http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/prope...151142467.html
Singaporean consumers have voted.
In the inaugural People’s Choice Awards (PCA) organized by iProperty.com, iProperty.com users were asked to vote for their favourite condominium. All in, there were 9 different award categories, each with a swanky title, such as “Supersize Me Award – Best Condominium for Families”, “Swinging Single Party Pad Award – Condominium that is best for Singles”, etc. After 1 month of voting, eCO by Far East Organisation came out tops as the development with the most votes.
Mr Sean Tan, General Manager of iProperty.com said, “We organised the People's Choice Awards to gain more insight into condominium buyers' preferences. From our recent Consumer Sentiments Survey, we learnt that location, price and security are the fundamentals of property selection in Singapore. However, we wanted to probe further, and find out if there are other underlying pull factors independent of these conventional categories. Voters could vote for whichever properties they felt were most deserving of the awards. Unlike real-life buyers, they were not constrained by price, so we were surprised to find suburban condominiums holding their own in the popularity stakes."
Who I voted for...
When the PCA was first launched, I recall writing an article for iProperty.com and had selected some of the developments that I thought would stand a chance of winning some of the awards (http://blog.iproperty.com.sg/peoples-choice-award-professional-pick-by-getty-goh/).
To recap, I thought that Marina Bay Suites stood a good chance of winning the “Take my Breath Award” as the condominium overlooked the Marina Bay as well as the integrated resort. As for the “Object of Desire Award” I thought that the Interlace stood a very good chance of winning as world-renowned architects Ole Scheeren and Rem Koolhaas from OMA designed the development. As for the condominium that I would “bet my granny’s savings on” was My Manhattan as it is located near the top 3 most profitable developments from 2009 to 2012. However, it seems like the iProperty.com users had different views...
And the winners are...
* City Slickers Award – Best Condominium in Orchard/CBD District: Skyline @ Orchard Boulevard by Far East Organization
* Life’s a Beach Award – Condominium with the Best Resort feel: Seastrand by Far East Organization
* Object of Desire Award – Condominium with the Best Architecture: The Palette by City Developments Limited
* Property I would even bet my granny’s savings on Award – Condominium you think that has the highest appreciation potential: Gaia by Amerald Land Ptd Ltd
* Saving Gaia Award – Best Eco-Friendly Condominium: eCO by Far East Organization
* Supersize Me Award – Best Condominium for Families: Euhabitat by Far East Organization
* Staycation Award – Condominium that has facilities of a hotel: Riversound Residence by Qing Jian Realty Pte Ltd
* Swinging Single Party Pad Award – Condominium that is best for Singles: Altez by Far East Organization
* Take my Breath Award – Condominium with the greatest views: H20 Residences by City Development Limited
* Property with the Most Votes award: eCO by Far East Organization
You can get more details of the People's Choice Award from the following link.
What can we glean from the PCA results?
One of the key observations we can glean from the results was that many of the developments that won awards were located in the Outside Central Region (OCR). This goes to show that Singaporeans are starting to accept that desirable developments do not necessarily have to be located in traditional hotspots like Districts 9, 10 and 11. While traditional hotspots still command a premium, consumers who are more particular on design, facilities, eco-friendliness, etc. are prepared to look beyond the Core Central Region (CCR).
If we were to take a look at developed countries such as the United States or Australia, many condominium projects there offer such special facilities such as a movie theatre, personal trainer in the gym, concierge service, etc. As Singaporeans become more discerning, it is no longer enough to just offer garden-variety facilities like tennis courts and swimming pools. To really stand out, developers would have to spend time to come up with unique identifying features such as one-of-a-kind architecture or even special facilities like rock-climbing walls and golf simulators.
Property investors hoping to find the next hot deal should also move beyond the conventional wisdom of “location, location, location”. With an area of only 710sq m, any part of Singapore is likely to be several minutes’ drive away from amenities or a shopping mall. Hence, to assess the potential of a project, they should also take into consideration the “feel good” factor that the projects elicit. Hopefully, you will remember this list of PCA winners and eventually use this information to help you decide on your next purchase.
Getty Goh has a Masters in Real Estate and a Bachelors in Building from the National University of Singapore. He conducts frequent talks on the topic of property investing. To sign up for his next sharing, please visit www.BuyByeProperty.com. For those who wish to know more about what are some of the factors that would impact the profitability of a development, please drop him an email to find out more.
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Originally Posted by GSLJ
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