Demand for new private residential properties up sharply in January

[land118]

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...183115/1/.html

Demand for new private residential properties up sharply in January
By Wong Siew Ying | Posted: 15 February 2012 1316 hrs

SINGAPORE: Demand for new private residential properties in Singapore rose sharply in January according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Last month, 1,872 units of new homes, excluding executive condominiums (EC) were sold - more than double the 632 units moved in December.

The top selling project in January was Watertown situated at Punggol Central, with 770 units sold.

Other star performers for the month include The Hillier, which sold 387 units, as well as Parc Rosewood with sales of 198 units.

All three projects are located in the suburban areas.

Including executive condominiums, a total of 2,077 units new homes changed hands in January.

In particular, 172 units at The Rainforest, an EC project at Choa Chu Kang Avenue 3, have been sold last month.

- CNA/fa

[DC33_2008]

I thought WT already pass 800. Is there any withdrawal case?

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...183115/1/.html

Demand for new private residential properties up sharply in January
By Wong Siew Ying | Posted: 15 February 2012 1316 hrs

SINGAPORE: Demand for new private residential properties in Singapore rose sharply in January according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Last month, 1,872 units of new homes, excluding executive condominiums (EC) were sold - more than double the 632 units moved in December.

The top selling project in January was Watertown situated at Punggol Central, with 770 units sold.

Other star performers for the month include The Hillier, which sold 387 units, as well as Parc Rosewood with sales of 198 units.

All three projects are located in the suburban areas.

Including executive condominiums, a total of 2,077 units new homes changed hands in January.

In particular, 172 units at The Rainforest, an EC project at Choa Chu Kang Avenue 3, have been sold last month.

- CNA/fa

[kane]

By the time exercise its in Feb numbers no?

[ysyap]

I thought WT already pass 800. Is there any withdrawal case?

The latest sales figures include 2 weeks of Feb..

[ysyap]

Ringing bells for KBW and gang... and so they believed that Dec's CM will stabalize housing demands... what's next? Bartley and Bishan are next in the pipeline... Feb numbers will soar too?

[azeoprop]

FEO single-handedly spoil market for other developers. Haa haa...

[DC33_2008]

Liew ML must be very upset. What happen to their D' Leedon?

[ay123]

i believe mass mkt is strongly supported by HDB ungrader. for an ungrader, after selling 1st home he has easily 350k to 400k back in CPF/cash. so for a million dollar house, after paying 20% downpayment plus say 400k to bring down the loan quantum. the outstanding loan is only 400k which is quite comfortable for a 10k income family. so i still believe the demand will still be there for mass mkt < 1.5m

[westman]

Cooling measures lai lo....

[minority]

