With over 80 new housing projects islandwide, buyers have more choices but completion delays will keep prices stable

Home buyers keen to upgrade from a Housing Board flat to a private condominium will have plenty of choice this year. That is going by data compiled by real estate services company CB Richard Ellis.

A total of 82 projects are currently ready to be put up for sale throughout this year, said CBRE, an international company with a research team in Singapore.

From the coastal areas of Pasir Panjang and Punggol to the residential zones of Simei and Sixth Avenue, there is a private apartment development waiting to be launched in almost every corner of the island.

Most are in the non-landed condominium category, aimed at Housing Board upgraders and young family starters.

CBRE’s list defined the projects on the list as those that are ‘launch-ready’. By this, it means projects that have all the necessary permits from the authorities so they can be marketed, although construction work may not have started.

Already, four have been launched – including the latest, Mi Casa condominium at Choa Chu Kang, whose units went on sale this weekend. A further two are expected to be launched within the next two months.

With private property prices falling when HDB resale flat prices are still holding fairly steady, it is music to the ears of those who want to upgrade but have not been able to amid high prices and not so many mass-market launches in recent years.

Writer Ng Hui Hui, 28, who is looking for a private apartment but finds prices a bit high now, feels the high number of launches will increase her chances of finding one at the right price.

‘I’m more hopeful because the number of launches offers a lot of choices. There’s more for me to consider,’ she said.

HDB upgraders have flexed their muscle at condo launches so far this year, buying many units at The Caspian beside Lakeside MRT station, Double Bay Residences in Simei and The Quartz in Buangkok, for example.

Mr Joseph Tan, CBRE’s executive director, residential, notes: ‘If there are a number of HDB upgraders who are ready to enter the market, the sales momentum can be sustained.’

Over at the 18-storey The Mercury in Shanghai Road launched three weeks ago, all 67 units – priced from over $700,000 for a 635 sq ft apartment – were snapped up.

Mr Victor Soh, director of the developer, Fortune Shanghai Road, said: ‘There was no delay in launching the project despite the bad market – we launched it when the project was ready. There were quite a number of people waiting for us to launch.

‘All our units have already been sold and we’re ready to start construction.’

While house-proud Singaporeans will enjoy poring over the launch-ready list, imagining their dream home, most projects may not actually go up for sale soon, as developers wait and see how the economy goes.

Only 10 out of the 82 could name a date or period, but even they said their dates are subject to change.

Still, judging by the small amount of dates given, the hold-out may not go beyond this year or the early part of the next, as the furthest indicated date a developer gave was the first half of next year.
Such delays also mean prices will not plummet too sharply, said a spokesman for listed developer City Developments.

He said: ‘This has helped to balance current demand and supply by mitigating the supply of new apartments entering the market.’

The tough economic times are weighing on some developers, with Ms Chua Chor Hoon, a senior research director for global real estate adviser DTZ, saying: ‘Some have been responding to the slow market by deferring projects that are due for completion to later years.’

A spokesman for residential project Verdure – a planned 75-unit, freehold development in Holland Road – said: ‘The market is so bad, we can’t launch it.’

Another, representing the exclusive 26-unit The Verv @ River Valley, said it was putting off its launch, explaining: ‘Blame it on the economy.’

Both spokesmen declined to be named.

The experience of upcoming mid-market, 24-unit Evergreen View at Geylang Lorong 36 echoes this.

Mr Thomas Sim, associate manager of real estate firm PropNex Realty, which is the selling agent, said: ‘We’ve only had the soft launch last month so far because the show unit is only slated for completion in May, and also partly because the market is poor now. As it is, the reaction from the soft launch wasn’t very good.’

A key part of marketing a condo is to build a show flat to entice prospective buyers. Another reason some projects are being delayed is that developers are reviewing their plans in order to reconfigure units to a smaller size, say industry players. The smaller sizes make the units more affordable.

Knowing about the list of 82 ‘launch-ready’ projects is good news for the likes of home-hunter John Yeo, 38.

