Tag Archives: Housing Development Board

EC site in Woodlands attracts seven bids; top bid of $216m by Qingjian Realty

Posted on 10 May 2013 | Comments Off on EC site in Woodlands attracts seven bids; top bid of $216m by Qingjian Realty

An executive condominium (EC) site in Woodlands has attracted seven bids from developers, according to the Housing & Development Board (HDB).

The 99-year leasehold site at Woodlands Avenue 5/Woodlands Avenue 6 fetched a top bid of S$216 million from Qingjian Realty (South Pacific) Group.

That’s about 9 percent above the second highest bid of S$198 million tabled by Bellevue Properties, a wholly-owned subsidiary of City Development’s Verwood Holdings.

Analysts say the top bid of S$216 million works out to about S$341 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

And that is higher than previous bids for nearby sites at S$318 psf ppr and S$302 psf ppr last year

HDB says the site, which spans over 21,000 square metres, can potentially yield 590 residential units.

Desmond Sim, Associate Director of CBRE Research, said, “The relatively higher bid reflects developers’ renewed confidence in the area following the government’s announcement on Woodlands as Singapore’s new commercial hub in the land-use plan in January 2013… we expect interest in the next few EC plots this year to remain strong as there is a genuine need and demand for ECs. Developers are still positive about the EC market.”

ERA Realty Network expects selling price for units built on the site to start at $830 psf.

“This is the first EC land sale allocated after the new cooling measures were introduced. It can be seen that developers are still hungry for land sites to build up their land bank,” said Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA.

Cooling measures introduced in January this year will apply to this site.

Among them are restrictions on the maximum size of EC units and guidelines on private enclosed spaces or private roof terraces.

Under the new rules EC developers will also only be able to market their projects 15 months from the date of award of the sites.

Including this latest site, there are now four EC projects in Woodlands. The other three are La Casa, Forestville and Twin Fountains.

HDB says decision on the award of the tender will be announced at a later date.

Source CNA – 9 May 2013

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Govt will look out for all homeowners

Posted on 10 May 2013 | Comments Off on Govt will look out for all homeowners

Future housing policies will take into consideration all homeowners, not just new ones, Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of National Development Dr Mohamad Maliki said at the second “Our Singapore Conversation on Housing” session held yesterday (May 8).

Dr Maliki stressed that existing homeowners’ interests will be considered even as changes to public housing policy are being discussed, noting how prices of new Build-To-Order (BTO) flats could have an impact on the resale market.

“How we manage the property market will have an impact on current home owners and we should not forget that because when we talk about prices of new flats, at some point, the behaviours of buyers will move in a certain direction and there will be impact on the resale market,” cautioned Dr Maliki.

The participants, who numbered more than 50, were also joined by Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC Penny Low, who sits on the National Development Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC).

Topics discussed at yesterday evening’s session included whether the Executive Condominium and Design, Build and Sell Scheme should continue, whether the range of public housing currently available is adequate, and if the income ceiling for the purchase of BTO flats should be raised or possibly even removed.

Responding to calls by participants to remove the income ceiling for the purchase of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats, Dr Maliki acknowledged the complexity of housing all Singaporeans while meeting all aspirations and expectations.

“With (housing) 100 per cent, there will be more complexities because groups of people want different things and so that diversity is also something we have to consider,” said Dr Maliki.

Source – Today – 9 May 2013

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