Singapore's private property market has witnessed stellar growth in recent years, yet that outstanding performance has also seen a rise in the number of empty homes in the city state.
At the end of last year, there were 15,890 unsold homes in Singapore – a substantial increase on the 12,740 at the start of the year. Right now, almost six percent of all private homes in Singapore remain empty.
However, some industry insiders are far from worried. "Over the last few years since 2007, the private residential segment has seen an average of 5.4 percent vacancy rates for completed units. It is common to see this trend as units are usually sold upon completion as buyers are able to see the actual development," said Mohamed Ismail, CEO of PropNex Realty. "In fact, during the Lehman crisis in Q4 2008, the vacancy rate was at 6.1 percent, which means the current percentage is relatively conservative. In 2011, comparing the 4.9 percent vacancy rate in Q1 with the 5.9 percent in Q4, naturally this increase is mainly attributed to the cooling measures introduced in 2011 and the global uncertainty. This led to potential investors taking a wait-and-see approach," added Ismail.
According to Ong Kah Seng, Director at R'ST Research, the cautious economic sentiment has led to a rise in expatriates not seeing employment contract terms renewed upon expiry, leading to a growth in vacant stock.
Meanwhile, it appears as though a significant number of these units are in the mid- and high-end sectors and are located in prime areas. Agents who operate in these areas suggest higher asking prices are directly proportionate to the number of empty properties.
"Affordability is like a pyramid. The more affordable it is, the higher the demand. At the top end of the market, the number of people who can afford such properties will significantly reduce," said Getty Goh, Director of Ascendant Assets Pte Ltd.
A glance at listings on PropertyGuru can provide some insight. Developments such as Helios Residences, Grange Infinite, Aalto and The Marq boast a number of units for sale at well above the average price point and providing more evidence of the number of vacant units at the top end of the market.
Unit size might also be a contributing factor. Feng Shui expert-cum-architect Shang Zong Wei said, "It has more to do with the relatively new housing typology - 'shoe box' units, whose demand is essentially driven by people's desire to create wealth through property transactions. While such properties are apparently good for investment in a modern city like Singapore, they are definitely not ideal for long term living."
From a Feng Shui point of view, Shang said we are now living in Period 8 where high-rise developments with small units and expensive pricing will become the norm. "In Feng Shui, the 20 years spanning 2004 to 2023 is known as Period 8. This is represented by the trigram Gen (), a characteristic of Qi () normally relating to mountains, children, feet, ankles and so on. Hence, in Period 8, erection of high-rise housings may be anticipated - modern structures manifesting as 'mountains with livable caves', complete with 'mountain-high' prices. The trend of dwelling units becoming smaller and smaller may seem a natural response to market demand, but it can also be just a natural tendency towards 'children scale'. What is really uncanny is the nickname given to such units - 'shoe box', because Gen () also relates to feet and ankles."
The market is already seeing a decline in the number of transactions in the higher echelons of the market, so the prospect of any decline in the number of empty units looks remote.
"The luxury market caters to rich foreigners and the additional stamp duty will definitely put off some buyers. These foreigners are affected by macro issues like the Eurozone crisis, the slowing growth of China and the anemic economic outlook in the United States and the global economy. Activity for the high-end strata will not be robust," said Goh. Related Stories: S'pore buyers snap up over 90% of The Greenwich
CCR home prices fall very harshly
Bedok South Ave 3 site attracts 7 bids

[JuzMe]

Another CM coming soon...

[avo7007]

Another CM coming soon...

Well if KBW implement his plan for allocate more BTO to 2nd timer, it will be like a CM for resale HDB. HDB COV is already dropping in anticipation of that policy change. My sense is that it will be sooner rather then later

[buttercarp]

Today, I chatted with a client who is a property agent. She said the main bulk of private property transactions are still locals.
She said the market is still strong cos majority of those who want to sell are adamant on getting their price and are not in a hurry to dispose of their property.

[ysyap]

Today, I chatted with a client who is a property agent. She said the main bulk of private property transactions are still locals.
She said the market is still strong cos majority of those who want to sell are adamant on getting their price and are not in a hurry to dispose of their property.

Its a time of who blinks first coz interest rates are still smiling at you. I doubt interest rates will go down further. Things are already improving in US. STI up up up already. Euro...??? Well, when interest rates goes up, who'll blink?

[Leeds]

Its a time of who blinks first coz interest rates are still smiling at you. I doubt interest rates will go down further. Things are already improving in US. STI up up up already. Euro...??? Well, when interest rates goes up, who'll blink?

YOU ARE QUITE RIGHT, ONE ANALYST ALSO THINK SO.

by Colin Tan

04:46 AM Feb 17, 2012

When last December's dismal showing of only 632 private homes sold were
revealed in the middle of last month, many were bracing themselves for
further shocks in the coming months. They did receive one just two days ago
- only, not the kind they expected.

Developers sold 1,872 new homes in January, almost treble the number sold
the previous month. Yes, sales were dominated by a few projects but that has
always been the case.

Some have written off the robust sales as one-off - attributing the strong
showing to two well-located mixed-use projects - which cannot be sustained.
Well, it depends on who is doing the buying.

A few have attributed the strong buying to first-timers and second-home
local investors who are not affected by the new additional buyer's stamp
duty (ABSD). Well, we know that there are a large pool of such buyers in the
market. The trick is to make it affordable to most of them.

