Tag Archives: Singapore Property Market

Home-hunters back on the prowl again

Current fizz setting new price benchmarks for property in some suburban areas

Over the past month, Madam Y.M. Chung visited eight showflats in search of the perfect apartment to buy.

She had seen property prices sliding since the financial crisis hit last year and, as she had extra cash, parking it in property seemed like a smart move.

‘It’s so hard to say if prices will go up or down so now is as good a time as any to buy,’ said the 43-year-old retail sales assistant, who is married to a factory manager.

Yesterday, the mother of two teenagers bought a two-bedroom apartment in Far East Organization’s Waterfront Key project in Bedok Reservoir for more than $700,000.

She hopes to earn good rental income when the condo is completed, and is prepared to sell her five-room Sengkang HDB flat and move in if that does not happen.

Madam Chung was one of 45 people who bought units at the development’s official launch yesterday. So far, 173 of the 278 units released at the 437-unit project, which previewed a week ago, have been sold. The average price: $735 per sq ft (psf).

Elsewhere, home-hunters were also on the prowl. More than 1,000 thronged Wing Tai’s Ascentia Sky showflats in Redhill when the 373-unit condo was launched yesterday. It has sold 85 per cent of the 120 units put up, at prices of around $1,300 psf.

The two launches yesterday follow in the wake of other successful ones in recent weeks. Continue reading

Home supply pipeline shrinks, prices stiffen

However, URA price index for private homes still shows fall in Q2, confounding analysts

LATEST government numbers are offering clues as to why some developers are busy looking for land and nudging up home prices. The supply pipeline for private homes has shrunk, from about 71,600 units at end-Q2 last year to 62,600 units as at end-Q2 2009. The stock of unsold units in uncompleted projects with planning approvals has also contracted from about 43,500 units to around 38,500 units over the same period.

Developers had not acquired much residential land over the past year or so in the aftermath of the financial crisis but have enjoyed a spectacular revival in home sales over the past six months. Lately, however, two sites from the government reserve list were triggered for launch by developers.

Developers have also regained some pricing power of late. Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) price index for private homes fell 4.7 per cent in Q2 over the preceding quarter. The fall was less steep than the 5.9 per cent decline for the period that URA’s flash estimate had shown earlier this month. The latest decline is also much less than the 14.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter price drop in Q1. While a debate rages on why URA’s Q2 price index lags the price gains seen in the market during the period, property consultants are expecting further price increases in the current half.

Related link:

Click here for URA’s news release

‘But we’re not going to see runaway prices as there will be price resistance from buyers, especially in the upgraders market as there’s the issue of affordability,’ says Knight Frank chairman Tan Tiong Cheng. ‘Developers will be mindful of competition from the secondary market as new projects are completed. From a consumer’s viewpoint, if prices get too high, they could either give the market a miss or look for alternatives – like picking up a home from earlier investors who can afford to sell below developers’ prices,’ he said.

‘There’s another reason why prices are unlikely to run away, at least not in the mass market – and that’s because the government has, under its reserve list, a substantial supply of land for this segment,’ Mr Tan added.

Giving a more bullish take, Credo Real Estate managing director Karamjit Singh says private home prices started to turn in April/May and estimates that depending on market segment, prices have increased anywhere between 15 and 30 per cent from the bottom in Q1. He forecasts the total increase between April and year-end could be in the order of 20 to 60 per cent, with the biggest hikes in the high-end segment. ‘So far, the home buying has been led mainly by Singaporeans and PRs. When foreigners and institutional funds buy in a bigger way, then momentum in the high-end residential sector will receive a boost.’ Continue reading