Issue 46

Copyright 2011-2012 www.Propwise.sg. All Rights Reserved.

CONTENTS
p2 p9
Singapore Property News This Week Getting Perspective on the

FROM THE

EDITOR

Welcome to the 46th edition of the Singapore Property Weekly. Hope you like it! Mr. Propwise

Property Market Numbers

p13

Resale Property Transactions (March 21 March 27)

Contribute
Do you have articles and insights and articles that youd like to share with thousands of readers interested in the Singapore property market? Send them to us at info@propwise.sg, and if theyre good enough, well publish them here, on our blog and even on Yahoo! News.

Advertise
Want to get your brand, product, service or property listing out to thousands of Singapore property investors at a very reasonable cost? Head over to www.propwise.sg/advertise/ to find out more.

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46

Singapore Property This Week

Residential
No more strata landed condominium projects homes in units were sold by developers last year, of which 90% were bought by foreigners (including PRs), an increase from 60% of 16 such units in 2010. Despite this new rule, foreigners can still purchase strata landed homes in existing projects and those that have yet to be built but already approved by URA. HDB resale market suffers with large BTO supply

To prevent foreigners from purchasing strata landed homes built in condominium projects, such homes can no longer be built in projects with 'condominium' status. Earlier, foreigners buying strata landed homes within such projects do not need permission from the Singapore Land Authority's Land Dealings (Approval) Unit. Foreigners wishing to purchase any other type of landed homes will need LDAUs approval. This new rule is probably a result of the increase in number of foreigners purchasing strata landed homes in condominium projects 97 of such housing
Back to Contents

With more choices offered to buyers in the form of BTO flats, the HDB resale market is beginning to suffer. In just Q1 2012, a total of 8,076 BTO flats were released, with a total of 25,000 BTO flats to be released by end-2012. This has already taken its toll in the HDB
Page | 2

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46 resale market, with the price index increasing by only 0.6% from Q4 2011, compared to the 1.7% increase in the previous quarter. The increase in chances to 15% for second-time buyers interested in BTO flats also meant that more second-timers are turning away from resale flats. Sales volumes of larger units such as 5-room and executive flats have declined faster than other flats because the potential buyers could purchase an EC instead, given the increase in income ceiling. Resale prices are expected to slow, with additional pressure from the falling cash-overvaluation figures, and may even eventually fall, drawing buyers back again. Bartley Homes Pte Ltd bought Bartley Grove Apartment at $74.1m Bartley Homes Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Top Global Ltd, has purchased 25-unit Bartley Grove Apartment and three adjoining terrace
Back to Contents

houses located along Bartley Road for $74.1 million or $810 psf ppr. The combined freehold site zoned residential has a 65,305 sq ft land area, with Bartley Grove Apartment making up 55,286 sq ft and the terrace house making up the remaining 10,019 sq ft from the terrace houses. The site also has a 1.4 gross plot ratio and can be built up to fivestoreys.

99-year Fernvale EC site attracts $245m top bid

Peak Living, a subsidiary of Kheng Leong Group, offered $245 million, or $295.60 for the 99-year leasehold EC site located at Fernvale Lane, beating out three other bidders in the process. The relatively small number of bidders for the 236,804 sq ft site with 3.5 plot ratio and 828,816 sq ft GFA could be due to the lack of an MRT station and amenities located in the area and its
Page | 3

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46 proximity to a land parcel reserved for B2 industrial use. The breakeven price is expected to be between $550 - $660 psf with a targeted selling price of $670-720 psf. Oxley Holdings buys freehold Joo Chiat site at $8m The 606-sqm site stretching from 339, 339A, 339B to 339C Joo Chiat Road is zoned for residential and commercial use. Oxley plans to redevelop the property into a mixed residential and commercial development. The $8 million was decided after considering current market prices of neighbouring property and its redevelopment potential. Things looking bright for the bungalow market Based on the caveats logged so far, under $200 million of Good Class Bungalow Area (GCBA) deals have been transacted in Q1
Back to Contents

2012. Q4 2011 saw $239.7 million worth of such deals and the whole of 2011 saw $1.16 billion worth from 57 deals. Notable transactions in Q1 2012 include a vacant freehold plot at Nassim Road sold at $47.842 million or $2,000 psf based on the 23,922 sq ft land area. Non-GCBA deals include an old single-storey bungalow at Jalan Tupai, which sold for $21 million or $2,005 psf based on its 10,476 sq ft land area, and another at Boscombe Road which sold for $21.7 million or $1,025 psf on a 21,167 sq ft land area. A 28,675 sq ft freehold plot located at Lim Tua Tow Road was sold for $23.6 million while a semidetached house at Ming Teck Park sold for $5.15 million or $1,540 psf based on its 3,343 sq ft land area.

