MORE than 1,300 new flats were launched for sale yesterday as the Housing Board stepped up measures to help first-time buyers.

Senja Parc View in Bukit Panjang will offer 577 units under standard contracts, while 745 units at Anchorvale Horizon in Sengkang will be sold under premium contracts. Although the 1,322 build-to-order (BTO) flats will not be ready for at least a few years, the increase in supply should ease pressure on first-time buyers as the property market soars.

Senja Parc View flats cost $86,000 to $119,000 for a two-room unit, and $242,000 to $312,000 for a four-room unit. Premium units at Anchorvale Horizon cost from $75,000 to $104,000 for a studio apartment, and $344,000 to $426,000 for a five-room flat.

Both projects feature the Optional Component Scheme where buyers can pay extra for finishes such as internal doors or flooring. Apart from the studio apartments, the other 95 per cent of units will be set aside for first-time buyers.

HDB said such buyers use an estimated 17 per cent to 27 per cent of their monthly household income to meet their monthly loan repayments. It advised prudence when purchasing homes. The income ceiling is $2,000 a month for a two-room unit, $3,000 for a three-room unit, and $8,000 for studio apartments, four-room and five-room units.

ERA Asia-Pacific associate director Eugene Lim said the Sengkang project looks set to buck the trend of dipping oversubscription rates.

The two most recent BTO exercises, in Yishun and Woodlands, saw rates of 2.4 and 2.2 respectively. These are much lower than that for a BTO project launched in Punggol in April, which saw application numbers reach up to six times the 1,429 units on offer. The drop may be due in part to the projects’ locations.

Mr Lim said: ‘Anchorvale looks more attractive because it’s within walking distance of a number of amenities such as an LRT station.’

Mr Adam Tan, corporate communications manager for PropNex, said he foresees an oversubscription rate of at least four times for the four- and five-room flats in Sengkang.

‘First-timers looking to start a family will like Anchorvale Horizon because it’s a fairly developed estate. In addition, cash-over-valuation (COV) figures haven’t come down enough for first-timers to jump over to the resale market, because they do not have that amount of disposable cash.’

He added that median COV prices for resale flats in Sengkang are about $32,000 for a four-room unit and $35,000 for a five-room unit.

Applications for the new flats will close on Nov 8. They bring the number of new flats for sale under the BTO scheme and Sale of Balance Flats exercise to 15,527 since the start of this year.

HDB will launch 2,200 new flats in Yishun and Punggol next month and in December respectively. It also announced plans to sell about 5,000 flats in Bukit Panjang, Jurong West, Sengkang and Yishun in the first quarter of next year.

Source: Straits Tiimes, 27 Oct 2010

It’s the largest single launch ever; five private developer sites for sale

THE largest number of new HDB flats in a single launch was released yesterday, while five sites for private developers were put up for sale by the Government.

The moves to bump up new home supply come a day after measures were unveiled to curb property speculation.

The 3,032 new flats comprise 1,408 build-to-order (BTO) units in Yishun and 1,624 balance homes spread over 10 non-mature towns or estates.

PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail expects the BTO flats to be five to six times oversubscribed, and says the balance units will be at least eight times oversubscribed.

The supply of balance flats comes from differing sources, including flats left over from earlier BTO exercises.

They are popular with buyers as they have either been completed or have shorter waiting periods, or are in more mature estates, said Mr Ismail.

There are 1,081 four-room balance flats priced from $190,000 to $380,000. The rest are two- to five-roomers and executive units. Prices start from $104,000 to $126,000 for a two-roomer.

The flats are in a range of estates, including Hougang, Punggol and Sengkang.

The BTO flats are in Yishun Riverwalk. The 254 studio apartments will cost $63,000 to $87,000. The rest are three- to five-room flats, with the 652 four-roomers priced at $214,000 to $268,000.

The HDB expects high application rates for the balance homes based on the previous sale, so people will have a greater chance of success if they target a BTO flat. The first sale of balance flats was held last October, with 2,132 units offered.

The launch yesterday brings the total number of new HDB flats offered this year to 12,876. The HDB will offer more than 16,000 new flats this year and up to 22,000 next year.

The private sector was catered for as well yesterday, with one confirmed site placed for sale in Petir Road and four other plots made available if developers are keen. All the sites are near projects that have been launched in the past year or so.

The 2.3ha Petir Road site has a maximum gross floor area of 47,763 sq m and can yield about 430 flats. It is next to the fully sold Tree House, launched in April.

An industry expert said the site may attract bids ranging from about $320 to $355 per sq ft per plot ratio, which works out to $164.5 million to $183 million.

