Tag Archives: Real estate

Laguna Park residents to pocket S$2.2m each from sale

Posted on 18 May 2011 | Comments Off on Laguna Park residents to pocket S$2.2m each from sale

Laguna Park residents will be pocketing about S$2.2 million each from the successful sale of the property, which will be put up for tender on May 24.

With a plot ratio of 2.8, Laguna Park’s price works out to S$975 per square foot per plot ratio.

The 528 unit, 677,493 square feet property is attempting a second collective sale attempt with Knight Frank as its sole marketing agent.

Knight Frank said the 33-year-old Laguna Park possesses many quality traits – it is the only available landsite along Marine Parade with a seafront view and it sits on a rectangular-shaped plot.

But the winning buyer would be tasked with (building a) potential 1,580 units for the redeveloped site, said Tan Tiong Cheng, chairman of the Knight Frank marketing team handling Laguna Park’s sale.

He maintains that with a rectangle-shaped plot, a consortium of developers could split the land up and sell the units in phases.

The firm is currently marketing the project to large property developers as well as a number of foreign ones.

Knight Frank has also highlighted Pine Grove as one of the key competitors to Laguna Park.

On top of Pine Grove, the marketing agent pointed out the large supply of government land and other key en-bloc projects as competition.

The overall sentiment among residents of Laguna Park is one of confidence.

“Residents are more positive about the sale this time around, because property market is more robust and developers are building up their land bank now. The previous time it was put on sale was about 2009, when the property market sunk due to the Lehman Brothers crisis,” said a resident who declined to be named.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 18 May 2011

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Posted in En-bloc / Collective Sales

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Bring back rental flats in big way

Posted on 17 May 2011 | Comments Off on Bring back rental flats in big way

May I suggest that the Government consider restoring the HDB rental system in a big way. During the early days of this nation, this was how many Singaporeans were adequately housed when they were resettled from kampungs. One-, two- and three-room Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats were rented out to those who could not buy.

Why is it that these smaller flats were subsequently either perceived by the HDB as lacking a demand, or was it a matter of policy? What is wrong with living in a small flat even on rental if it means affordability and having more disposable income for other uses?

The Japanese people are known to live in “rabbit hutches”, as a former Prime Minister of theirs said. But still they can make their small living environment nice and liveable.

In any case, HDB flats on purchase have a 99-year lease. Owners are really lessees only, according to the HDB agreement.

If the monthly rental of a three-room HDB flat is only half the amount needed for purchase – say S$500 instead of a S$1,000 monthly instalment – one can save S$500 in cash or in CPF which ensures a bigger nest egg for retirement. One can also use the savings to invest in low-risk types of investment like international government bonds with a return starting from 4 per cent annually.

Under the current situation, much of the CPF savings of a HDB lessee can be used up in paying for a new HDB flat whose value may start depreciating 50 years into the lease – which, incidentally, would be at the point of one’s retirement age.

And one’s HDB flat cannot be easily liquidated as cash for use because one will always need housing. Indeed, the Government has proposed that an eligible lessee sell it back to the HDB for a monthly payment that can be used for living expenditures in his/her old age.

The Government should seriously consider restoring the rental system for HDB flats. This is on top of the urgent need to quickly build more flats to house new families.

Letter from Chia Hern Keng

Source : Today – 17 May 2011

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Posted in HDB

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