Fairhaven apartment goes en bloc

A prime freehold residential development along Sophia Road in District 9 has launched its first attempt at a collective sale, revealed marketing agent JLL.

The 15-unit Fairhaven apartment sits on approximately 16,660 sq ft of land and is zoned residential with a gross plot ratio of 2.1 in the 2014 Master Plan.

More than 80 percent of the owners, by share value and strata floor area, consented to the collective sale.

They are seeking offers in excess of $45 million, or about $1,169 psf per plot ratio on the potential gross floor area, after factoring in the 10 percent bonus balcony space for which no development charge is payable.

Commenting, Yong Choon Fah, National Director of Capital Markets at JLL said: “The site site within the Central Area (which generally comprises of areas close to Orchard Road and Marina Bay), whereby the number of dwelling units to be built in a development is not controlled by the stipulated minimum size for residential apartments. URA’s new guidelines which took effect on 4 November 2012, impose an average size requirement of 70 square metres or 100 square metres for the whole island, except for the Central Area. As a result, the supply of ‘shoe-boxes’, as they are often referred to, has been significantly curtailed.

“Potential buyers can consider building small apartments of between 40 to 50 square metres or so, to capitalise on its location and the curtailed supply of one-bedroom or small two-bedroom units.”

Since 2013, there have been no development sites made available for sale in the area, noted Yong. The last one was URA’s Mount Sophia site (currently Sophia Hills), which was hotly contested with nine bids two years ago.

Situated near Dhoby Ghaut Interchange and MRT station, there are also many established educational institutions in the vicinity, including the School of the Arts (SOTA) and Singapore Management University (SMU).

The tender for Fairhaven closes on 1 July 2015.

More empty homes on the horizon

The housing vacancy rate in Singapore may hit a record high of 9.8 percent in 2016 as private home completions rise from 19,900 units in 2015 to 20,900 by the end of next year, according to media reports citing a Barclays report.

Aside from the private home supply glut, the occupancy rate will also be pressured by growing public housing completions over the coming quarters.

Barclays expects public housing completions to increase from 28,000 units in 2014 to 26,000 this year and 20,000 by end-2016.

“As a result, the overall vacancy rate increased to 7.2 percent at the end of Q1 2015. Island-wide private home rents have fallen five percent from their Q3 2013 peak, while suburban rents have fallen six percent from their Q2 2013 peak,” the report said.

History shows that prices tend to drop significantly when the vacancy rate exceeds eight percent.

During the Asian financial crisis between Q2 1996 and Q4 1998, for instance, private home prices plunged 45 percent as the vacancy rate climbed from 6.2 percent to 9.7 percent.

“With an annual private home demand of only 15,000 units – we estimate 55 percent of total annual household formation of 26-27,00 to live in or enable upgrades to private homes – we estimate the vacancy rate could reach 9.8 percent by 2016E,” noted Barclays.