http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/St...ry_794829.html
Busy weekend for hot property deals
447-unit Pasir Ris One DBSS project oversubscribed
Published on May 3, 2012
By Amanda Tan
PROPERTY buyers were out in force over the long Labour Day weekend, snapping up units in public and private projects islandwide.
Pasir Ris One, under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS), was oversubscribed before e-applications for interested buyers closed at midnight.
The 447-unit development near Pasir Ris MRT station appears set to be the final DBSS project, in which public housing is farmed out to private developers who offer better finishing touches.
Land sales for the scheme were suspended in July last year after a public uproar over hefty pricing for a similar project in Tampines. The scheme was placed under review.
But projects for which land had already been sold, like Pasir Ris One, were still rolled out.
Interest in the 99-year leasehold flats was strong despite some units being pricey, as analysts earlier said. Indicative prices released by the developer, SingXpress KayLim, put a three-room, 700 sq ft unit at between $390,000 and $490,000. This works out to about $557 to $700 per sq ft (psf).
A five-room, 1,130 sq ft flat there works out to about $650,000 to $770,000, or $575 to $681 psf.
Analysts earlier warned that the higher prices put the project in competition with Watercolours, an executive condominium in the area launched on Tuesday. Indeed, there was strong interest in the 99-year leasehold, 416-unit executive condo, which sources said had already been oversubscribed as of yesterday. The deadline for e-applications is next Monday.
Average indicative prices for two-bedders starting from 743 sq ft are between $500,000 and $600,000, while three-bedders starting from 915 sq ft will cost between $600,000 and $700,000. Average unit prices are between $680 and $720 psf, industry sources said.
In Yishun, 1 Canberra, a 665-unit executive condo, saw nearly 500 e-applications by yesterday, sources said. A standard three-bedder there is likely to cost between $680,000 and $880,000. A four-bedder will be about $860,000 to $970,000.
Meanwhile, mass market private condos also recorded healthy sales.
The newly launched SeaHill, along West Coast Link, sold about 145 units out of the 200 released. They were sold at an average price of $1,311 psf. Pasir Ris' Ripple Bay sold 505 units out of 679 units, as of Tuesday. Its apartments were sold at an average of $870 psf.
These figures follow first quarter property results released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority last week. It stated that prices of private residential properties fell marginally by 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year, compared with a 0.2 per cent increase in the previous quarter.
Credo Real Estate executive director Ong Teck Hui suggested that home buyers could have been spurred by the news of a buoyant property market. 'This, and the positive outlook for the economy, would account for (the buyers') sentiments and behaviour.' Mr Lee Sze Teck, senior manager of research and consultancy at Dennis Wee Group, said some condo buyers could have entered the market after a futile wait for prices to drop. 'Sometimes they could also be scared of missing the boat. So they enter the market now after they see strong developer sales in the first quarter,' he said.
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