It plans 680-unit project: 60% 4-room flats; 25% 3-room; the rest 5-room

SIM Lian Land, which emerged as the highest bidder for a site in Tampines designated for public housing under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS), plans to build about 680 flats on the plot if awarded the site.

‘About 60 per cent of the units will be four-room flats, another 25 per cent will be three-room flats and the remaining 15 per cent will comprise five-room flats,’ Sim Lian Group executive director Diana Kuik told BT yesterday.

Sim Lian’s top bid of about $178.2 million works out to about $261 per square foot of potential gross floor area. The tender drew five bids.

Sim Lian’s price was about 22 per cent higher than the next highest offer of $213.62 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) by Qingdao Construction (Singapore). A joint venture between Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway Developments offered about $205 psf ppr. Realty Consortium (a unit of Koh Brothers) bid $200.91 psf ppr.

The lowest offer of $110 million or $161.20 psf ppr was from Ho Lee Group.

The site will be sold on 103-year leasehold tenure inclusive of a four-year construction period.

DBSS gives developers an opportunity to design, develop, price and sell HDB flats to buyers who have to meet criteria set by the Housing & Development Board, including a monthly household income ceiling of $8,000.

The plot is next to Singapore’s first DBSS project, The Premiere@Tampines, which was also developed by Sim Lian. That is fully sold.

As for the latest DBSS plot, Sim Lian hopes to launch the project around the third quarter of next year, says Ms Kuik.

In March this year, the group clinched a 99-year leasehold condo site at Tampines Ave 1/Ave 10, facing Bedok Reservoir, at a state tender.

It plans to build a 696-unit project to be named Waterview on this plot, with the majority of units being two and three-bedroom apartments. ‘We’ll probably launch the project around Q4 this year,’ said Ms Kuik. Sim Lian paid $302 million or $421 psf ppr for the site.

Sim Lian also has available 62 units at its Clover By the Park condo in Bishan, which is still under construction. Most of these units are three and four-bedders and are priced in the high-$900 to $1,000 psf range. The 39-storey, 99-year leasehold project has a total of 616 units. It was released in June 2008.

Source: Business Times, 4 Aug 2010

Developer’s $178m offer for Tampines plot tops 4 others

SIM Lian Land has put in what is likely to be a record bid for a design, build and sell scheme (DBSS) plot amid buoyant prices in the Housing Board market.

It topped the tender for a Tampines Avenue 5 site, released under HDB’s DBSS, with a higher-than-expected bid of $178.13 million, or $261 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The offer was 22 per cent ahead of the second highest bid of $145.77 million, or $213.6 psf ppr, from China-based Qingdao Construction (Singapore).

In third place was joint venture Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway Developments’ $139.9 million, or $205 psf ppr.

The plot attracted five offers, and construction firm Ho Lee Group came last with its offer of $110 million, or $161 psf ppr.

According to Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak, Sim Lian’s bid sets a new land price record for a DBSS site and breaks the previous high of $237 psf ppr set in February 2008 for a Bishan site. He had expected the tender to draw up to seven bidders with offers of between $160 and $200 psf ppr.

At $261 psf ppr, Sim Lian will have to sell three-room flats for $380,000 to $400,000, and four-room flats for $530,000 to $550,000, said Mr Mak.

Five-room units would have to be pitched at between $640,000 and $670,000.

Sim Lian executive director Diana Kuik said the developer planned to build 680 homes on the Tampines site. She said the bulk of the units – 60 per cent – will be four-room flats. Three-room flats will account for 25 per cent of the total, while five-room units will make up the remaining 15 per cent.

‘Tampines is an extremely mature estate and demand is very strong for new flats,’ said Ms Kuik.

The Tampines site has a maximum allowable gross floor area of 63,395 sq m, including 1,060 sq m for social and commercial facilities. It is adjacent to Singapore’s first DBSS project, The Premiere@Tampines, also developed by Sim Lian, which placed a bid of $82.22 million, or $113.67 psf ppr, in January 2006.

