Tag Archives: HDB News

BTO flats in Sengkang & Jurong West almost 4 times subscribed

Posted on 31 Oct 2009 | Comments Off on BTO flats in Sengkang & Jurong West almost 4 times subscribed

(Top : Fernvale Palms in Sengkang, Bottom : Boon Lay Meadow in Jurong West) There were almost four times the numbers of applicants for the 1,200 flats released in HDB’s Build-To-Order (BTO) flats in Sengkang and Jurong West.

However, one industry player sees this demand for BTO flats as the norm and not as a result of the recent high prices in the HDB resale market.

Mohammed Ismail, CEO of Propnex, said: “BTO are generally in greater demand and the usual number of subscription actually depends on the location. If the BTO appears in a mature estate, we could see a very high number, (one which could) well exceed five times (the number of available flats).”

Prices for resale flats are expected to remain high over the next few quarters because of the demand from those who do not qualify for the BTO or Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) projects.

Eugene Lim, ERA’s Asia-Pacific’s associate director, commented that new BTO flats will do little to dampen resale prices. Continue reading →

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Flat valuation reflects state of property market

Posted on 30 Oct 2009 | Comments Off on Flat valuation reflects state of property market

I REFER to Mr Daniel Choy’s letter on Tuesday, ‘Curbing price hikes’.

His assertion that valuation chases after cash over valuation (COV) is incorrect. Rather the valuation process reflects the state of the property market. If there are sufficient buyers who are prepared to pay a higher price than valuation, this should result in a higher valuation.

As Mr Choy rightly pointed out, ‘buyers are generally prepared to fork out between $50,000 and $100,000 for a good location’. This would be an indication of the market demand for properties in good locations, which will result in a higher valuation of such properties.

His suggestion to base ‘a typical flat’s valuation on the average price for the whole of Singapore’ is not valuation, but rather an administrative decision or policy which will be difficult to implement as it would mean that ‘better properties’ would be sold at a lower price and ‘poorer properties’ at a higher one.

In valuation, we need to consider unique characteristics such as location, size, age and condition of the property concerned, and not based on the average prices of all properties.

Janet Han (Ms)
Secretariat
Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers

Source : Straits Times – 30 Oct 2009

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