Government to ramp up flat supply for middle-income home buyers

SINGAPORE – The executive condominium (EC) market looks set to stir when new projects are launched over the next three to six months. According to property consultancy CB Richard Ellis, ECs are making a comeback after a hiatus of five years as the Government steps in to ramp up flat supply for middle-income home buyers.

Four new EC projects in Compassvale Bow, Punggol Field, Buangkok and Yishun – yielding some 1,400 units – will be launched in the next three to six months.

These sites were awarded in the first half of this year. The Government will also be selling another five EC sites later in the year – at Jurong West, Punggol Drive, Pasir Ris, Tampines and Segar Road – which are expected to yield about another 2,600 units.

The last EC launched was La Casa in Woodlands in 2005, which was completed in early 2008.

CBRE said the comparatively cheaper pricing of ECs is expected to attract a large number of HDB upgraders.

Executive director of CBRE Research Li Hiaw Ho said assuming the historical 30 per cent gap between private suburban homes and new ECs, the median prices of new ECs are likely to stay around $650 to $750 per square foot (psf).

The median price for private suburban homes as of the second quarter stood at $824 psf.

Ms Tay Huey Ying, director for Research and Advisory at Colliers International, expects prices for ECs to rise moderately. “It will still fall below private units in terms of absolute price per square foot simply because there are conditions attached,” she said.

For example, foreigners are not allowed to buy ECs. On top of that, those whose monthly household income exceed $10,000 cannot buy ECs.

Mr Li added that the prices of ECs will match those of comparable private apartments in the same locations after five years, as they will be treated as private properties.

Currently, the non-landed private home market is attracting a lower share of HDB upgraders compared to last year with only 36.1 per cent of them making new home purchases in the second quarter.

At its peak in the first quarter last year, the proportion of HDB upgraders reached 63.6 per cent but it has steadily dipped below the 10-year average of 44 per cent.

Mr Li said with the steep rise in prices of new private homes, more HDB upgraders face a bigger burden of servicing huge mortgage loans.

“The lowering of the housing loan limit from 90 per cent to 80 per cent since March this year also meant that HDB home buyers need to pay more cash upfront,” added Mr Li. “Despite this, HDB upgraders can find a less-costly alternative with the upcoming ECs.”

Source: Today, 13 Aug 2010

THE Housing and Development Board yesterday launched Punggol Spectra under the build-to-order (BTO) system, following strong interest in the recent BTO project, Punggol Residences.

Punggol Spectra will offer 1,142 units, comprising 301 with two rooms, 285 units of three rooms and 556 with four rooms.

Located on Punggol Central, Punggol Spectra is within walking distance of Oasis LRT station and Tampines Expressway is just a short drive away, offering good connectivity to the rest of Singapore, HDB said. The precinct has commercial facilities such as shops, an eating house and a supermarket. The future Punggol Town Centre is minutes away. Educational institutions such as Horizon Primary School and Punggol Secondary School are also nearby.

Prices at Punggol Spectra range from $89,000 to $109,000 for the two-room flats, $151,000 to $179,000 for three-room flats and $234,000 to $293,000 for the four-room flats. These prices are lower than those for similar flats in the market, making them affordable for first-time buyers, HDB said.

Based on the income of flat applicants in the first half of this year, HDB expects first-time buyers will need to use only 20-26 per cent of their monthly household income to meet their housing loan commitment.

Source: Business Times, 1 Sep 2009

THE Housing Board launched Punggol Spectra yesterday, the third of its build-to-order (BTO) projects in Punggol this year and the first to introduce two- and three-room flats.

Under the BTO scheme, flats are built only when a certain level of demand is reached.
Located in Punggol Central and a short drive from Tampines Expressway, Punggol Spectra will offer 301 two-roomers, 285 three-roomers, and 556 four-room flats.

The two-roomers of 46 to 47 sq m are priced at $89,000 to $109,000, and three-room flats of 69 sq m are selling for $151,000 to $179,000.