Response then was overwhelming and saw the pilot project almost five times oversubscribed. The five-room flats eventually went for $308,000 to $450,000.

Market watchers suggest Sim Lian’s aggressive bid may also be because it is better able to control costs as it has its own construction arm.

Under DBSS, private developers can design, build and sell HDB flats directly to buyers, but they have to set aside 95 per cent of the flats for first-time buyers.

Source: Straits Times, 4 Aug 2010

Since we got married two years ago, my husband and I have resisted applying for any random Housing Board flat.

We wanted to preserve the privileges and priorities awarded to us as first-time applicants. Under HDB’s computerised balloting system, a first-time applicant gets double the chances of regular applicants.

Flighty buyers who send in frivolous applications only to pull out later are pushed to the back of the queue the next time they apply.

So you can imagine that the first application for an HDB flat is a precious trump card for any couple. And we wanted to save it for the right flat and the right project.

However, when the right HDB project did come along last week, I found to my dismay that my trump card was useless. Instead of relying on a trusty computerised balloting system, I had to physically queue alongside hundreds of others for a flat at the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) project in Simei.

The queue lasted two days. The fatigue, however, lingered on for the rest of the week.

Unlike the case of normal HDB projects, the developers of DBSS projects have the flexibility to decide on the sales terms, which include how the flats are sold.

I have been eyeing the Simei DBSS project for some time and thought that unlike other DBSS projects, this one was in a neighbourhood with unrealised potential.

Although Simei is a relatively quiet neighbourhood now, the area is expected to come alive when the fourth university comes up in 2011. Parc Lumiere, as the Simei project is called, is also a more exclusive project with only 360 units.

So when developer Sim Lian Group advertised in the papers two Fridays ago that it would be launching Parc Lumiere the following day, I was worried after reading that units would be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. With only 360 units up for grabs, the competition was going to be tough.

While the showflat was scheduled to open for viewing on Saturday, April 18, sales would begin only on Tuesday, three days later.

But, as though tempting people to queue, Sim Lian added a caveat that sales might begin earlier if there was ‘overwhelming demand’.

I knew then that I would have to compete with some over-eager Singaporeans. I didn’t have an inkling of just how over-eager they were.

The first interested buyers began queuing up at 8am on Friday, the very same day Sim Lian’s advertisement was published and four whole days before the sale date.

Busy at work, I didn’t know that a queue had begun snaking outside the Parc Lumiere showflat. According to media reports, by 9pm that day there were more than 200 people in the queue.

I found out only when I got home at midnight and read the online news. By the time my husband rushed down to the showflat, we were the 318th in the queue, a woeful figure considering there were only 360 units available.

Both of us do not have much patience for queues. I would rather give up a freebie than stand in line for 15 minutes. I would forgo the most exciting roller coaster ride at the world’s best theme park if it means having to queue for an hour. I think there are better things to do in life than stand in line.

Which is why I think HDB switching to a balloting system in 2007 was one of the best things that ever happened to Singapore society. Under the balloting system, a computer ballot will determine when the first batch of applicants get to book a flat of their choice.

The system is fair. First-timers get twice the chance while first-timers with kids are four times more likely to be successful compared with the rest.

No more week-long queues at the HDB Hub. No more squabbles and fights over who came first. No more exploitation of old, retired parents who stand in line for their working children. No one needs to queue and everything is done in an orderly manner.

That first night, my husband offered to queue outside the showflat alone since I had work the next day. He spent the night on a plastic chair in a humid and crowded tent.

Although Sim Lian announced soon after that it would bring forward its sale date to Saturday, there was no chance of leaving after securing a queue number. The developer’s marketing agents created frequent excuses to get people to stay. We were herded from one queue to another.

First, there was the queue to indicate our interest in entering the showflat at 8am on Saturday. Then there was the queue to get into the showflat proper. After which came the queue for a blue file into which applicants had to insert their documents. This was followed by the queue to file an HDB application online. Only after all that came the queue to book our unit of choice.

If you were not there when your queue number was called, your name would be struck off the list.
So for more than 18 hours, some 400 tired and sleepy applicants were moved from queue to queue.