The sales manager says: ‘This means I have time and don’t have to rush. I can take my time to choose. But of course, price and location must also be right.’

‘I’m more hopeful because the number of launches offers a lot of choices. There’s more for me to consider’ Writer Ng Hui Hui, a house hunter who finds prices too high now

‘This means I have time and don’t have to rush. I can take my time to choose. But of course, price and location must also be right’ Sales manager John Yeo, who is happy with the list of 82 launch-ready projects

Source: Straits Times, 11 April 2009

SINGAPORE: Although private residential property prices saw one of the worst declines in the first quarter of this year, analysts noted that the mass market segment is still well supported by HDB upgraders.

This can be seen by the sales of units at Mi Casa, the first private condominium in Choa Chu Kang Town Centre in eight years.

It has been one week since the developer pre-launched 200 units, and 65 per cent of these units have been sold.

Eighty per cent of the buyers were HDB upgraders. Chief operating officer of Far East Organisation, Chia Boon Kuah, said most of the buyers were people who were upgrading, but there was also a significant number of investors. “We are expecting to inch up our prices as we continue to sell steadily,” he added.

Source: Channal News Asia, 6 April 2009

More are buying new private condo units as prices come down

(SINGAPORE) Here’s yet more evidence that there’s still demand for attractively priced condos in the mass-market segment. Property tycoon Ng Teng Fong’s Far East Organization has sold 97 units at its Mi Casa condo near Choa Chu Kang MRT Station since it began sales last week.

Mi Casa: Located near Choa Chu Kang MRT Station, the 457-unit 99-year leasehold condo has an average price of $625 psf. Buyers who wish to opt for an interest absorption scheme will have to pay 3% more

The 99-year leasehold condo has an average price of $625 per square foot. Buyers who wish to opt for an interest absorption scheme will have to pay 3 per cent more.

The 457-unit condo is being developed on a plot along Choa Chu Kang Drive which is diagonally opposite Lot One mall.

In a news release last night, Far East said Mi Casa is the first new private condo project in the Choa Chu Kang town centre in eight years and offers an ‘attractive value proposition’ to HDB upgraders and private home owners in the area.

Upgraders accounted for 80 per cent of Mi Casa’s buyers. A number of buyers also own landed homes in the area and bought units at Mi Casa for investment and for their children, according to Far East. Mi Casa also drew some foreign buyers (such as China nationals and Malaysians).

Far East Organization unit Tian Hock Properties bought the Mi Casa site at a state tender in May last year for $116.01 million or $203 per square foot per plot ratio.

Over at the Balestier Road area, City Developments is understood to have sold another 30 units between Friday and Sunday at The Arte at Thomson freehold condo.

This brings total sales in the project to nearly 90 units. The 336-unit project, which will comprise two 36-storey blocks, is being offered at an average sellling price of about $880-890 psf.

At Somerville Road, boutique developer HLH Group has sold eight of the total 25 units at its D’Almira condo since it began previews three weeks ago.

The average price of the five-storey freehold apartment development is about $750 psf, says ERA divisional director Andrew Soh, who is marketing the project.

HLH is not offering any interest absorption scheme; buyers will have to make normal progress payments on their units when they are billed by the developer, in accordance with the stage of construction.

In the River Valley area, Fortune group sold another five units last week at The Mercury in Shanghai Road. The average price for the freehold project is ‘$1,200 psf plus’, according to Fortune Development general manager Victor Soh.

Interest absorption scheme is available to buyers in exchange for a 3 per cent premium. To date, 64 of the total 67 units in the project have been sold.

Source: Business Times, 31 Mar 2009

BUYERS snapped up 97 units during a private preview at a Choa Chu Kang condominium, yet another sign that suburban projects are selling well with upgraders.

These sales at Mi Casa, Far East Organization’s new development in the Choa Chu Kang town centre, comprise almost 80 per cent of the 123 units released.

Mi Casa has a total of 457 units in the estate.

