But developers gear up for new launches, such as Hundred Trees and Cyan

BUSINESS visibly quietened down at showflats last week but developers are already revving up for new launches and releases of new phases of existing projects after Hungry Ghosts Month ends on Sept 18.

However, some market watchers reckon developers may be more careful not to price their projects too aggressively following National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan’s second statement in five weeks that the government is monitoring the property market very closely and will take ‘certain actions’ if necessary.

City Developments is expected to preview Hundred Trees condo on the former Hong Leong Gardens site in the West Coast area in the last weekend of September. Earlier market talk was that the 396-unit project will have an average price of about $930-$980 per square foot (psf). However, some quarters suggest the project will be ‘priced competitively’.

The 12-storey development has a 956-year-leasehold tenure. The Hundred Trees condo will be decked with Mempat trees, often dubbed the local version of Japan’s sakura or cherry blossoms.

At Keng Chin Road in the Bukit Timah area, Far East Organization is expected to preview in a few weeks a 278-unit freehold condo named Cyan. A stone’s throw away, Keppel Land has sold about 65 per cent of its 56-unit freehold Madison Residences since last month at an average price of about $1,700 psf. This pricing applies to those who opt for the interest absorption scheme (IAS). Buyers who prefer a normal progressive payment scheme pay 2 per cent less.

Even more projects are slated for launch in October, including Ho Bee’s Trilight on the former Elmira Heights site on Newton Road, as developers try to catch possibly the last wave of home buying for 2009 before the year-end school holiday season.

NTUC Choice Homes sold 50 units at its Trevista condo in Toa Payoh last week, mostly on Saturday and Sunday. This is significantly below the 410-unit sales achieved from Friday to Sunday of the preceding week when the developer previewed the 99-year-leasehold condo. To date, Choice Homes has released 550 of the condo’s total 590 units.

‘The remaining units in the project are mostly three and four-bedroom apartments. Prices start from $884 psf or $1.008 million for three-bedders and $850 psf or $1.448 million for the four-bedroom apartments,’ a Choice Homes spokeswoman said yesterday.

Trevista’s initial average price was $898 psf, but with subsequent releases of units – some with better facing and on higher floors – the average price achieved is understood to be about $920-$930 psf.

BT understands that things were even quieter at the Trizon showflat in the Mount Sinai area. Units in the freehold project cost $1,250 psf to $1,550 psf. Sales are said to have plummeted last week after the slightly more than 100 units sold in the previous weekend’s preview.

A property consultant said: ‘When a minister, especially the National Development Minister, comes out to urge buyers to be cautious, it has its effects – at least for the time being.’ ‘When the caution is being urged in the Seventh Month (when traditionally things are a bit slower in the property market), potential buyers have time to reflect on the message,’ he added.

Following six months of surprisingly strong home sales, developers have upped prices. By some estimates, prices of mass-market homes increased about 10-15 per cent from the lows of January-February 2009 to July-August.

In late July, Mr Mah urged home seekers to research the property market thoroughly and seek affordable units. Last week, he advised them to ‘think carefully, think long term, think about the unexpected’ before buying a property.

He also said there is a ‘definite possibility’ that the government will re-introduce land sales through its confirmed list system from next year. Such sales have been suspended since October last year.

All eyes are on today’s tender for a plum 99-year condo plot at Dakota Crescent next to an MRT station and fronting Geylang River.

Source: Business Times, 8 Sep 2009

Toppish price may send inadvertent signal to restart confirmed list sales

EVEN as the dust settles on Hong Leong Group’s top bid at last week’s tender for a 99-year condo site at Chestnut Avenue, a discussion in some circles now centres on whether Hong Leong overpaid for the site.

As expected, Housing & Development Board said yesterday evening it has awarded the site to Sunny Vista Developments (a subsidiary of City Developments) and Hong Realty.

The two companies are part of the Hong Leong Group and teamed up to place the top bid of $143.68 million, which works out to a much-higher-than-expected land cost of $280 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr).

Some rival developers believe Hong Leong’s breakeven cost may be around the $600 psf mark and its projected average selling price near the $700 psf level. Sources, however, suggest the group may have been eyeing a much higher average price, in the high-$800 psf range, when it cast its bid.

That would set a benchmark for a 99-year leasehold condo in the area.