One of the other sites is at the junction of West Coast Link and West Coast Crescent and next to the fully sold The Vision condo, which was launched earlier this year.

An Alexandra Road site is beside Ascentia Sky, which was launched last year, while a plot in Tanah Merah Kechil Road is near Optima@Tanah Merah, which sold out in three days in August last year.

A plot at the junction of Pasir Ris Drive 3 and Elias Road is near Oasis@Elias, which was launched last year.

Experts told The Straits Times that while most of these sites are attractive, their sale may not be triggered just yet as the cooling measures would have dampened sentiment.

‘Developers will adopt a wait-and-see approach. They will want to observe the responses to the upcoming launches before they act on these land tenders,’ said Jones Lang LaSalle’s South-east Asia research head Chua Yang Liang.

Source: Straits Times, 1 Sep 2010

Lack of interest a sign that developers have become more selective

AN EXECUTIVE condominium (EC) site that experts thought might draw at least two or three developers failed to attract a single bid at the tender’s close yesterday.

The surprise lack of interest in the Jurong West site likely stems from the Government’s recent decision to put a record number of sites up for tender in coming months, giving developers a wealth of choice.

Bids were tipped to come in between $230 and $300 per sq ft per plot ratio for the 99-year leasehold site after strong interest in other EC tenders this year.

But developers have become much more selective and the site is not particularly appealing, being next to the expressway with no amenities nearby and some distance from the MRT, said experts.

ERA Asia-Pacific associate director Eugene Lim added: ‘If the site is not attractive, developers would presume that it would be difficult to sell. So why take the risk?’

A developer who declined to be named said: ‘There are too many choices out there. You have only so much resources so you have to pick something that you can make money from.’

EL Development managing director Lim Yew Soon said: ‘I would think most of us want to choose a site that is more attractive. There’s an opportunity cost even if you put in an opportunistic bid as you may miss the next tender.’

Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak said developers will be more cautious with sites where they see limited pricing flexibility.

ECs are aimed at households with a gross monthly income ceiling of $10,000 so developers would want to price units at below a million each, he said. They should cost at least 10 to 15 per cent less than a private mass market condo unit.

The last time an EC site had no takers was in late 2008 when the market was weakening. That site – at the junction of Punggol Field and Punggol Road and near Punggol MRT station – eventually sold in June this year.

A Ministry of National Development spokesman said: ‘It’s not possible to conclude the lack of bids is a sign of the market cooling. Developers’ participation on Government land sales sites is affected by several factors, of which location of the sites and supply of sites are some of the considerations.’

However, Mr Mak said the Jurong West outcome will have a ‘psychological effect on the land sales market’.

‘It could signal to developers that they no longer need to bid high for sites that are not attractively located,’ he said.

The Jurong EC site can yield an estimated 460 units with a maximum permissible gross floor area of 542,988 sq ft.

Meanwhile, demand for new build-to- order (BTO) HDB flats remained strong, with 2,163 applications received for 171 four-room flats in Jurong West.

Applications for the five-room flats in the same area were nearly 12 times the 104 units on offer. The project in Bukit Panjang drew 2,123 applications for 313 four-room flats.

Source: Straits Times, 13 Aug 2010

Next year’s supply may even exceed this year’s record 16,000 new flats

HOME buyers could have more than 16,000 new build-to-order (BTO) flats to choose from next year if demand continues at its present pace, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan.

The flats will be offered in mature HDB estates such as Tampines and Pasir Ris as well as outlying housing areas.

Mr Mah told the media yesterday: ‘If demand remains at this level, we will certainly push out a new supply of HDB flats at the same level, if not higher.’

Demand is now strong and while there are signs of an economic slowdown, the momentum should continue.

‘Going forward, I can safely say that we will continue to see this growth, and therefore we are preparing for continued supply,’ added Mr Mah, who was speaking on the sidelines of his ministry’s National Day Observance Ceremony where he presented awards to staff.

‘We are confident it will be taken up. It will be at least 16,000 new flats.’

The Government has pushed up the supply of BTO flats to 16,000 this year – about 80 per cent more than for last year and likely the highest in a decade.

The HDB had gone on an intensive building drive in the boom years of the 1990s, only to stop building new flats in new towns in 2002 as it had some 17,500 unsold flats.

The increased supply now is to meet sizzling demand, as BTO projects continue to be oversubscribed and surging HDB resale prices continue to scale new highs.

Mr Mah said late last month that the supply and demand imbalance will be arrested soon by the record number of HDB flats being released this year with prices likely to stabilise in about a year or so.

He also noted yesterday that new flats will be launched in areas other than Punggol and Sengkang, where most of the existing available land is.

