Daily Archives: 22 Sep 2009

HDB’s ethnic quota policy needs tweak

Posted on 22 Sep 2009 | 1 comment

THE Housing Board’s ethnic integration policy needs tweaking if it is to better promote racial integration and harmony. HDB’s website states that the status of ethnic changes is updated on the first day of each month and is ‘applicable for resale applications submitted in the current month’.

Many flats change hands daily and the actual ethnic ratio will fluctuate accordingly. Fixing the quota for an entire month and making it known only on the first day of the month is convenient for the HDB, but not for buyers and sellers as it creates the following problems:

  • The buyer or agent spends days, weeks or even months to secure a resale flat, only to find the quota has been reached on the first day of the following month. Waiting another month and hoping the ethnic proportions will allow the deal to go through is not an option as there is no guarantee it will be so. The whole cycle of hunting and bargaining will restart and the situation is still subject to change on a monthly basis.
  • There could be many flats sold by an ethnic group in a given month, but buyers belonging to the same ethnic group could be restricted from buying until the ethnic ratio is revised in subsequent months. This problem is particularly acute when a minority ethnic group is involved. Continue reading →

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    Private homes still seeing high demand

    Posted on 22 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on Private homes still seeing high demand

    Cooling-off measures had little impact on weekend’s sales

    DEMAND for private homes remained strong over the weekend despite measures announced by the Government last week to take the froth off the market.

    Property developers CapitaLand and Hotel Properties said yesterday that 233 units – or 65 per cent – of 360 units launched at The Interlace project, at the former Gillman Heights site in Alexandra Road, were sold in the past week.

    A wide range of units from two-roomers to penthouses were sold at a price range of $850 per sq ft (psf) to $1,150 psf.

    Guocoland, which held a preview launch of its freehold 119-unit Elliot At The East Coast project over the weekend, sold 45 – or 75 per cent – of 60 units launched at an average price of $970 psf.

    At the upper-mid segment of the market, buyers snapped up another 5 per cent, or 14 units, at Singapore Land’s 289-unit Trizon At Mount Sinai over the weekend.

    The project, at the site of the former Himiko Court, is now 70 per cent sold at a price range of $1,300 to $1,500 psf.

    The long weekend’s sales seem to indicate that buying interest has not been dampened by the Government’s moves to cool the market, which include scrapping the interest absorption scheme (IAS) and restarting confirmed list land sales in the first half of next year. The IAS allowed buyers to put a down payment and defer the bulk of the purchase payment until the project was completed. Continue reading →

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    Posted in New Launches, Property Price

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