strong historical price growth in the sector is not likely to be sustained moving forward. Downward adjustment to the price growth, if it occurs in the next few months, will ease some pressure on the affordability level of mass-market residential properties in suburban areas,’ said Associate Professor Sing Tien Foo of NUS.

The net balance for the future market performance of the prime residential sector, while still in positive territory, has also been declining significantly, from +54 per cent in Q1 to +32 per cent in Q2 and +3 per cent in Q3.

About 70 per cent of the developer respondents in the latest survey were concerned that the government could intervene to dampen the property market further.

They also cited other factors that could hurt sentiment over the next six months. The concerns included a slowdown in the global economy (cited by 60 per cent), an increase in the supply of development land (53 per cent), too many new property launches (49 per cent), rising interest rates (47 per cent) and tightening financing/liquidity in the debt market (40 per cent).

Eighty-four per cent of all survey respondents consider it likely and very likely that there will be a further increase in the supply of development land over the next six months. An even higher proportion, 90 per cent, of respondents expect the government to further boost the supply of Build-to-Order and Design, Build and Sell Scheme public housing flats as well as executive condo (EC) units.

Recent government steps to cool the market are expected to have most impact on the HDB resale and mass private housing market segments. About 76 and 64 per cent respectively of survey respondents rated their impact on these two market segments over the next six months as significant. Conversely, the measures are expected to have the least impact on the high-end/luxury segment with 64 per cent predicting minimal impact. For the mid-end private housing segment, 79 per cent foresee only moderate impact.

Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore and NUS’ Department of Real Estate polled slightly over 70 respondents for their latest Q3 survey, similar to the size for the Q1 and Q2 surveys.

The Current Sentiment Index, where respondents are asked to rate overall Singapore real estate market conditions now compared with six months ago, fell from 5.8 in Q2 to 4.8 in Q3.

The Future Sentiment Index, where respondents rate overall property market conditions over the next six months, also slipped from 5.9 in Q2 to 4.8 in Q3. As a result, the Composite Sentiment Index (the average of the two indices), also declined to 4.8. The index ranges from 0 to 10 with a score below 5 indicating deteriorating market conditions.

Redas CEO Steven Choo said: ‘The RESI was able to track closely the immediate impact the cooling measures has on sentiments in the property sector.’

Agreeing, Knight Frank chairman Tan Tiong Cheng said: ‘The findings are not surprising. Just look at the amount of land government has been releasing and the supply of new HDB flats and ECs they’re planning, plus the demand-side measures. People have put on their thinking caps to figure out how they’ll be affected, whether they are HDB upgraders, buying a second/investment property, or even downgrading.

‘The latest survey results are a clear signal to government that the measures are having an impact,’ he added.

Separately, the NUS’ Institute of Real Estate Studies yesterday released its monthly Singapore Residential Price Index tracking prices of completed non-landed private homes. The overall index rose one per cent month on month in September, slightly slower than the 1.1 per cent increase in August.

NUS’ sub-index for Central region, which covers a basket of properties in districts 1-4 and 9-11, increased 0.6 per cent in September, the same pace as in August. The sub-index for Non-Central region appreciated 1.4 per cent in September, slightly slower than the 1.6 per cent gain posted in August.

Source: Business Times, 29 Oct 2010

A JOINT venture involving Chip Eng Seng has sold the last 30 units at CityVista Residences for about $147 million, BT understands. The 20-storey freehold project of 70 units at Peck Hay Road in the Cairnhill area received Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) recently.

The buyer is said to be a property fund managed by Alpha Investment Partners. Alpha is a unit of Keppel Land.

The transaction involves 28 apartments (three and four-bedders) and two penthouses. The price for the apartments is thought to be about $1,850 per square foot (psf). The psf price for the two penthouses is said to be much lower as they come with substantial roof terrace areas, making up about half of their saleable area.

Each duplex penthouse, which has five bedrooms and a private pool, has an area exceeding 9,000 square feet.

Last month, four units in the project were sold at $1,900-1,980 psf, according to developers’ monthly sales data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. The Chip Eng Seng-Lehman venture began selling the project in June 2007, with 21 units sold at prices ranging from $2,397 psf to $2,828 psf.

Market watchers suggest that with the project receiving TOP, it made sense for the partners to give a bulk discount and offload the remaining units so that they can clear this portfolio, repay bank loans and move on to other things.

Chip Eng Seng has been successful at state land tenders of late. This year alone, it has clinched 99-year-leasehold executive condominium development sites in Pasir Ris and Punggol in partnership with NTUC Choice Homes. On its own, too, Chip Eng Seng was awarded a 99-year private condo site in Simei.

Savills is understood to have been involved in the deal for the last 30 units at CityVista Residences.

Meanwhile, billionaire Peter Lim is said to have been the buyer of 20 units sold last month at Sui Generis, a freehold condo at Balmoral Crescent which received TOP a few months ago.

The former ‘remisier king’ paid around $95 million or $1,935 psf in the secondary market deal.

Source: Business Times, 26 Oct 2010