Four-room flats of 94 to 96 sq m are selling for $234,000 to $293,000. Similar, smaller standard resale flats sell for $310,000 to $357,000, said HDB.

First-time buyers with an average monthly household income of $5,000 or less can apply for an Additional CPF Housing Grant of up to $40,000.

PropNex corporate communications manager Adam Tan expects Spectra to be very well-received, as it is the first in the area to offer two- and three-room flats.

‘Smaller families will be attracted to these units, given their attractive prices,’ he said, adding that the median resale prices for two- and three-room flats across Singapore have not seen such affordable levels for more than two years.

Mr Tan expects the Spectra units to be at least four times oversubscribed. This follows the strong interest in the recent BTO project Punggol Residences, which was launched in July and was seven times oversubscribed.

Previous BTO projects in Punggol include Nautilus @ Punggol, launched in March, and premium project Punggol Regalia, launched last December.

According to HDB, this year’s total BTO supply is expected to reach 8,000 units, located in towns such as Punggol, Sengkang and Sembawang.

Applications for the Spectra flats can be submitted online at HDB’s website www.hdb.gov.sg until Sept 14.

Source, Straits Times, 1 Sep 2009

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

If sold, it will be first state-owned residential site sale in 10 months

EVER since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the United States and Singapore’s slide into recession, the Government has been unable to attract bids for residential development sites.

But yesterday – after 10 straight months without selling a single residential site – the Government said it had finally received an offer for a condominium parcel in Bukit Panjang.

An unnamed property developer has committed to bid at least $62 million for the 244,347 sq ft plot, in what consultants say is a further sign of the property market’s rebound.

The 99-year leasehold site located along Chestnut Avenue has been sitting on the Government’s reserve list since March last year. Sites on the reserve list are made available for sale, but are not launched for tender until a developer puts in a minimum bid.

Now that the Chestnut Avenue plot has been triggered for sale, it will be put up for tender by the Housing Board by the end of this week, HDB said yesterday.

The bid submitted works out to about $120 per sq ft (psf) of potential gross floor area, as compared with the $220 to $270 psf expected when the site was first made available in March last year.

Mr Li Hiaw Ho, executive director of CB Richard Ellis Research, thinks the final winning bid will be $150 to $160 psf of potential gross floor area, or $76 million to $82 million in total.

The Chestnut Avenue site can accommodate a development of about 450 units.

If sold, it will be the first state-owned residential development sale since Sept 10 last year – just before Lehman’s demise – when a condo site at the junction of New Upper Changi Road and Tanah Merah Kechil Avenue went for $84 million.

A few days later, on Sept 16, the HDB launched an executive condominium site at Punggol Field, but found no takers.

Now that buyers are returning in large numbers to showflats, developers’ confidence appears to be on the rise, according to consultants.

Home buyers have been snapping up more than 1,000 new homes each month since February, culminating in a record 1,825 new homes sold last month – even more than the number sold in August 2007, the peak of the boom two years ago.

Last week, owners of the freehold Dragon Mansion in Spottiswoode Park Road launched the year’s first collective sale, with a bullish price tag of $120 million.

Yesterday’s offer for Chestnut Avenue shows that there is renewed interest in the market, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s head of Singapore research Chua Yang Liang, who is still only cautiously optimistic.

‘The market is stirring and some developers may be excited, but by and large I don’t think there’s an overall bullishness in the market,’ he said.

And he predicts just a handful of bids for the Chestnut Avenue land.

‘I’m not sure if the rest of the developers will bite, considering there is still uncertainty in the larger economy.’

The site is located near other property developments such as Maysprings, Cashew Heights Condominium and Hazel Park Condominium. In recent months, units at the 99-year leasehold Maysprings have been sold at just below $500 psf, while those at the other two condos – both freehold – have gone for $560 to $600 psf, said CB Richard Ellis Research’s Mr Li.