Hong Leong Group executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng said in a written reply to BT: ‘We can see potential in an area where some others may not… We are very familiar with this locality… There is now a lack of good and affordable residential developments in the vicinity. We are confident that there is a vibrant market there.’

The tender attracted 13 bids and marked the first time in about a year that the government had sold land for private residential development. Clearly, developers are famished for land after a stretch of strong housing sales over the past six months. The Chestnut Avenue plot in the Bukit Panjang area was on the government’s reserve list when it was triggered for release after a successful application by a developer that undertook to bid at least $62 million or about $121 psf ppr.

Here are some indicators of Hong Leong’s bullishness. Its bid was 2.3 times the minimum price. Seven of the 13 bids were bunched in the $169-182 psf ppr range; the winning bid was 54 to 66 per cent above this.

Hong Leong’s bid was 11.3 per cent higher than the next highest offer of $251.60 psf ppr placed by rival Far East Organization. The site is not near an MRT station but one advantage of its location is that units on the upper floors of a condo on the site will enjoy views of the nature reserve next to Upper Peirce Reservoir. Hong Leong’s new project on the site is expected to be profitable, but it remains to be seen just how high a price it will be able to achieve.

The aggressive winning bid has set the stage for toppish bids at next month’s tender for a ‘hotter’ site at Dakota Crescent next to an MRT station, fronting Geylang River and much closer to the city. It will also raise pressure on other reserve list sites that are triggered. In other words, land prices are set to escalate. Ditto for the prices at which developers later market new projects on these sites.

Mr Kwek insists that the outcome of the Chestnut Avenue tender shows the reserve list system – where the government launches a site for tender only upon successful application by a developer – is working well. ‘The property market has still not fully recovered yet and although the economy is improving, it has not recovered too,’ he added.

Last October, the government suspended sales of sites on the confirmed list, where sites are launched for tender according to scheduled dates. Instead, it has offered sites solely through the reserve list; this market-led approach was thought to be suitable amid the housing sales slump at the time.

However, in the first seven months of this year, developers sold a stunning 10,017 private homes – more than double the 4,264 units they sold in the whole of 2008. This has enabled developers to flex their muscles. Prices of mass-market condos today are about 10-15 per cent higher than the lows of Jan-Feb 2009, according to one developer’s estimate.

One reading of last week’s tender result is that some developers do not believe the pace of land sales from the reserve list will be fast enough for them to replenish their mass-market housing landbanks – despite the fact that three such sites had already been triggered in the one month preceding last week’s tender close. And the likes of Mr Kwek thus need to bid aggressively to get their hands quickly on some much-needed land.

Here’s a possible signal he may have inadvertently sent to the authorities, who are keen to assure the home buying public there is enough supply of private homes and land: please expedite the release of more land.

There may be a case now for government to transfer a few of the nicer sites from the current reserve list to the confirmed list, and start launching them soon. It could also replenish the reserve list.

But selling land only through the reserve list – where government waits for a developer to apply for a site and undertake to bid at a minimum price acceptable to the state before it launches the site – can take some time.

It may be opportune for government to take the unprecedented step of restarting confirmed list land sales midway through the current suspension for H2 2009.

Time is of the essence now as developers run out of land to build entry-level private condos on. And keeping the dream of upgrading to a private condo within reach of HDB upgraders is an important part of the Singapore housing story.

Source: Business Times, 26 Aug 2009

297-unit Optima homes sold for around $810 psf; other launches also see strong demand

Units at Optima went for an average price of around $810 per sq ft, or from $470,000 to $2.06million per unit.

Demand remained strong even after developer TID – a joint venture between Hong Leong Group and Mitsui Fudosan – raised prices by 5per cent, from $790 psf on Thursday to $830 psf by Friday.

Keen buyers were already seen queueing days before the launch of the 99-year leasehold condominium.

And TID had to conduct a ballot of 120 units for 300 buyers just before midnight on Thursday to prevent them having to camp out overnight for the public launch the next day.

Buyers were a good mix of HDB upgraders and investors, said the Hong Leong Group spokesman.

City Developments has now put on fast track the launch of its 396-unit project at the former Hong Leong Garden condominium site.

Over in Ang Mo Kio, another new suburban launch has attracted relatively strong demand, though some price resistance may have settled in over the weekend.