‘We’re now looking for pockets of land in other parts of Singapore now that we have fulfilled our promise to Punggol,’ he added.

Mr Mah said Punggol has achieved a critical mass of 21,000 to 22,000 flats, a level that can support facilities like a new shopping mall and a town centre.

The minister also said that many young couples want to live near their parents, their children’s schools or their workplaces, so there is a demand for new flats in mature estates.

These estates will not be in downtown Singapore but could be in Tampines and Pasir Ris, he said.

He said more details will be available once the land is identified and prepared.

‘Each site is chosen very carefully… We want to build close to amenities… What HDB is doing is they are now looking for all these different pieces of land,’ he added.

‘But the direction is to start to spread out the building programme into other areas.’

The HDB will also be building flats in entirely new estates.

‘One day, we’ll have to look at opening up new land, new estates… as eventually, we will run out of available land.’

But this will require a lot of preparation and is costly as the Government will have to put in brand new infrastructure and sewerage systems, he said.

Earlier this year, Mr Mah had mentioned that the Government will consider building flats in new areas such as Simpang in the north-east, along the Strait of Johor and Tengah in the west.

He reiterated yesterday that priority will continue to be given to first-time home buyers.

Second-timers can head for the resale market, though they should not rush in if they can afford to hold off.

‘If it is not so urgent, I would advise you to hold back for a while because you already have a flat to stay in… Consider holding back till the resale market stabilises,’ Mr Mah said.

When asked about the recent tweak to the project completion period for private residential sale sites from six to five years, he said that it should not affect many developers but it does give better assurance of the supply coming onstream.

‘The longer the (completion period), the more uncertain the supply projections going forward.’

Meanwhile, five teams from the National Development Ministry received awards for their projects on work such as eating well for less by choosing frozen meat as an alternative to chilled meat, assisting HDB lessees in financial difficulty and the master plan 2008 review.

Source: Straits Times, 7 Aug 2010

They may come up in established estates; no new estates to open

THE Housing & Development Board (HDB) could roll out more than 16,000 new flats across various estates next year if demand for public housing stays firm, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said yesterday.

Rising resale flat prices and cash premiums have prompted HDB to launch up to 16,000 new flats under the build-to-order (BTO) scheme this year. This is probably the highest number in 10 years, Mr Mah told reporters on the sidelines of his ministry’s National Day observance ceremony yesterday.

In the seven months to end-July, HDB brought more than 9,800 new BTO flats to market. And subscription rates for launches have been high.

‘If demand continues to be strong like this, we will ramp up our building programme even further for next year,’ Mr Mah said, adding that HDB is looking for land and getting plans ready.

More flats could come up in established estates such as Tampines and Jurong, beyond the newer towns of Punggol and Sengkang. Punggol has achieved a critical mass of about 21,000 to 22,000 flats, Mr Mah said. ‘Once we have achieved that, then we are able to now move into other parts of Singapore as well.’

There is still land available for development at Punggol and Sengkang, and HDB is also looking for sites in other estates, he said. But it will not open up new estates yet.

In March, Mr Mah flagged Tengah in the west and Simpang in the north-east as potential townships.

But while the government has set aside land for new estates, building them will be costly and will require a lot of work in terms of putting in roads, sewerage systems and other infrastructure, he explained.

Demand has been strong not just for public housing but also for private homes – particularly those in the mass-market segment. Earlier this week, the government cut the project completion period (PCP) for private residential sites that it sells to five years from six years to ensure a more timely supply of homes.

Mr Mah described the change as a ‘minor tweaking’ and said that it should not affect many developers. The shorter PCP gives ‘better assurance that the supply will come on stream’, he said. ‘The longer the PCP, the more uncertain the supply projections going forward.’

In his speech at the ceremony, Mr Mah said that the government will launch the Northern Explorer Park Connector Network this year. This is the third of seven loops linking parks around the island.

Five teams from various agencies under the National Development Ministry received awards from Mr Mah yesterday for various projects, such as rolling out Singapore Green Building Week.

Source: Business Times, 7 Aug 2010

This year’s launches now top offers for whole of last year

THE Housing & Development Board (HDB) is launching two new Build-To-Order (BTO) projects with 1,016 units at Bukit Panjang and Jurong West.

This brings the number of new flats it has introduced under the scheme so far this year to 9,844 – exceeding the 9,000 for the whole of last year.

Senja Gateway, located at the junction of Kranji Expressway and Woodlands Road, will have 741 standard flats. They consist of 254 studio apartments, 313 four-roomers and 174 five-roomers.