He expects the developer who buys the Chestnut Avenue site to plan to sell finished units at more than $600 psf. Such entry-level private homes would be targeted at HDB upgraders – a promising segment of buyers unaffected by fears of a possible oversupply of mid-tier and high-end homes.

Analysts are anticipating more developers to resume buying land in the second half of this year, given that the Urban Redevelopment Authority has received inquiries about some of the other sites on its reserve list.

Also, as market sentiment improves, developers have started to pick up land meant for hotel and industrial development.

Earlier this month, $43.9 million was offered for a hotel site in New Bridge Road, prompting a public tender for the plot. And last month, 14 valid bids were received for a hotel site in Short Street.

Source: Straits Times, 21 July 2009

Grassroots leaders start activities for them to bond with S’poreans

WITH more new immigrants living in Punggol Central, grassroots leaders in the area have created new activities to help them bond with Singaporeans.

The ward in the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC set up a cricket league late last year to cater to Indian expatriates. Soon after, a Filipino community cultural group was formed.

Mr Charles Chong, the ward’s MP, said yesterday that he started noticing a growing number of new immigrants in the neighbourhood three years ago.

He estimated that about 10 per cent of the residents in some blocks could be permanent residents or new citizens, but was unable to pinpoint the precise number. Punggol Central has 48,000 residents in all.

Most of the new immigrants are from India, China, the Philippines and Myanmar.

‘They are usually very happy to be here and have settled in well,’ Mr Chong said.

With his trademark grin, he added: ‘When you ask Singaporean residents for feedback, they will complain that they have to wait more than 15 minutes for the bus. But when you ask new immigrants, they are happy that the bus comes in under 30 minutes.’

Mr Chong was giving the media an update on key programmes in the ward ahead of a ministerial visit by Law Minister and Second Home Affairs Minister K.Shanmugam next month.

The formation of the cricket league was prompted by the sight of Indian nationals in the constituency playing cricket almost every weekend, he said.

Called the Sengkang Cricket League, it now has four teams of 12 members each. Five of its members are Singaporean. The league competition starts this weekend, and the finals will be on July5 – the day of Mr Shanmugam’s visit.

The Filipino cultural group was formed by Filipina Maria Esmeralda Escalderon, a 46-year-old homemaker who is also a grassroots leader.

Its 15 members are a mix of new citizens, PRs and foreign domestic workers. They gather to sing and dance, and are now looking at learning how to cook local food.

‘The purpose of the group is to bond, share with Singaporeans and create harmony,’ said MsEscalderon.

Beyond integration efforts, grassroots leaders are also giving jobless residents a hand. Their five-year-old job-matching programme, Project Success, has matched more than 1,500 residents to jobs, including work within the constituency.

One beneficiary of the project is Mr Chong Chang, 61, a former renovation contractor who was retrenched two years ago.

Six months ago, the Sengkang Community Club hired him to manage traffic flow and collect carpark fees.

‘I am quite appreciative that there are jobs for older people,’ he said, adding that he earns $50 to $60 a day.

Another grassroots initiative: Offering jobless residents the chance to sell items like clothes at 14 pushcart stalls at the community club.

Mr Augustine Ang, 56, earns $500 to $800 a month selling stickers and soccer memorabilia at one of the carts.

Noting that such pushcarts usually cost around $2,000 to $3,000 to rent, he said: ‘I am very satisfied with this arrangement.’

Source: Straits Times, 16 June 2009

When Mr Samuel Ng heard in 2007 that the Government had plans to transform Punggol Town into a vibrant waterfront town, he could not wait for the makeover.

Yesterday, Mr Ng, 52, a Punggol resident for the last seven years, glimpsed the future at the groundbreaking ceremony of the new Punggol Waterway.

‘The waterway will breathe new life and add vibrancy to this sleepy town,’ he said. ‘It will just be a stone’s throw from where I live.’