Sim Lian probably wanted to keep people physically in the queue because of what happened at the Tampines DBSS sale of 121 leftover flats two years ago. The developer had issued queue numbers and asked people to go home.

What they didn’t count on was another group of interested buyers turning up to queue about two hours later. A fight almost broke out in the morning when those with queue numbers turned up.

This was not the first time fights almost broke out in a queue for an HDB flat. In February 2007, things got ugly outside the HDB Hub building among people who were queuing up for flats in mature estates. The queue had begun an entire week before the sale date.

With Singapore’s blemished history of queuing for HDB flats, I wonder why HDB allowed Sim Lian to sell the Simei DBSS flats on a first-come, first-served basis.

DBSS flats are essentially HDB flats and their sale is still governed by HDB rules. Buyers’ incomes cannot exceed $8,000 and the ethnic quota still has to be fulfilled.

If these aspects of the sale are done the HDB way, shouldn’t the way the flats are sold be done the HDB way too?

The balloting system is not only more convenient, it is fair as well because it ensures that everyone gets an equal chance, not just those who can take leave from work at a moment’s notice or those who have retired parents who don’t mind queuing for their children.

After a 36-hour wait, my husband and I managed to get a high-floor unit of our choice.

Although we are happy and relieved, we do wish that our first experience of buying an HDB flat could have been a lot less stressful and tiring.

Source: Straits Times, 26 April 2009

Condo-style flats popular; private homes see encouraging sales

THOUSANDS of people flocked to check out some of the new housing developments on sale over the weekend, scenes more reminiscent of a boom, not a recession.

As one industry watcher told The Straits Times: ‘The mass market is still moving. If you price it correctly and reasonably, people will still buy.’

The hottest ticket in town was clearly the Parc Lumiere project, which drew an astonishing 6,500 visitors over the weekend.

Buyers had begun queueing last Friday before its viewing period started on Saturday, with 829 people eventually in the line for flats in the estate, which is being developed under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS).

There was no balloting for the project: Just turn up and book.

Developer Sim Lian Group said it has already sold 306 units out of a total of 360. All the four-room flats, priced between $378,000 and $425,000, have been sold.

Only the low-floor five-room flats are left. The five-roomers are priced from $462,000 to $575,000.
‘After going through Premiere @ Tampines, we thought we would try another way of selling. When you do it by ballot, a lot of people just try for fun. A lot who were keen didn’t get the chance to book,’ said Sim Lian executive director Diana Kuik.

But some potential buyers felt the walk-in selection sale method, essentially a first-come, first-served sale, was inconvenient. One said the sale came at too short a notice for him to take leave to queue. A parent said her son had been waiting for the project but was travelling in Europe.

Sim Lian said it has had feedback from happy buyers, including a pair of siblings happy to get a unit next to each other.

The second DBSS project, The Peak @ Toa Payoh, also had a busy weekend with 1,711 applications lodged as of 6pm yesterday for the 1,203 units.

This project by developer Hoi Hup Sunway is being sold by ballot, with applications open until next Tuesday.

About 22,500 people had visited the showflat from last Wednesday until it closed yesterday, said Ms Kellie Liew, executive director of projects at HSR Property Group, the marketing agent for The Peak. More than half of the applicants are interested in the five-room flats, with about 30 per cent looking at the four-roomers, she said.

In the private home market, the freehold The Arte in Jalan Datoh attracted about 1,000 people over the weekend, said developer City Developments (CDL).

The average price at the 336-unit project – which boasts relatively large flats – is $880 psf, with most units going for under $2 million each.

CDL said it sold another 20 units over the weekend for $30 million, bringing total sales to 170.
‘The sales volume indicates that buyers have greater confidence in the property market and in the future of their investment,’ said CDL group general manager Chia Ngiang Hong.

‘This reinforces CDL’s view that the current market is now attracting savvy but cautious investors.’
A large number of buyers have private home addresses, he said, with many saying they want to invest in another property or to move into a ‘new and upscale residence’. CDL said it has extended the interest absorption scheme to these buyers.