The site is near the LRT station at Ten Mile Junction, and is surrounded by schools such as Pioneer Junior College.

A five-room flat at the estate will go for $308,000 to $398,000. According to HDB, comparable resale flats in the area cost $378,000 to $450,800.

The second project, Corporation Tiara, is at the junction of Corporation Road and Yung Kuang Road. Up for sale are 275 premium flats, comprising 171 four-roomers and 104 five-roomers.

The project will include another 190 studio apartments but HDB will put these up for sale later.

Corporation Tiara is some distance from the Lakeside and Boon Lay MRT stations. But it is near green lungs – Chinese Garden and Japanese Garden.

A five-room flat at the estate will cost $304,000 to $389,000. Prices of comparable resale flats in the vicinity range from $384,000 to $420,000.

HDB has ramped up the supply of new flats this year as prices of resale flats continue to climb – they rose 4.1 per cent in Q2 from Q1. Buyers also had to pay larger cash premiums.

The agency will be rolling out another 1,400 new flats in Yishun next month, and it plans to offer up to 16,000 BTO flats for the whole year.

HDB pointed out that the annual take-up of HDB flats ranged from 7,000 to 16,100 in the last 10 years. ‘There were balance flats almost every year,’ it added.

Source: Business Times, 30 Jul 2010

TWO build-to-order (BTO) Housing Board (HDB) projects that will add 1,016 new flats to the market were launched yesterday. The launch means 9,844 flats have been released in seven months, exceeding the 9,000 units offered for the whole of last year.

The projects are Senja Gateway in Bukit Panjang and Corporation Tiara in Jurong West.

Senja Gateway at the junction of Kranji Expressway and Woodlands Road will have 741 standard flats, comprising 254 studios, 313 four-room flats and 174 five-roomers.

Studios of 35 sq m to 45 sq m will cost $67,000 to $95,000, four-room flats of 90 sq m will be from $242,000 to $306,000 while five-roomers of 110 sq m will go from $308,000 to $398,000.

Corporation Tiara in Jurong West, at the junction of Corporation Road and Yung Kuang Road, will have 275 premium flats, comprising 171 four-roomers and 104 five-roomers.

Four-roomers of between 90 sq m and 93 sq m will cost between $242,000 and $325,000 while five-room flats of 110 sq m to 113 sq m will cost between $304,000 and $389,000.

Under the BTO scheme, flats are built only when a certain level of demand for the project is met.

PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail expects this launch to be more than three times oversubscribed as demand is still strong due to the high cash-over-valuations (COV) asked for in the HDB resale market.

He added that the pattern of demand from past BTO launches showed that four- and five-room flats were often the most popular.

‘I think demand will be sustained throughout this year and we might even see a record number of BTO flats being launched,’ he said.

The HDB said that if demand from first-time buyers is sustained, it is prepared to offer up to 16,000 BTO flats this year. This is a significant supply as the total annual take-up of HDB flats in the last 10 years ranged from 7,000 in 2006 to 16,100 in 2000, with flats left unsold almost every year, the board said.

Buyers can expect about 1,400 flats to be launched in Yishun next month while upcoming projects include areas like Woodlands, Punggol and Sengkang.

The BTO stock will also be supplemented by an upcoming supply of 4,700 units under the design, build and sell scheme (DBSS) and executive condominium scheme such as a site launched for tender in Tampines Avenue 5 last month.

The HDB said it is prepared to launch more DBSS sites if demand keeps up.

Applications for the BTO flats launched yesterday can be made online at www.hdb.gov.sg until Aug 11.

Source: Straits Times, 30 Jul 2010

DEMAND for new public housing in Punggol has been high for a couple of years now. But with oversubscription rocketing for the latest build-to-order (BTO) project in the estate, the Housing and Development Board is launching another development in the space of a month.

This was announced yesterday as the application period for the 769-unit Punggol Residences, launched two weeks ago, closed with more than 5,100 applications.

The subscription rate of 6.7 is more than twice the ratio of applications to flats for recent BTO launches, such as that for Punggol Sapphire and Punggol Arcadia last year, which had about three times as many subscribers as available flats.

“The strong interest shows that homebuyers recognise that HDB’s latest project offers good value for money,” HDB said in a statement.

A four-room flat at Punggol Residences costs between $264,000 and $322,000, while a five-room flat is priced between $344,000 and $409,000.

HDB noted that “the consistently high subscription rates for BTO projects in Punggol Town is testament that the town has become a much sought after place to live in” – and the reason for its plans for another launch.

The continued launch of these BTO projects will “further contribute toward realising the vision of Punggol as a waterfront town”, it added.

