Buyer & Seller Must Know

Introduction

Businesses in real estate render highly lucrative returns given the incessant demands in housing sector on account of the ever increasing population numbers today. However, Singapore is presenting a different kind of scenario to view. Despite an upsurge in private property prices in the second quarter of this financial year, the take-up rates for houses remain low. This is a cause for worry which needs to be addressed according to Chia Ngiang Hong, president of the Real Estate Developers Association Singapore.

What does the statistics say? Read more

Newly launched mega development, Parc Clematis was officially released for sales recently and had their sales preview on the last week of August 2019.

Parc Clematis is a 99-year leasehold condominium located close to Clementi MRT station. It sits along Jalan Lempeng and is close to Clementi Avenue 6. A good mix of 1-bedroom to 5-bedroom apartments can be found in the development. Strata units can also be found within the development. Being close to the Clementi central, Parc Clematis offers a lifetime of convenience for its residents. The Clementi MRT station and bus interchange are a mere 7 minutes’ walk away. The popular Clement Market can also be found at the Clementi Central, shopping, dining and entertainment amenties are also readily available at the nearby Clementi Mall.

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A total of 71 landed homes in the Signature Collection of Luxus Hills were sold during its preview last weekend. Initially, 32 houses were transacted on the very first day of the preview which was last Friday. Subsequently the remaining 46 units were also released and sold by the developer over the weekend.

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Being a tiny red dot with limited land resources, Singapore might soon have to make use of the space below its land to bring in more facilities for its residents. Singapore’s total population stands at slightly above $5.6 million and this number is expected to rise gradually over the years, the authorities are currently making plans to accommodate the population growth by creating more subterranean space.

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Sengkang Riverside Park was opened in November of 2008, with additional areas including its wetland areas opening in subsequent years. In total, the park covers more than 21 hectares (52 acres). It is made up of three areas of open parkland, a constructed wetland and the floating wetland, which is in fact the largest artificial floating wetland in Singapore.

The main feature of the park however, the reason why so many people flock there, and what gives it its characteristic tranquil atmosphere is Sungei Punggol (or the Punggol Reservoir) which bisects it. What also makes this park a popular place to visit, especially for cyclists and runners is the fact that it is one of four parks that make up the 26 kilometre, $57 million North Eastern Riverine Loop – part of the PCN (Park Connector Network). The other three are Punggol Park, Punggol Waterway Park and Punggol Point Park.

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In July 2019, records had shown that there were 1,178 new launch condos and apartments sold in Singapore. This figure is higher compared to the sales made in the previous month. However, this number is still much lower in comparison to the number of units sold in July 2018. Last year July, there were slightly above 1700 residential units sold. The sharp increase in number was also possibly due to the last-minute rush for buyers who are rushing to make their property purchases before the property measures officially kicked in.

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To ensure that the CBD area of Singapore is not solely a district used for work and business, the government has made plans to bring in more homes to the business district, creating a live, work and play environment. This was part of the CBD Scheme announced by Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for National Development during the launching of the Draft Master Plan. There will be plans for some 2000 private apartments in the Marina South area.

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After the authories have announced the extended usage of Central Provident Fund (CPF) for HDB buyers, old flats are in demand again. In recent times, there was a fall in the price of older flats. But the reformulated CPF rules have made it possible for a large number of people to buy the older flats. After the relaxed CPF rules, the sale of older flats increased by 18.3 percent whereas, in March and April of 2018, the sale increased only by 4.6 percent. If one has to give numbers, about 1783 flats that are 30 years older have been sold during May and June of this year whereas the number was 1507 in the last year.

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After the sale of a five-room flat in the nearby Block 9 for $1,185,000 Sgd in January, HDB’s resale price was quite stable. In July, it even saw a drop at 0.2 percent. However, it set a new record this month with the sale of another five-room flat at Boon Keng. It sold at $1,205,000 which is $5000  more than the January sale.

The analysts are of the opinion that this record price has been paid because of the sheer quality of the location. The flat, situated at the Boon Tiong Road at Tiong Bahru, is a part of a comparatively new settlement situated amidst old and reputable estate. The communication facility is also mention-worthy, as two MRT stations are nearby. The downtown line and the North East line, both are easily accessible through Bendemeer and Boon Keng respectively.

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As per the recent updates from Fitch Solutions Macro Research, the residential, as well as non-residential building sector in Singapore, is expected to rise by 3.2 percent in 2019 and 2.3 percent in the year 2020. This hike in the real estate sector is actually supported by the strong pipeline of several well-planned projects in the area.

However, the firm also revealed that there are some uncertainties related to this rise due to US-China trade issues and due to the expected recession in coming quarters. Read more

It is not expected from a 24-year-old student to invest in a penthouse worth $2.1 million; especially in the most expensive real estate market in the entire world.

As per a recent report from Singapore real estate sector, Shawn owned a loft-style apartment at leafy central Bukit Timah region and the payment for the same was done by his mother. Experts reveal that such scenarios are becoming more common in this market because of the cooling measures and increase stamp duty on buying 2^ndand 3^rdhome. Hence, parents are buying new homes for their children.

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As estimated, the prices of private condos / apartments have reached their highest mark since the last five years, in the second quarter of 2019. Statistics have shown that the rise in demand for private residential areas in the nucleas and its outer circle of the city has led to the overall hike in its prices. The rate of rise is by 1.3% that has led to 150.5 points which is the highest elevation since the year 2014, that encountered an index point of 151.3. The upsurge has taken place in the last three months of the year after witnessing a fall in the 1st quarter by 0.7%.

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Recorded as the slowest growth in the last 10 years, Singapore’s economic growth was less than 1.2% of the growth that was expected; a direct repercussion of the malfunctioning of the major manufacturing units in the country which is in turn because of the trade tension globally predominant and experienced between the United States and China and their electronic clash. Another two probable reasons influencing this slog can be the sedate economic growth of China, along with the Brexit getting postponed till October 31. The last time the country’s growth touched this low was during the period of April-June 2009. But this time, the recorded growth was lesser than both the predictions of the Ministry of Trade and Industry who calculated it to by 1.3% and the analyst’s polls by Bloomberg who expected it would be 1.4%. Even though the MTI further decreased its assumed growth window assessing the present conditions from 1.5%-3.5% to 1.5%-2.5%, still the final outcome did not fall within the same.

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The survey reports that have been recently submitted show that the rents for the private condos on non-landed areas have gone down by a considerable margin and the decrease has now been recording for consecutive two months. Although Singapore condos have seen a certain fall in the rates, the rents of the Housing Board (HDB) flats have gone up considerably. Like the last month of May, in June too, the rent rates of the condos dropped by a total of 0.2% taking into consideration all the units that are both in the nucleus and border of the city.

If we are to divide the whole city into three succeeding circles, the private rents in the innermost and outermost ring that form the core and the circumambient regions to the central part, saw a decrease in the rents by 0.5% and 1.1% respectively, while the intermediate ring that forms the integral portion of the city, saw a hike by 0.9% of the rents. Read more

There is a huge scarcity of land at Singapore, and in these conditions, if one needs to make the best out of real estate projects; there are three major options for expansion. Either expand upwards, downwards, or go towards the seaside.

These ideas were recently updated by Lawrence Wong, the National Development Minister in a blog post. Read more