Month: December 2017

As discussed in Part One of this article, there are many pluses and minuses around the CPF (Central Provident Fund), and it is something that everyone needs to look at from their own unique perspective. What works for someone, will not be so appealing for the next person. There is no right – or indeed wrong answer, but it is more a case of choosing the best option for you and your family, or the least bad one. To muddy the water even more, there are two other factors that should be taken into consideration when deciding what to do with those funds you have worked so hard to amass.

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September 7^th saw the announcement of two major new R&D initiatives between the HDB and both the NTU (Nanyang Technological University) and the SUTD (Singapore University of Technology and Design). It is hoped that the agreements – both for three years, will firstly improve productivity and enhance safety in the construction industry by utilising such tools as big data and smart technology, and secondly help to create stronger communities.

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Chief Executive of Frasers Centrepoint Singapore announced the acquisition of a property (Riviere) on Jiak Kim Street.  The company came in with the highest bid of $955 million dollars.  Originally, a very popular nightclub known as Zouk, this 13,482 sq ft site also has its own commercial first floor that will be fully utilized.

This 99-year-old property is considered a real gem with its amazing heritage and style.  It sits on the banks of the Singapore River and is considered a rare find in its cosmopolitan setting.

Along with Frasers, Allgreen Holdings came in with the highest bid of $552.96 million dollars for a site on Fourth Avenue and is also 99-year-old property.  Allgreen Holdings also picked up two other properties last week in Bukit Timah, one being the Royalville.

Both of these sites were on the Reserve List of Government Land Sales program and were set for bidding and all sealed bids would be opened for public view after only minimal bids were initially made.  Research showed that by offering public tender and the closing of both sites seems to have helped with the competition for each one.

Many experts believe that Allgreen Holdings’ aggressive bidding on Royalville turned some developers away from bidding on the Fourth Avenue site.  That said, there were 7 bidders which are considered a decent showing.

There is a feeling in the air that developers, across the board, think the market is recovering. It is believed that this incredible optimism grew from a positive economic analysis that is shared by many.

Although the Government has continued to warn about the high-risks of excessive bidding, there does not seem to be any signs of future bidding slowing down.  Reports have shown that with the purchases on Jiak Kim Street and Fourth Avenue, bidders are very confident that the market is on its way back up and their outlook is very positive.

Breaking Down The Costs:

Frasers Centrepoint Ltd – 13,482 sq ft for $955 million breaks down to $1,732.55 per sq ft.

This is only 0.6 cents higher than the bid from Hong Leong Holdings.

Allgreen Holds – at 18,532 sq ft for $552.96 million breaks down to $1,540 per sq ft.

This is only 2 cents higher than the bid from Bukit Sembawang Estates.

In Conclusion:

Although warnings from the Government have been voiced, it seems developers are visualizing a growth in the market and have no plans on slowing down when bidding for other properties.  Only time will tell if their foresight will help or harm them.

Some of the new launch condos by developer, Fraser Centrepoint Singapore includes

• North Park Residences
• Parc Life EC

Upcoming new condos by other developers

• Shunfu Condo
• Rivercove Residences

Going by the upward trend of growth in Singapore, it can be safely said that it is going to be a successful end of the year for manufacturers in this country. While the electronics segment showed a vast growth, other sectors in the country also showed signs of improvement, as per the economists. Since manufacturing makes for the major contributor (1/5^th) of the economy of the country, economists believe that it will continue being the brightest spot in the upcoming year as well.

This trend of growth in the country’s economy is depicted by the latest PMI – Purchasing Manager’s Index. It is compiled by Singapore Institute of Purchasing and Material’s Management. As per stats, PMI showed a significant improvement in November (52.9) as compared to October (52.6). The latest recorded reading of PMI is said to be the highest country has seen since December 2009. Another stirring fact is that November 2017 marks the 15^th consecutive month showing an upward trend in the manufacturing sector in Singapore. Electronic sector’s PMI rose from 53.3 to 53.5 in November. It is the 15^th successive month of growth in this sector.

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With the increase of people growing their own food in gardens, the National Parks Board is implementing a new plan that will promote gardening. Their plan will include training young people, offering gardening festivals, and providing garden plots throughout Singapore. Since its introduction over, 10 years ago, communities have improved their gardening skills and are developing edible gardens to a whole new level.

Due to the increased interest in gardening, each year the National Parks Community holds their Garden Edibles Competition. The number of entries has risen over the past year by approximately 35% and the quality of the entries has improved dramatically. Since its introduction 3 years ago, awards are given out to those who have excelled in the field of edible gardening. Some of the most popular edibles include tomatoes, beans, and gourds.

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The economy is in continuous progress and even though we can’t see them, changes occur on a daily basis. Sometimes, those changes are for the best, but in this particular case, they’re not.

Since last month, Singaporeans have become extremely uncomfortable due to the increasing interest rates perceived on mortgages. Towards the end of October, the interest rate on a classic fixed-rate loan was about 1.67 percent.

As we speak, that exact same rate is above 1.80. Needless to say, this is definitely something to worry about, especially for Singaporeans who had thoughts of purchasing houses in the near future.

Why Is This Happening?

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Construction developers and builders should expect new regulations when it comes to facades building anytime soon, as the Government is preparing to make these aspects tighter than before. Besides making a few adjustments to the way they will be built in the near future, some changes make reference to the fact that building manages will have to run periodic inspections to see if everything is alright with the cladding, windows, and other external elements of a building façade. In fact, the companies that activate in the real estate sector of Singapore are getting ready to face the new changes, which will require both close-up and full-scale inspections.

