http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...15439,00.html?

Published November 30, 2010

A question of time for developers


BT'S ESTIMATES show that generally developers who bought sites through collective sales and other private sector sources in the 2006-2007 period are likely to have to complete their projects on them by 2014-2015, if they don't wish to make hefty payments to the state for any time extension.

BT's calculation assumed that it took about one year for the en bloc sales to be given the nod by the Strata Titles Board/High Court. Another assumption is a six-year project completion period (PCP) prevailing at the time for private residential projects undertaken by foreign housing developers with Qualifying Certificates, a category that covers not just foreign players like China Sonangol but effectively all Singapore-listed developers. A company is defined 'foreign' if it has even one non-Singaporean shareholder or director.

BT also worked in a one-year free extension to the PCP period that many of these developers would have applied for under a concession granted by the Government in the January 2009 Budget to help mitigate the effects of the property slump following 2008's global financial crisis.