So far this year, HDB has launched 2,800 flats under the BTO system. It reiterated yesterday it will increase this to 8,000 units or more, given the strong demand.

Source: Today, 13 Aug 2009

APPLICATIONS for the build-to-order (BTO) Punggol Residences flats have been flooding into the Housing Board (HDB).

As at 5pm yesterday, the HDB had received 5,215 applications for the 769 flats on offer at the Punggol site.

This works out to a subscription rate of 6.7 times for the development, which comprises 615 four-room and 154 five-room flats. There were 3,609 applications for the four-room flats and 1,606 applications for the five-room units.

The deadline for applications is midnight on Aug 12.

An HDB spokesman said: ‘The strong interest shows that home-buyers recognise that HDB’s latest project offers good value for money.’

Punggol Residences, situated at the junction of Punggol Walk and Punggol Field, is located within the precincts of the future Punggol Town Centre.

It is a five-minute walk from the Punggol MRT station and the bus interchange, while the Tampines Expressway is a short drive away.

The prices range from $264,000 to $322,000 for the four-room units and $344,000 to $409,000 for the five-room flats.

The prices are comparable to those at Punggol Regalia, a similar premium BTO project next to Punggol Residences, which was launched in December last year.

To date, the HDB has launched about 2,800 flats under the BTO system and, given the strong level of demand, is committed to stepping up its supply to 8,000 or more units. It is set to unveil another BTO project for Punggol later this month.

‘The consistently high subscription rates for the BTO projects in Punggol Town are testament that the town has become a much sought-after place to live in,’ the HDB spokesman said.

The HDB believes the launch of new BTO projects in Punggol will further contribute towards realising the ‘Punggol 21-Plus’ vision of a waterfront town for the 21st century.

Source: Straits Times, 13 Aug 2009

Enhanced Govt schemes now make owning flats a breeze

HOME for Mr Elmie Samsuri and his wife have been at their parents, or more recently, a Housing and Development Board (HDB) rental flat, for the 10 years that they have been married.

Last year, he applied for a three-room flat five times, but was unsuccessful. The 36-year-old driver believes his income of under $1,000 was “too low”.

“I wasn’t fussy. I tried walk-in selections for Bedok, Tampines and Redhill, because my wife and I are already in our30s and we want a flat of our own,” he said.

But, with HDB further enhancing the Additional Housing Grant (AHG) scheme in February — reducing its two-year continuous employment condition to one —Mr Elmie and his wife have been able to buy their first home — a two-room flat in Fernvale due to be completed in 2011.

“We’re very excited. It’s an investment for a start,” he said.

With success stories like Mr Elmie’s, the Ministry of National Development said in its addendum to the President’s Address that it is encouraged to press on with such policies to make Singapore a liveable city.

Other enhancements to the AHG: Raising the monthly income ceiling from $4,000 to $5,000, thereby increasing “the coverage of the AHG from 50 per cent to 60 per cent of resident households” and the maximum grant quantum from $30,000 to $40,000.

Delivery assistant Tan Chee Kian, 38, is another beneficiary, who recently bought a three-room resale flat for $220,000 in Bukit Gombak near his parents’, with the help of a $40,000 Family Grant and $40,000 AHG.

“The grant is good, but flats are very expensive these days. It’ll be more helpful if it is raised to $50,000 or $60,000,” he said.

Five years ago, he had bought a three-room resale flat in the same area for $185,000 on a bank loan, but sold it last year as he felt he could not finance his mortgage on his $1,100 salary.

Were it not for the AHG, he said he was resigned to moving back to his parents’ four-room flat with his homemaker wife and seven-year-old son.

“Without government help, many families can’t afford to buy a flat,” said Mr Tan.

MORE 2- and 3-ROOM FLATS
The Government first introduced the AHG in March 2006, to help lower-income citizen families buy their first HDB flat. It was first enhanced in August 2007, when the household income ceiling was increased to $4,000 from $3,000, as was the grant — from $20,000 to $30,000.

After the AHG was further enhanced on Feb 6 this year, the HDB has received some 3,000 applications. About 22 per cent of these are in the household income range of $4,001 to $5,000, and are eligible for the AHG.

Meanwhile, HDB will continue to build more two- and three-room flats. As of March this year, it had launched about 690 new two-room and 2,370 three-room flats for sale in Sengkang, Punggol, Bukit Panjang, Yishun and Woodlands.

The board plans to put out another 2,400 Build-To-Order flats over the next six months, of which about 1,000 willbe three-room and smaller if demand is good. It will also increase the supply of rental flats for those unable to buy their own.
buy their own.

Source: Today, 21 May 2009