But the waterway could have been a lost opportunity – if not for the spirit of innovation and teamwork between the Housing Board and Public Utilities Board, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean.

Indeed, he said the growth of Punggol, like Singapore itself, shows how citizens working as one with ‘vision, determination and innovation can overcome the odds to build new communities and radically transform our living environment’.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Mr Teo said the transformation of Punggol, an old fishing village, mirrors the experience of Singapore. The nation itself was a fishing village before it made the quantum leap to global city.

In the case of Punggol, the waterway was initially meant to be a ‘drain’ connecting Sungei Serangoon and Sungei Punggol at each end of Punggol Town.

But when the PUB engineers and the HDB planners discussed the town’s development in the Punggol 21 masterplan, they spied an opportunity to build Punggol around this new waterway, he said.

The result? A 4.2km waterway which will flow beside 21,000 units of new public and private housing.

Cutting right through Punggol Town, the waterway is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Then residents in Punggol and around Singapore can dine alfresco while overlooking the waterway. They can jog on scenic routes, and enjoy watersports such as kayaking.

Praising the HDB and PUB, he said the Government’s long-term planning and ability to act on these plans is a key reason for Singapore’s success.

‘Anyone can have big plans,’ he said. ‘But working our plan, getting it executed effectively and efficiently is not so easily accomplished.’

Also important is the readiness to modify a plan to suit changing circumstances and to seek synergy, he said, ‘while remaining connected to the ground – listening to and attending to our people’.

Indeed, yesterday he invited the people of Punggol to name the waterway.

He was joined by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan. Also present were Mr Teo’s fellow Pasir-Ris Punggol MPs – Mr Charles Chong, Ms Penny Low, Dr Ahmad Magad and Mr Michael Palmer – plus Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Lam Pin Min.

Mr Teo said the new-look Punggol is part of the larger transformation of Singapore’s physical landscape that will take place over the next few years.

With the Double Helix Bridge at Marina Bay, the Gardens by the Bay and the integrated resorts being planned and built, the downtown will be rejuvenated.

Similarly, the heartlands will be spruced up, he said. Amenities will be added, such as bigger shopping malls, new hospitals and more luxurious public housing.

On Friday, Mr Mah invited Singaporeans to discover the changes all over the island, including Punggol. They can join a series of events named My New Singapore.

Said Mr Teo: ‘We will press on with our efforts to remake our homeland, thus ensuring that Singapore will emerge stronger from the economic downturn when the global economy recovers.’

Source: Straits Times, 19 April 2009

THE Housing & Development Board (HDB) yesterday launched a build-to-order (BTO) project at Punggol – the second of the year after one launched at Woodlands in February.

The 519-unit Nautilus @ Punggol, at the junction of Punggol East and Punggol Field, will have 413 four-room flats and 106 five-room flats.

Four-room flats will sell for $228,000-$274,000, while five-room flats will cost $305,000-$357,000. These prices are cheaper than those of similar flats in the market, which makes them affordable for first-time buyers, HDB said. Nautilus units are priced lower than recent BTO launches there mainly because of differences in location and design, it said.

Recent offerings Punggol Arcadia and Punggol Regalia are premium projects with enhanced designs and better internal finishes, while Nautilus is a standard project with more basic features. Nautilus is also further from the town centre and main transport than the other two BTO projects.
Nevertheless, analysts expect solid demand. ‘Nautilus is expected to be popular,’ said Propnex spokesman Adam Tan. The flats are ‘very attractively priced’.

Recent BTO offerings by HDB have seen strong demand. The Woodlands BTO project launched last month was more than four times subscribed.

And two other projects launched late last year – one in Choa Chu Kang and the other in Punggol – also saw good take-ups.

HDB intends to launch about 3,000 flats in Punggol this year as part of plans to remake the estate.

Source: Business Times. 27 Mar 2009

Units are smaller and cheaper due to design and location