Two other large projects that were launched last month also saw encouraging sales.

A further 22 apartments were sold at the 457-unit Mi Casa condominium in Choa Chu Kang in the past week, bringing total sales to 202 units. Prices hovered around $635 psf.

More than half of the 646 units at Double Bay Residences in Simei have been sold. This was the best-selling project last month, with 264 units being bought.

About 60 per cent of the 68-unit Verdure in Holland Roadhas also been sold since its preview more than a week ago.

Source: Straits Times, 21 April 2009

Developer says it may open bookings today if queue grows longer

HUNDREDS of potential buyers queued overnight at the Parc Lumiere site in Simei hoping to secure one of the new condo-like apartments that are not due to go on sale until next Tuesday.

An estimated 200 people had joined the line by 5pm, hoping to land a unit in the latest project developed under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS).

Buyers do not have to chance a ballot like in usual DBSS developments but can book a unit on the spot. The average selling price at the Parc Lumiere is $425 per sq ft.

Two tents sheltering rows of chairs have been set up outside the project’s show flat – one for those interested in ‘booking’ a flat and one for those who want a viewing.

The booking tent was teeming with interested buyers yesterday.

Developer Sim Lian Group, which brought in extra cooling units and gave those queuing free lunches, planned to start bookings on Tuesday but may end up opening bookings today if the queue lengthens.

‘I’m overwhelmed,’ said Sim Lian executive director Diana Kuik. ‘We didn’t expect them to come on Friday before seeing the show flat.’

The walk-in-selection process – a first for new flats in recent years – involves a basic pre-screening process while certain conditions must be met before buyers can book a unit.

They must then pay a deposit of 5 per cent of the purchase price. The final confirmation of a buyer’s eligibility will be determined by the HDB.

Flats will be booked on a first-come first-served basis, which is why potential buyers like Ms Florence Lim turned up at 8am yesterday.

The assistant sales manager, who is in her 40s, took leave to queue and was intending to stay overnight, taking turns with her husband and son. She was first in line and hopes to get a five-room flat.

‘I’ve aimed here for a long time, ever since I applied for The Premiere (at Tampines) but was unsuccessful,’ she said.

Ms Queena Tan, 30, who works in advertising, said she preferred a new DBSS unit to a resale HDB flat, adding: ‘I like this area as it’s rather peaceful and accessible.’

Ms Tan and her fiance will take turns to queue and they plan to stay in line until the booking period begins, even if it is not brought forward to today from next Tuesday.

‘With the upcoming university and the development of Changi Business Park, we expect increases in the prices of houses in this area. That’s why we feel it is a good investment,’ she added.

Some in the queue jumped at the chance to buy a flat that did not require too much extra work.

‘We want the balcony and the fittings, and it’s in move-in condition so we don’t need to fork out extra to renovate,’ said bank executive Cheong C. H., 30.

Ms Kuik of Sim Lian believes the small number of units available – 240 five-roomers and 120 four-room units – ‘maybe makes some buyers anxious’.

‘There could also be some pent-up demand as there have been no new HDB flats in Simei and Tampines for the past 12 years, with the exception of The Premiere @ Tampines,’ she said.

Knight Frank director of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak said the strong response ‘is another indication that the buying interest in the mass market is still quite buoyant’.

He added that the purchasing power of some first-time buyers may limit the take-up rate of the four- and five-room flats.

‘It’s going to be interesting, seeing as there are no three-room flats. Four-room flats will probably sell quite well but five-room flats may need some demand from HDB upgraders.’

The four-roomers at 1,012 sq ft each are priced at between $378,000 and $425,000. Five-room flats range from 1,152 to 1,195 sq ft and are priced at between $462,000 and $575,000 each.

March sales of private homes revealed that HDB upgraders were the most active group of buyers. It may be that this group is also interested in DBSS projects, which offer condo-like fittings at what is perceived to be a slightly lower price.

Source: Straits Times, 18 April 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