A three-storey bungalow on Coral Island at Sentosa Cove was also sold at $17.68 million
Page | 4

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46 or $1,821 psf on a 9,700 sq ft land area. Residential auctions see less activity Only one out of the three successful auctions in Q1 2012 was for a residential property, down from 14 out of 23 and five out of 17 in 2010 and 2011 respectively. The three successful auctions out of the 84 put up for auction include a residential property, a petrol station along Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim and a factory in Woodlands. This work out to a 4% success rate compared to 18% and 14% in 2010 and 2011 respectively. While demand for residential property has fallen, demand for industrial and commercial properties have remained strong. Current property trends: rapid project launches and shoebox units Developers are trying to capitalise on current strong demand by rapidly launching their
Back to Contents

projects, especially since HDB is releasing more land for residential development. To reduce the risks, developers are trying to compress the turnaround time from 12 to 18 months to around 9 to 12 months. Shoebox units are also increasingly popular with a record 2,037 new shoebox units purchased in 2011 but some fear that investors who are buying such units may find it hard to find tenants since demand for units of such size in suburban areas in unlikely to be high. While some believe that developers are becoming more selective and cautious, others believe that bid levels and participation in recent GLS tenders reflects optimism in developers. There are also worries that URA will implement more cooling measures as a result
Page | 5

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46 of the large number of private homes sold in February, 2,413 private homes excluding ECs, a 29% increase from Januarys figures. Including ECs, the figure would be 3,138, a 51% from 2,077 units in January. URA is also proposing new measures to help potential buyers make more informed decisions, which will be implemented later this year. Commercial Rents of Singapores prime warehouse the fourth highest in the world Singapore has climbed two spots to become the worlds fourth most expensive place to rent a prime warehouse in H2 2011 despite the slower growth. The rental rate increased by 6.8% to $2.03 psf per month from June to December 2011, largely driven by demand from companies relocating and expanding. However, the growth is slowing, with the 6.8%
Back to Contents

growth much lower than the 12.4% growth in H1 2011. Bulk warehouse space has also slowed to $1.44 psf per month end-2011 compared to $1.37 psf per month in H1 2011. The slowdown may be due to companies unwillingness to keep large inventories and expand given the uncertain economic outlook, and the rents may be reaching their peak soon. The average monthly gross rents of prime factory and warehouse space increased by 0.5% and 0.8% respectively in Q1 2012 compared to the up-to-2 % increase in Q4 2011. 99-year EON Shenton proves popular All 23 street-level shops (129 -377 sq ft) at EON Shenton have been sold at a price range of $4,000-$4,980 psf , while over 30 of its 50 released office units have also been sold. The released office units (out of a total of 98)
Page | 6

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46 on levels 7-13, 16, 18 and 20 range from 506 sq ft to 1,765 sq ft were priced at $2,150 $3,000 psf during its preview and have since been increased by 2%. Meanwhile, 66 of the 132 apartment units (527 - 1,249 sq ft) located on levels 23-32 have been released with over 40 sold. The 66 units released range from $2,200 - $2,750 psf, with those boasting a sea view priced at 20% higher than city-facing units. Some units at the project at 70 Shenton Way proved so popular that ballots had to be held. Slow investment sales in Q1 investment deals in Q1 coming from the developers. Industrial Reits were the most active while funds did not make any purchase but instead sold their holdings. This may be due to the funds looking to invest in other countries where returns may be higher. However, investment sales are expected to improve in Q2, with the predicted economic recovery and interest from private buyers from the region. Strata-titled industrial units and office space may also draw interest from investors turning away from the residential sector. Hotels have potential for growth Hotels in Singapore can still grow further, given the increased demand and constrained supply of rooms. Room rates could also increase as a result of rising costs. In 2011, the average room rate and average
Page | 7

With the uncertain economic outlook, investment sales have dropped by nearly half from $7.4 billion in Q4 2011 to $3.7 billion in Q1 2012. Local investors such as property developers and real estate investment trusts (Reits) were the main investors, with 80% of
Back to Contents

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46

occupancy rate were $245 and 86% respectively, with the revenue per available room being $212. An increase in hotel room supply to 20,000 more rooms is possible, but an increase in room rate may have repercussions on the MICE industry. Meanwhile, the hotel room supply could increase by 20% by 2016, with a potential increase of 9,228 rooms to add to the current 49,719 as of 2011.

Back to Contents

Page | 8

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46

Back to Contents

Page | 9

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46

Getting Perspective on the Property Market Numbers

By Getty Goh You may have come across numerous media reports that talked about how well the primary property market did in January 2012. Specifically, a media report cited that the total number of sales exceeded 2,000 in the month of January alone. This came hot on the heels of Additional Buyers Stamp Duty (ABSD) that was implemented in early December 2011.