Prices started at $580 per sq ft (psf). The average price achieved was $625 psf.

Two-bedroom units, with sizes that start at 990 sq ft, and three-bedders, sized from 1,259 sq ft, were sold.

Some also have an extra study unit. That brings the two bedders up to 1,119 sq ft and the three-bedroom flats to 1,281 sq ft.

The four-bedroom units have yet to be launched.

Buyers at the preview were mostly entrepreneurs and professionals, including teachers and engineers, said the private developer in a statement last night.

About 80 per cent of the buyers were ‘upgraders’ living in the surrounding vicinity and nearby areas such as Yew Tee, Bukit Batok and Teck Whye.

Foreign buyers, including Chinese and Malaysian nationals, accounted for about 12 per cent of sales.

Mi Casa – Spanish for ‘my home’ – is the first new private condo project built in the town centre in eight years since The Warren condo, which was launched in 2001.

The site for Mi Casa was acquired by Far East in May last year.

It is within walking distance of the train station, bus interchange, community library and the Lot 1 Shoppers’ Mall.

Far East’s chief operating officer for property sales, Mr Chia Boon Kuah, sees a healthy demand for new condos in that area.

‘We are delighted with the preview sales so far,’ he said in a statement yesterday.

‘Currently, there are no new sites available in the Choa Chu Kang town centre in the government land sales programme.’

This makes Mi Casa ‘an attractive value proposition to HDB upgraders and private-residence owners in the neighbourhood’, he added.

Buyers enjoy an early bird discount until the condo’s official launch on April 10.

The suburban market showed some real signs of life last month when more than 300 units at Frasers Centrepoint’s Caspian condo in Jurong were snapped up within three days.

More than 70 per cent of its 712 units have been sold since.

Source: Straits Times, 31 Mar 2009

Despite the recent slump in the property market, new private properties are still being snapped up in the market.

Last month’s sales of new private homes jumped to 1,323 units, harking back to the days of the property boom, said observers.

In January, only 108 units were sold.

The figure was largely propped up by two newly launched heartland condominiums – the 293-unit Alexis at Alexandra Road and the 517-unit Caspian in Jurong.

Prices started from $450,000 at Alexis and $340,000 at Caspian.

‘Developers probably realised after January’s dismal sales that they had to lower their prices, while buyers noticed these discounts and decided to buy,’ said PropNex’s corporate communications manager Adam Tan.

According to CBRE Research executive director Li Hiaw Ho, the majority of last month’s buyers were HDB upgraders who put buying on hold while home prices surged in 2006 and 2007.

He estimated that private home sales this month would come up to about 400 to 600 units, bringing the total number of units sold to 1,800 to 2,000 for the January to March quarter.

‘A few projects are still selling fairly well, but they are not as large-scale as the projects launched last month,’ said Mr Li, who predicted that sales figures are likely to hover around 500 to 700 units a month for the second quarter of the year.

Developments that are anticipated to do well this month include Waterfront Waves in Bedok, which was first launched last year but relaunched in the middle of March, and Mi Casa condominium in Choa Chu Kang, which analysts are expecting to be launched at the end of the month.

They have 457 and 405 units respectively.

The rate of new launches this month is likely to be similar to last month’s, said Dr Chua Yang Liang, the head of research and consultancy at Jones Lang LaSalle Singapore.

‘This is backed by housing developers’ confidence in the latent demand by genuine homebuyers, encouraging them to release more,’ he said.

However, the islandwide take-up rate this month could dip as the market has been rather temperamental, especially in light of the volatile global stock market performance, he said.

So when is the right time to buy?

‘Many people ask that question but they should really be asking themselves where they want to buy, what they are buying it for, and what are their risk profiles,’ said PropNex’s Mr Tan.

‘Don’t buy blindly just because the price is good. As some of these places have two or three years till their completion, one should also consider the property’s surroundings, such as existing or future infrastructure. Go into this investment with about five to 10 years in mind.’

Source: Straits Times, 29 Mar 2009