Monthly Archives: August 2009

Sub-sales triple in second quarter

Posted on 30 Aug 2009 | Comments Off on Sub-sales triple in second quarter

Mass-market and mid-tier projects are hot, but it is taking longer to sell investment properties

The upbeat sentiment in the new private home market has lured out the sellers in the sub-sale market.

Sub-sales – the sale of uncompleted homes by their buyers – of non-landed private properties tripled to 1,200 units in the second quarter, according to a DTZ quarterly report.

This time, though, it is mainly the mass-market and mid-tier projects that are popular sub-sales. In 2007, it was the higher-end projects that found favour with buyers.

Also, the sellers are taking longer to sell their investment properties.

The DTZ study found that a few mass-market projects made their way to the Top 10 list of projects with the most sub-sales. These included Casa Merah, located near the Tanah Merah MRT Station, The Centris in Jurong West and The Quartz in Compassvale. Continue reading →

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Posted in Property Market / Real Estate, Property Price

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Purr-fect end to en bloc tale

Posted on 30 Aug 2009 | Comments Off on Purr-fect end to en bloc tale

Two years ago this month, Singapore was in the grip of en bloc fever. Condominiums were being sold for redevelopment faster than you could say Strata Titles Board.

The frenzy resulted in a flood of dispossessed tenants having to search for somewhere new to live. The mass move still has ripples today. In my own small world, it set the cat among the pigeons, literally. This is the tale of my tabby cat, Poppet.

Our family had been renting the same condo unit for eight years when suddenly our landlady phoned to say that the condo apartment that she herself had been renting – a nicer, bigger place close to town – had gone en bloc. She had tried to find somewhere comparable to live, but buildings all around her were also undergoing collective sales, and at those that hadn’t, the rents had gone through the roof.

As a result, she was going to have to move to our small unit and make do there. She did not want to come, and we did not want to go. But move we all had to. Continue reading →

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Posted in En-bloc / Collective Sales, Property Market / Real Estate

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