The 329-unit Centro Residences has sold 93 out of the 144 units that were released for sale last week.

Most of the units sold were two- to three-bedders. The smallest two-bedders have been sold, leaving those from 872sqft and above, and priced from $1million.

Far East Organization said yesterday that 50per cent of the buyers are HDB upgraders from nearby towns, while the rest are residents from private estates.

Prices at the 99-year leasehold condominium started from $1,100 psf – a price level more typical of city-fringe or prime projects, property watchers observed.

‘Such prices can get you a freehold condo in Upper Bukit Timah,’ said Mr Nicholas Mak, a former property consultant. ‘Buyers should be a bit more rational. Demand at such price levels shows that some buyers may be getting carried away by the current euphoria.

‘If they are hoping for capital appreciation, they must ask themselves who is going to buy from them at an even higher price when a three-bedroom unit in a suburban project is usually priced less than $1,000 psf,’ he added.

Elsewhere, some other fairly new launches continued to attract buyers, but at a much slower pace.

Waterfront Key in Bedok Reservoir sold another eight units at an average price of $735 psf, bringing total sales to 193 out of 278 released units.

At the 329-unit The Gale in Flora Road, sales remained around the 90per cent level cited late last week.

Source: Straits Times, 4 Aug 2009

With 1,423 private homes sold in H1, it is far ahead of all other developers

Brisk weekend sales indicate continuation of strong momentum

SALES of new condominium projects continued at a robust pace last weekend, despite some developers starting to test the market with slightly higher prices.

Buyers picked up 120 units at Waterfront Key in Bedok Reservoir at an average price of $735 per sq ft (psf), even though that price is higher than that at the neighbouring Waterfront Waves condo, where units are going at $700 psf on average.

Both are 99-year leasehold projects and are being jointly developed by Far East Organization and Frasers Centrepoint.

In the Upper Changi area, Hong Leong Group sold 50 more units of The Gale on Flora Road at prices ranging from $650 to $725 psf – up from $650 to $700 psf the previous weekend. This makes 265 units sold to date at the 329-unit freehold development, or about 80 per cent.

In the higher-end segment of the market, City Developments (CDL) has also raised prices for its newly launched Volari@Balmoral by 2 per cent, after it saw a fairly good take-up rate over the weekend.

CDL released 65 units out of a total of 85, and sold about 55 of them. The average price of the units sold was over $2,000 psf, it said in a press release.

The developer added that almost half the buyers were foreigners. Prices start from $2.7 million for a two-bedroom unit.

The transactions over the weekend indicate that this month’s home sales figures are likely to maintain the strong momentum started in February, which has seen more than 1,000 new homes sold every month.

Another interesting point: fewer buyers appear to be taking up the interest absorption scheme, which allows them to defer the bulk of their payments until their apartment is completed but often at a higher price.

Only a third of the buyers at The Gale took up the interest absorption scheme. About 20 per cent of Volari@Balmoral‘s buyers opted for the scheme, which means they paid 2 per cent more for their units.

At Waterfront Key, ‘practically all’ the buyers went with the normal progressive payment scheme, said Far East Organization’s chief operating officer Chia Boon Kuah. This could be because interest absorption for this project comes at a 4 per cent premium.

When asked why the prices were higher at Waterfront Key than at Waterfront Waves, Mr Chia mentioned the project’s ‘thoughtful facilities’, including three outdoor villas and two ‘island villas’, as well as the fact that all units would have views of either the park, reservoir or pool.

The developers released 176 units at Waterfront Key last Friday. A further 102 units will be released during the project’s public launch this Saturday. The condo has 437 units in all.

Of the buyers last weekend, about 60 per cent were HDB upgraders, said Mr Chia. They bought mainly the smaller units: all the 57 two-bedroom units from the first to 15th storeys have been sold, at prices starting from $593,000. The four-bedders, which are 1,518 sq ft in size, are going for up to $1.42 million each.

Source: Straits Times, 21 July 2009

PROPERTY sales over the past few days continued to post encouraging numbers.

City Developments is understood to have sold between 50 and 60 units of its 85-unit Volari@Balmoral condo at Balmoral Road. The 12-storey freehold project, priced at about $2,000 psf on average, will be built on the current Garden Hotel site. Residents will enjoy views of the lush greenery of the Goodwood Hill area. It was released for sale late last week.