When ABSD was first introduced, many property analysts and researchers opined that the property market would be affected as a result of this. Some analyst even thought that the market would crash by more than 20%.

Back to Contents

Page | 10

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46 Naturally, the news did not go unnoticed, when the reverse was reported to happen. What is really happening? To the casual reader, it may seem that many of these real estate analysts were overly pessimistic and the appetite for properties was hardly affected. How else could we explain the strong property sales figures? However, as the saying goes, the devil lies in the details. To really find out what is going on, we should dig a bit deeper. someone buying an uncompleted property from another property owner, while a resale is the purchase of a completed property from another property owner. A check with URA revealed that the resale figure in January 2012 was only 329 while the subsale figure was only 67. This meant that most of the market activity was limited to just one segment (the new sale) and it did not represent the general market sentiments. Looking at the URA Private Property Price Index To support the claim that the property market may not be as rosy as it looks, I have attached the chart below to present a different perspective.

For those who are new to the real estate market, there are three types of property sale new sale, subsale and resale. Generally speaking, a new sale refers to someone buying an uncompleted property directly from a property developer. Subsale refers to
Back to Contents

Page | 11

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46 From the table, we can see that the quarterly percentage change when the residential market first recovered in 2009Q3 was as high as 15.75%. Overtime, the price increase gradually lost steam and the figure for the most recent quarter (2011Q4) was less than 1%. Some may see this as a tipping point and it is likely that the index will start to dip moving forward. Property investing is a matter of perspective. To those who have invested heavily, they may choose to believe that the high property volume is an indication of continuing market bullishness. Conversely, those who are waiting for the market correction may opt to see the high volume as an anomalous event. The jury is still out on whos right and whos wrong and only time will tell what the final verdict is. By Getty Goh, Director of Ascendant Assets, a real estate research and investment consultancy firm.

Back to Contents

Page | 12

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46

Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Mar 21 Mar 27
Postal District 1 2 2 3 4 5 5 5 5 8 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 Area (sqft) 1,033 570 904 1,033 1,249 1,389 936 1,152 872 829 872 2,293 495 570 3,154 1,098 1,302 1,184 1,259 1,959 1,948 861 2,034 1,744 2,594 Transacted Price ($) 1,600,000 1,070,000 1,080,000 1,325,000 1,735,000 1,570,000 918,000 1,125,000 780,000 975,000 1,656,800 4,127,400 888,000 960,000 5,992,600 1,870,000 2,090,000 1,800,000 1,820,000 2,710,000 2,630,000 1,160,000 2,630,000 2,000,000 2,920,000 Price Tenure ($ psf) 1,548 999 1,876 99 1,194 99 1,282 99 1,390 FH 1,131 99 980 99 977 99 895 99 1,176 FH 1,900 FH 1,800 FH 1,793 FH 1,683 FH 1,900 FH 1,703 FH 1,605 FH 1,520 FH 1,445 FH 1,383 999 1,350 FH 1,347 FH 1,293 FH 1,147 999 1,126 FH Postal District 11 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 14 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 Area (sqft) 667 969 1,485 1,625 1,851 710 1,184 1,119 1,270 980 1,141 1,292 1,615 2,239 1,335 689 1,345 1,098 1,001 2,056 1,001 1,292 1,012 1,528 1,367 Transacted Price ($) 1,130,000 1,318,318 2,000,000 1,800,000 1,950,000 990,000 1,385,000 906,000 1,140,000 850,000 923,800 975,000 2,400,000 3,000,000 1,745,000 832,000 1,560,000 1,200,000 1,088,000 2,158,800 1,035,000 1,330,000 970,000 1,445,000 1,250,000 Price Tenure ($ psf) 1,693 FH 1,361 FH 1,346 FH 1,107 FH 1,053 99 1,394 FH 1,170 FH 809 FH 898 FH 868 99 810 FH 755 99 1,486 FH 1,340 FH 1,307 FH 1,208 FH 1,159 99 1,093 FH 1,087 99 1,050 99 1,034 FH 1,030 FH 959 FH 945 99 914 FH

Project Name EMERALD GARDEN ICON CRAIG PLACE RIVER PLACE HARBOURLIGHTS CLEMENTIWOODS CONDOMINIUM DOVER PARKVIEW BLUE HORIZON PARK WEST VANADIUM LUCKY PLAZA CAIRNHILL PLAZA ESTILO MIRAGE TOWER GALLOP GREEN BALMORAL CREST SOMMERVILLE PARK CLIFTEN BELMOND GREEN ALLSWORTH PARK HOLLAND COURT VIZ AT HOLLAND PALM SPRING RIDGEWOOD THE LEGACY