What about the "hard-core" investors as some have described themselves?
Feedback from agents reveal that their presence at showflats have not
diminished.

These hard-core investors are particularly attracted to projects by
developers with pricing strategies which protect the investments of
early-bird investors.

The only negative from the latest set of figures is the continued low sales
to foreigners, judging from statistics provided by the project developers
themselves.

But this is to be expected. If you are already receiving a good response
from locals, why bother crafting a marketing strategy to attract foreign
buyers? That will be saved for a later phase when the going gets tougher and
the competition keener.

The new pricing approach adopted by some developers of marking up prices and
then giving discounts or absorbing the ABSD appears to have paid dividends.

Looking at the median prices for the popular projects, we can conclude that
transacted prices for new homes are definitely trending up. We will have a
clearer picture when the National University of Singapore next releases its
price index for completed apartments for January later this month.

Should a price decline be recorded again for non-landed properties sold in
the secondary market, it may be just enough to offset any rise in prices for
new homes.



A liquidity problem?

I have always maintained that the strong buying in our private housing
market is largely liquidity-driven. So, it was with great interest when I
read the comments of one of Hong Kong's wealthiest businessman who was in
town recently to give a talk at the NUS Business School on "the future of
Asia amid a crisis-laden and flattened world".

Billionaire entrepreneur William Fung - executive deputy chairman of Hong
Kong-listed Li & Fung - warned that Europe's push to recapitalise its banks
to contain further shocks to the system could lead to a funding crunch in
Asia, but few in Asia are paying attention to this danger.

A fund manager recently pointed out to me the trend of Hong Kong companies,
including developers, tapping on the strong liquidity levels in Singapore
for funding. At this rate, he warned that we in Singapore might wake up one
day to a credit crunch.

More recently, Australian banks raised their mortgage rates independently of
the central bank, breaking the practice of recent years. The banks have
blamed higher funding costs globally, as the European debt crisis leads
investors to demand greater compensation for lending to banks everywhere as
well as surging borrowing costs in their domestic market.

When Chinese developer Qingjian Realty announced plans to raise up to S$500
million in a Singapore listing by the beginning of next year, it really made
me sit up.

Are we letting our guard down and taking our low borrowing costs for
granted?



Colin Tan is head of research and consultancy at Chesterton Suntec
International.

[PropertyNewbie]

It is very heartening that the income level had been raised to S$12,000 to qualify for an EC. More and more Singaporeans will be able to live the dream of living or upgrading to an EC. But it is my opinion that this increase in income ceiling came too little too late. It should be further increased to S$14,000 to ensure a wider net of Singaporeans get to benefit from upgrading to/buying ECs.

However, I would like to go one step further to ensure a wider net for 1st timers. I would like to propose that those whole family income falls between 12-14K be allowed to buy after 1st timers, and before 2nd timers are allowed to buy.

So in short, I am proposing the order of who gets a bite at the cherry as follows:

1. First timers below 12K
2. First timers 12-14K
3. Second Timers below 12k
5. Second timers 12-14K

We know that the run up in property prices is largely due to HDB upgraders. If more ECs are built and if more upgraders quality to buy ECs, then price pressures on the private property market will ease, leading to a more sustainable, differentiated and more equitable housing market for everyone in Singapore.

[wind30]

More recently, Australian banks raised their mortgage rates independently of
the central bank, breaking the practice of recent years. The banks have
blamed higher funding costs globally, as the European debt crisis leads
investors to demand greater compensation for lending to banks everywhere as
well as surging borrowing costs in their domestic market.

People always think housing interest rates will stay low... but they don't understand there are a lot of factors.

Even if Sibor stays low, the banks could by themselves increase the spread of the loan if some conditions warrant it.

Maybe the MAS can impose a housing loan tax of 0.5% to make the banks increase the spread of housing loan. This will effectively solve this liquidity problem and earn some tax revenue for singapore