Tag Archives: Real estate

Singapore East Coast villa site could fetch S$100 million

A residential site of about 47,400 sq. ft. on Singapore’s East Coast is up for sale by the tender, reports Today. The site is home to a 113-year old former beach villa that was built by the late Choa Kim Keat, after whom Kim Keat Road in Balestier is named. Mr Choa was also the husband of the grand-daughter of 19th century philanthropist Tan Tock Seng.

While the villa has been identified for conservation by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the site may still be redeveloped into residential high-rise condos of about 1000 sq. ft. each with the conservation villa integrated into the development, according to property consultant Credo Real Estate.

According to URA guidelines, the site has a gross plot ratio of 2.1 and the developer will be able to build up to 24 storeys. Credo managing director Karamjit Singh expects offers for the site at between S$100 million and S$110 million (US$81.2 to US$89.3 million).

The tender will close on June 6.

Source : PropertyReport – 10 May 2011

Property cooling measures hit home-buying decisions

The Government’s measures to cool the exuberance in Singapore’s property market have started to affect home-buying decisions, according to property website iProperty.com’s 2011 Consumer Property Sentiment Survey.

Some 59.2 per cent of respondents say they are affected by the measures and are either modifying their property buying, selling or renting decisions, or are halting plans to buy or sell for now.

Still, the survey shows that 58.4 per cent of the respondents either do not think that or are undecided whether the measures will succeed in cooling the market.

In fact, 58.7 per cent of the respondents do not think that the measures are sufficient to stabilise public housing prices and have voiced their hopes for more to be done to improve the situation.

Mr Shaun Di Gregorio, CEO of The iProperty.com Group, said: “Housing policies and other property-related issues are arguably one of the key buzz topics of the upcoming General Election. From this survey, there are indications that Singapore home buyers are looking forward to additional measures to bring about significant changes in the policies governing the local property market, so as to further cement their decision-making process.”

The online survey was conducted from Dec 27 last year to Feb 25 this year and 470 people participated. Comprising mostly Singaporeans, permanent residents and expatriates, the majority of respondents were aged 25 to 54 years. More than half currently have plans to purchase or rent their next property.

In addition, in light of recent debates on housing policies amid election campaigning, a quick online poll was conducted over a one-week period from April 28 to gauge public response. The survey shows that over 50 per cent of the 104 respondents are hoping for more affordable housing by way of lower prices for new flats and a re-evaluation of asset enhancement policies, iProperty.com said.

Source : Today – 6 May 2011