When it comes to a visual, full-scale inspection, a drone or a pair of binoculars will be used, so that the façade is inspected from the outside. Close-up inspections are more thorough and will require the presence of a qualified specialist, who will check for any issues in the integrity of the façade. All of these new rules were a subject of the conference that took place recently at the Marina Bay Sands, called the Glasstech Asia and Fenestration Asia 2017. Also, new “façade inspectors” will emerge soon as courses in this directions were launched by the Building and Construction Authority Academy, which will have all the knowledge and training needed to identify a façade with problems.

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Warnings have been issued by MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) regarding recent development within the real estate market which is increasing costs and could result in the market’s instability.  They believe that developers should show caution in regards to supply and demand, population, and possible increase of interest rates.

The selling of government land is predicted to add more than 20,000 new units over the next 2 years.  Concerns are based on the number of private housing developments that have already doubled over the past year.  There is a great concern there could be far more unsold units or uncompleted units that will require approval by the end of the third quarter.

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Located on Kent Ridge Park, towards its edge, and providing gorgeous views of the sea, the Vista Park is a Singapore condo with great potential, offering no less than 209 units. The developer that will choose to invest in this area, will easily be able to come up with a residential area that will present a beautiful nature theme, due to the lush green environment that surrounds the Park. While the owners plan on organizing a tender for a collective sale, some voices claim that they could get a 60% higher profit if they would opt to sell their units separately instead.

The choice of the owners may have been driven by the latest increasing trend when it comes to collective sales. The Vista Park is the 5th condominium that opened a collective sale tender after 4 more did the same in the case of their developments just a few days ago. The owners of the Park aim to get the sum of $350 million, which means that each of the condominium’s owners would get anywhere between $1.16 million and $3.5 million if they do manage to sell it for this sum. But the profit would be significantly higher if they would choose to sell the units individually, putting in their pockets sums that could be 60% higher than their initial estimates and hopes.

But the fever of the collective sales is not about to end very soon, as two more developments are in plan to join in. We are talking about Kismis View and Brookvale Park, already reaching a requisite approval in a proportion of 80% from their current owners. Concerning Vista Park, the company taking care of the sale, Teakhwa Real Estate, is confident that the surroundings of the condominium will weigh a lot in the process, being the main attraction of the estate. The new development that will occupy this area in the future could easily be based on nature-themes and wellness concept, due to the fact that the area is surrounded by lush vegetation. Another major attraction point will certainly be the Pasir Panjang MRT station, which is just 7 minutes away from the condominium. Having all these in mind, plus the estate’s convenient location on a hill and its great potential, the managing director of Teakhwa Real Estate, Mr. Sieow Teak Hwa, is confident that there will be quite a few developers interested in purchasing the Vista Park.

Offering 319,250 square feet and another 61 years on its lease, the Vista Park could accommodate a number of 530 apartments, if one apartment would have around 800 sq. ft., in a building that could have up to 5 stories. With a tender closing on the 13th of December, we’ll have to wait and see if the hopes of the owners will become a reality after all.

Vista Park will be torn down and redeveloped to a new residential development named Kent Ridge Hill Residences. Whistler Grand is another condominium development nearby at West Coast Vale

find out more from link below

http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/vista-park-eyes-350m-in-collective-sale-tender

New Condo Launch on the west region of Singapore

• Lake Grande
• The Clement Canopy
• Le Quest

New Launch Condo on other parts of Singapore

• Parc Botannia
• Woodleigh Condo
• Rivercove Residences EC

A new luxury apartment found in The Peak district has hone for around S$22993 per square foot. This is a new record when it comes to square footage terms for the most expensive real estate market at this particular time. Yes, this is a huge price, and it really goes to show that there’s plenty of demand for high end real estate in HK.

That being said, the apartment has around 4242 square feet, it’s a part of the Mount Nicholson project and it had a total cost of S$97,5 million. That’s a ton of money to be honest, and the buyer is undisclosed at the time. The development we mentioned above has multiple projects, they have 19 detached houses, as well as 48 flats. All of these were created in a total of 3 phases of construction.

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Private home prices were very low recently, to the point where the market decline seemed to make the industry dwindle a bit. But in the end, it seems that the prices are finally raising. The prices rose around 0.7% in the past 3 months, when compared to the previous quarter at least.

The collective sales flurry may also be the reason why this happened too. The deals are impacting the real estate world and that’s certainly saying something. It also goes to show that the collective sales impact was felt earlier than expected.

Market professionals didn’t expect the sales impact to be felt right now. They thought this will happen in a year or two, but obviously that was not the case here. The price recovery did take a while however, but we can expect these prices to get a bit higher in the near future.

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While the private sales are barely trying to get a better price on the market, the collective sales market is on fire. Right now we have the Mayfair Gardens that was snapped up by Oxley Holdings for around $311 million. This is quite an interesting purchase to be honest, and it can only get better, the serve price was around $256 million, and we can expect each one of the owners to get anywhere from $1.7 million to $2.89 million once the deal is made.

This private residential estate has 6 residential walk up blocks and the units go up to 200 square feet, which is quite an interesting experience to have. The total sale price seems to translate to something around the lines of $1244 for each square foot. It’s a very good price for this to be honest, and it goes to show just how amazing and fruitful the deals can be in this regard.

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