Over at Bedok Reservoir, Far East Organization and Frasers Centrepoint have sold 120 units of Waterfront Key at an average price of $735 psf.

This pricing is about 5-8 per cent higher than the $680-700 psf average price at which the two developers are selling units at the adjacent Waterfront Waves, which was 78 per cent sold as of last Thursday. Both projects are 99-year leasehold.

As for their latest condo, the 437-unit Waterfront Key, 176 units have been released since Friday. Far East said that in terms of absolute quantum, prices range from $593,000 for a two-bedroom unit of 840 sq ft to $1.42 million for a 1,518 sq apartment with four bedrooms. The sole penthouse in the initial batch of 176 units is a 2,992 sq ft unit priced at $3.14 million.

Buyers of nearly all the 120 units sold did not opt for an interest absorption scheme (IAS), which comes at a 4 per cent price premium. The units released so far comprise a good mix of reservoir-facing, park-fronting and pool-view apartments. The 15-storey condo has a total of eight blocks.

Volari’s prices range from $1,800 psf to $2,300 psf. BT understands that an IAS is included in the price. However, the majority of buyers are understood to have opted for normal progressive payments, which means that they save 2 per cent on the pricing.

Developers have sold over 7,300 private homes in Singapore in the first six months of this year, surpassing the measly 4,264 units sold for the whole of last year. This has started to give developers some pricing power.

A seasoned property developer said that typically, price stability sets in when developers sell about 5,500 to 6,000 units over a 12-month period.

Increasingly, property analysts are predicting an increase in private home prices for the whole of this year and see the trend gaining momentum in 2010. Analysts’ estimates of full-year sales for this year range from around 9,000 to 14,000 units.

The strong home buying in recent months runs counter to the backdrop of wage cuts and job losses amid the recession.

Analysts credit the revival in home buying to developers’ strategy of chopping prices earlier this year, pent-up demand, the stock-market rally, a low interest rate environment, lack of trust among investors in financial instruments after Lehman’s collapse and the appeal of property as an anti-inflationary hedge.

Source: Business Times, 20 July 2009

Price works out to 36% below what seller paid in 2007

(SINGAPORE) Finally, a price benchmark has been set for a CBD office block in Singapore. Parakou Building, at the corner of Robinson Road and McCallum Street, has changed hands at $81.38 million or $1,280 per square foot of net lettable area, BT understands.

A subsidiary of Cathay Organisation, controlled by Choo Meileen, is believed to be the buyer. Knight Frank is said to have brokered the deal by private treaty. It declined to comment when contacted.

The $81.38 million transacted price for the 16-storey freehold office block is about 36 per cent lower than the $128 million the seller paid for the property two years ago.

Still, the loss for UK fund manager New Star Asset Management Group (which was acquired recently by Henderson Group) would be mitigated substantially by the Singapore dollar’s appreciation relative to the pound over the two years.

The last major office investment sales deal was in June last year when City Developments Ltd sold the 999-year leasehold Commerce Point near Raffles Place MRT Station for $2,200 psf.

There was at least one other smaller deal after that – the $21.5 million sale of Beach Junction at Beach Road in August last year.

The dearth of sales of office blocks since then, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, has made it hard to price such assets, although rents have clearly fallen.

The average gross monthly Grade A office rental value has fallen about 35 per cent from a high of $18.80 psf in Q2 and Q3 last year to $12.30 psf in Q1 this year, according to CB Richard Ellis figures.

While Parakou Building has sold for 36 per cent below what the seller had paid two years ago, bigger price discounts are expected for larger office towers costing several hundred million dollars or more, because there is less equity around and because of tight bank financing, property agents say.

‘So potentially, based on a returns perspective, the price benchmark might be tested again,’ a senior property consultant said.

Source: Business Times, 18 May 2009

It reverses earlier forecast of 10% slide next year, upgrades CDL to ‘buy’

(SINGAPORE) Goldman Sachs is now projecting a 5 per cent gain in Singapore private home prices next year, reversing its previous forecast of a 10 per cent fall in 2010. It has also upgraded City Developments, which it terms ‘the Singapore residential bellwether’, to a ‘buy’ rating from ‘sell’ previously.