Project Name NOVENA SUITES THE LINCOLN MODERN PAVILION 11 THOMSON 800 HILLCREST ARCADIA TRELLIS TOWERS ONE ST MICHAEL'S VICTORY HEIGHTS CASA SARINA SIMSVILLE GUILLEMARD VIEW THE ALCOVE THE ATRIA AT MEYER HAWAII TOWER ONE AMBER EASTBAY COSTA RHU IDYLLIC RESIDENCES MANDARIN GARDEN CONDOMINIUM COSTA RHU SERAYA BREEZE PALMERA RESIDENCE SUNNY PALMS MANDARIN GARDEN CONDOMINIUM THE BECCAGAYLE

Back to Contents

Page | 13

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 46

Postal District 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 17 17 17 18 18 18 18 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 Project Name CALLIDORA VILLE MANDARIN GARDEN CONDOMINIUM LANDBAY CONDOMINIUM COSTA DEL SOL THE SUMMIT BAYSHORE PARK EAST MEADOWS TROPICANA CONDOMINIUM TANAMERA CREST SUNHAVEN LAGUNA 88 CARISSA PARK CONDOMINIUM FERRARIA PARK CONDOMINIUM LOYANG VALLEY SAVANNAH CONDOPARK CHANGI RISE CONDOMINIUM EASTPOINT GREEN SAVANNAH CONDOPARK GOLDEN HEIGHTS KENSINGTON PARK CONDOMINIUM EVANIA HILLSIDE MANSIONS RIVERVALE CREST NOUVELLE PARK REGENTVILLE CLOVER BY THE PARK THE GARDENS AT BISHAN SEASONS VIEW THE GARDENS AT BISHAN Area (sqft) 1,862 1,572 1,141 1,345 1,249 624 1,195 1,615 1,184 1,389 2,303 624 1,249 1,873 1,453 1,259 2,088 1,733 1,184 2,239 2,303 1,259 893 1,808 1,076 1,604 883 1,141 1,582 Transacted Price ($) 1,700,000 1,320,000 1,280,000 1,410,000 1,280,000 638,000 1,150,000 1,290,000 900,000 992,000 1,385,000 680,000 1,155,000 1,150,000 1,260,000 988,000 1,500,000 1,180,000 1,360,000 2,050,000 2,050,000 1,088,800 750,000 1,350,000 800,000 1,602,800 865,000 1,050,000 1,450,000 Price Tenure ($ psf) 913 FH 840 99 1,122 FH 1,048 99 1,025 FH 1,022 99 963 99 799 999 760 99 714 FH 601 99 1,089 FH 925 FH 614 99 867 99 785 99 718 99 681 99 1,149 FH 916 999 890 FH 865 FH 839 99 747 FH 743 99 999 99 980 99 920 99 916 99
Postal District 20 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 22 22 22 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 25 26 27 27 27 27 Project Name BRADDELL VIEW MEADOWLODGE SPRINGDALE CONDOMINIUM CAVENDISH PARK CLEMENTI PARK PANDAN VALLEY SIGNATURE PARK SIGNATURE PARK SHERWOOD TOWER THE CENTRIS PARC OASIS LAKEPOINT CONDOMINIUM HILLINGTON GREEN THE LINEAR REGENT HEIGHTS REGENT HEIGHTS THE MADEIRA HILLVIEW GARDEN ESTATE NORTHVALE WOODGROVE CONDOMINIUM FOREST HILLS CONDOMINIUM THE SENSORIA SELETARIS ORCHID PARK CONDOMINIUM ORCHID PARK CONDOMINIUM Area (sqft) 1,701 1,313 926 1,227 1,345 2,669 1,690 1,399 1,755 1,302 1,076 1,884 1,755 1,335 1,023 1,023 1,302 1,076 1,270 1,238 1,894 1,076 1,636 1,173 1,195 Transacted Price ($) 1,450,000 1,430,000 968,888 1,238,000 1,320,000 2,535,550 1,600,000 1,270,000 1,400,000 1,250,000 880,000 1,050,000 1,618,000 1,100,000 822,000 800,000 990,000 805,000 930,000 820,000 1,220,000 898,000 1,180,000 838,000 808,000 Price Tenure ($ psf) 853 99 1,089 99 1,047 999 1,009 99 981 FH 950 FH 947 FH 908 FH 798 99 960 99 818 99 557 99 922 999 824 999 804 99 782 99 760 99 748 998 732 99 662 99 644 99 834 FH 721 FH 714 99 676 99

NOTE: This data only covers non-landed residential resale property transactions with caveats lodged with the Singapore Land Authority. Typically, caveats are lodged at least 2-3 weeks after a purchaser signs an OTP, hence the lagged nature of the data. Page | 14

Back to Contents