Tag Archives: Singapore Real Estate

Buyers expect property prices in S’pore to continue rising

Posted on 14 Jul 2012 | Comments Off on Buyers expect property prices in S’pore to continue rising

Credit Suisse said its recent survey found that majority of the respondents expect property prices in Singapore to continue to rise and more cooling measures to come.

According to its inaugural proprietary housing survey, six in 10 home buyers believe that there’ll be more cooling measures, with 40 per cent of them expecting measures to be introduced in the next 12 months.

Credit Suisse noted that buyers are most sensitive to capital gains tax and stamp duties.

Of the 300 people polled, 53 per cent of them said that their buying decision will be influenced by government measures.

About 47 per cent of the respondents also expect property prices and rentals to rise.

Credit Suisse said the survey also found that about 30 per cent of home buyers purchased a property for investments while the rest are genuine buyers who bought a property for own occupation or for their family members.

In particular, about six in 10 buyers said they would not buy a shoebox apartment.

Shoebox apartments have been popular with home buyers in the last couple of years and have helped to drive up new homes sales as they are seen to be more affordable.

By the looks of the survey findings, Credit Suisse expects home sales in the primary market to moderate “to more normalised levels” after the record sales volumes in the first four months of this year.

According to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, over 10,600 units of new private homes have been sold from January to May 2012.

The survey showed that just 21 per cent of the respondents are considering buying a residential property over the next 12 months, while 40 per cent of them said there are no plans to buy a property anytime soon.

Still, Credit Suisse said 76 per cent of households are able to afford a property fairly as liquidity remains strong.

It noted that 47 per cent of the respondents do not have an existing mortgage, while another 46 per cent have only one mortgage.

The survey also revealed that 30 per cent of households have over S$100,000 in cash, which could easily form the downpayment for the purchase of a property.

The Credit Suisse proprietary housing survey polled 300 respondents, 89 per cent of them are Singapore citizens, 10 per cent are permanent residents and the rest are foreigners.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 12 Jul 2012

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M+S breaks ground on Marina One development

Posted on 14 Jul 2012 | Comments Off on M+S breaks ground on Marina One development

Marina One, a landmark mixed-use development at Marina South, broke ground on Wednesday.

M+S, a joint venture owned by Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, says the development will provide commerce, high-end residences and retail spaces, and is on track to be completed by 2017.

The 60:40 joint venture between Khazanah Nasional and Temasek came about after a landmark land swop deal for the former Malayan Railway land.

M+S’s board of directors came together to mark the start of Marina One’s development earlier in the morning.

“So far, the working arrangement has been excellent. The schedule of the development is on track. We have secured a S$5 billion financing facility from eight banks. It is one of the largest property financing projects ever raised in Singapore for a company,” said Azman Yahya, chairman of the M+S board of directors.

With a gross development value of S$7 billion, the development will have a gross floor area of 341,000 square metres.

The site includes four land parcels spanning 2.62 hectares.

Marina One will be eventually linked to the Marina Bay MRT station when completed in 2017.

The upcoming Downtown Line MRT station will also be near the development comprising two residential blocks. Another two office blocks will be launched in the next few months.

M+S will not unveil Marina One’s design until its launch in the upcoming months, but says the development’s 200-metre tall office blocks will be 30-storey high.

Office space will make up 60 per cent of the development, while five per cent will be leased out for retail.

The remaining 35 per cent will be set aside for 1,042 residential units in the 130-metre tall residential blocks.

Analysts say investors may be receptive if the residential units are priced close to neighbouring developments, which now go for S$2,300 to S$2,500 per square foot.

Nicholas Mak, research head at SLP International, said: “Developers will have to consider the speed of sales, hence they may want to launch the project at about S$2,300 to S$2,500 per square foot. As for the office space, if they were to be completed, it would fetch rents of about S$6 to S$8 per square foot per month.

“Many of the potential buyers of this new apartment development are likely to be investors because of the location of these residential blocks.”

“With the ABSD in place, I think some of the foreign investors may be discouraged from coming to the residential market. So I think the pace of sale will be slower. I think it will take more than two years for the 1,000 over apartments to be fully sold,” Mr Mak added.

According to M+S, development plans for two land parcels at Ophir Road which form part of the bilateral landmark deal are pending approval.

The project, which includes residential, commercial and retail units, as well as a hotel, will be unveiled in the next few months.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 11 Jul 2012

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