‘The recent pick-up of transaction volumes in the primary residential market is a harbinger of price stabilisation being just around the corner, in our view,’ the US bank said in a report dated May 12.‘Firmness witnessed in the mass end of the segment is gradually filtering up to the mid-end segments, though investors are still harbouring concerns over sustainability of demand. What may not be so apparent is the relative wealth of HDB owners,’ said the report.

‘We expect the pick-up in transaction volumes witnessed over the past three months to continue, driven by HDB upgrader demand in the mass end of the market as affordability has improved,’ it added.

‘While we acknowledge that there are still overhangs (eg deferred payment scheme defaults) weighing down on the broader sector, we think the risk/reward trade-off in the Singapore residential market is currently favourable,’ the report said.

With residential cycles tending to be shorter than commercial ones, Goldman Sachs expects commercial property to underperform when recovery takes place eventually. It also continues to be relatively more cautious about the retail and office segments given the challenges that are likely to affect businesses and consumers over the near term.

‘Unlike in residential, where (sales) take-up has been healthy, leasing and transaction activity in the commercial space continues to be weak,’ the report noted.

‘On the basis that a residential property recovery is in the works, we turn more constructive on the Singapore developers as we see the residential sector leading the property sector recovery. We think property investors (Reits) mainly exposed to commercial real estate will see trends deteriorating into 2010 and are likely to underperform when the eventual recovery does take place.’

In addition to upgrading CDL to ‘buy’, Goldman Sachs has upgraded Wing Tai to ‘neutral’ from ‘sell’ and reiterated its ‘conviction buy’ for CapitaLand for their exposure to the Singapore residential sector. For CapitaLand, it said that maiden profits from The Seafront and Orchard Residences condos expected this year should help shelter the stock from potential writedowns.

Goldman downgraded CapitaCommercial Trust to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ and Suntec Reit to ‘sell’ from ‘buy’. It kept its ‘sell’ rating for Keppel Land, which has substantial exposure to the Singapore office market.Source: Business Times, 13 May 2009

It expects the residential property sector to stabilise by end-2009, ahead of the office and retail sectors, which it sees stabilising around the end of next year.

Goldman Sachs sees the average luxury residential capital value sliding some 38 per cent for the whole of 2009, on top of last year’s 36 per cent drop, and the average islandwide 99-year leasehold residential capital value easing 13 per cent in 2009, similar to the 12 per cent fall last year. Much of these price declines have already taken place year to date, and Goldman Sachs sees price stability setting in by year-end.

The 5 per cent residential price increase projection for 2010 will be supported by expected healthy, above-consensus take-up activity that will gradually draw down on supply.

Developers test waters at some projects by cutting back on discounts

(SINGAPORE) Some developers have quietly started raising prices a notch as they test waters after strong sales volumes seen in the first quarter.

Price adjustments are often made by reducing discount levels. On a project average basis, the effective prices for some developments may have gone up between 2 and 5 per cent compared with levels earlier this year, according to developers and property consultants.

‘Developers aren’t raising prices overnight. Prices are being adjusted only after clear buying momentum has set in for a project. If you look at the first and last units sold in the project, the price difference could be, say, 10 per cent; but if you look on a project average basis, the price increase would be less than 5 per cent,’ says Knight Frank chairman Tan Tiong Cheng.

The recent stock market rally has generated its share of positive sentiment. Even so, property agents say that prices of only the better-selling units have been raised in some projects, while the others have seen more widespread rises. ‘Developers are careful; if they push up prices too fast, potential buyers may start looking at other projects,’ one agent said.

The recent price adjustments have to be viewed against the significant price declines before that, seasoned players point out. For instance, Q1 2009 prices of mass-market condos were about 10 per cent off the peak levels in late 2007/early 2008, while for luxury condos, the price decline was steeper, at around 30-40 per cent.

DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah says that developers started to inch up prices in April and May from Q1 levels. ‘In the secondary market, sellers have been more aggressive; some are asking about 5 to 10 per cent more than in Q1,’ she added.

Property giant Far East Organization’s residential projects such as the Mi Casa condo in Choa Chu Kang, The Lakeshore in Jurong, Hillview Regency in Bukit Batok, Floridian at Bukit Timah Road (non-premium units), and Vida at Peck Hay Road are among those that have seen slight price gains lately.

Rival City Developments is also said to have incrementally raised prices for The Arte at Thomson as sales progressed briskly. The developer has sold more than 250 units since it previewed the mid-end project in March.

BT understands that prices of the remaining 80-plus units have been adjusted upwards slightly this week. The average price is now about $900 psf and the freehold project includes a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom units.

Bukit Sembawang is also said to have introduced a single-digit per cent price hike for later units (apartments) at The Verdure at Holland Road after the initial batch of units were sold.

UOL Group and Kheng Leong are also understood to have upped prices selectively – for better-selling units – at Double Bay Residences in Simei.

A major developer said: ‘Demand is better now. People are prepared to come to the negotiating table and not baulk at prices, compared with last year when it was very difficult to even get buyers to sit down. I think there’s a sense that the worst is over.’

He says that the quantum of price appreciation that a developer can achieve in the current market will hinge on a project’s location, the nature of the development and the profile of its buyers. ‘For instance, for a prime district project with a lot of small units costing $1-2 million each, you can adjust prices a bit more, especially if you have a fair number of foreign buyers,’ according to the developer. ‘Mainland Chinese buyers are more optimistic, and can accept price hikes better as they have seen an upturn in their own property market,’ he added.

Mr Tan says that there’s currently a ‘sweet spot’ in the Singapore market for projects priced below $1,000 psf and on a lump-sum basis costing $1 million to $1.2 million per unit (for three-bedroom units) and $800,000 and below (for two-bedroom units). Their prices can take a sub-10 per cent increase without affordability being seriously dented.

Mr Tan argues that a small price increase will not generally price buyers out of the market or send them to the sidelines again – ‘especially if they think the worst is over and don’t want to miss the boat’.

‘Even if the view is that we’re not at the bottom yet, there seems to be a greater sense of price stability now. The thinking now is that if prices drop a further 5 or 10 per cent, can I live with it?
Three months ago, there seemed to be no bottom,’ Mr Tan recalls.

Agreeing, CB Richard Ellis executive director (residential) Joseph Tan says: ‘Once people are more confident, they can accept the fact that price may be higher, but in an improving situation. If I believe the market has bottomed, the closer I buy to the bottom, the better it is for me. That sort of thinking is also being fuelled by the stock market rally; traditionally the residential property market lags the stock market by three to six months.’

Source: Business Times, 13 May 2009

THE buzz continues at property launches on the island. City Developments said yesterday that it achieved about $190 million of sales from selling about 150 units at The Arte at Thomson since March 21.

The freehold project is priced at $880 psf on average. No premium is being being charged for an interest absorption scheme (IAS) that CDL has extended to buyers. The scheme means buyers pay just the initial 20 per cent to CDL and defer paying the bulk of their purchase price until The Arte is completed. However, buyers have to take up a housing loan at the point of purchase.

CDL has released 180 of the total 336 units in the project, which comprises two 36-storey high towers.

The majority of The Arte’s buyers have private home addresses. Most of the units are going for under $2 million.

Over at Holland Road, Bukit Sembawang is releasing more units at its freehold Verdure from today. It has sold 14 of the 34 apartments in the five-storey project released last weekend. Verdure comprises 69 apartments, with an average price of about $1,350 psf, and six strata semi-detached homes, which cost about $4.8 million on average.

Bukit Sembawang had previously offered an IAS without charging any premium, but from today, buyers will have to pay 2 per cent more to benefit from the IAS.

Over at Tembeling Road in the Katong area, Alpha Land International is offering a small development with a total of 12 apartments. Prices in the five-storey freehold project, which is expected to be completed towards the end of this year or early next year, range from $663,840 (for an 818 sq ft two-bedroom unit) to $1.64 million (for a 2,379 sq ft four-bedder penthouse).

Alpha Land is offering an early bird discount in the form of renovation packages ranging from $10,000 to $25,000, depending on the size of the units. Tembeling Court is being marketed by Texan Associates.

Sim Lian Group will also launch its 360-unit HDB project Parc Lumiere tomorrow. Offered under HDB’s design, build and sell scheme, units in the Simei development have an average selling price of $425 psf. Parc Lumiere has four and five-room flats, with four-room flats selling for $378,000-$425,000 and five-room flats going for $462,000-$575,000. Source: Business Times, 17 April 2009