Tag Archives: VIVA

Top-line oven to warm home buyers’ hearts

Posted on 31 Oct 2009 | Comments Off on Top-line oven to warm home buyers’ hearts

More property developers are throwing in branded ovens and other luxury fittings to draw homemakers

A MIELE oven can do more than bake a cake these days – it might just help whip up a home sale. More developers are including branded appliances in apartments to impress home seekers, and some have certainly stopped to gawk at the gadgetry.

PRICE MATTERS
Despite the inclusion of branded appliances in units, some buyers would still care more about the prices of the homes

But will all house hunters bite? Anecdotal evidence suggests that some would still care more about the prices of the homes, especially if they were never fans of the brands to begin with.

‘The inclusion of branded appliances has both its good and bad points,’ said Chesterton Suntec International research and consultancy director Colin Tan.

‘If the developer knows his target market well, it is a plus… It is a negative if the buyer does not recognise the brand or appreciate it.’

Developers of mid to high-end units have used premium furnishings to boost their projects’ image for some time, but the trend gathered more steam some two years ago when markets boomed.

Rich consumers searched for new ways to spend, and steel fridges and dishwashers quickly became the new status symbols. Continue reading →

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Posted in Developers, New Launches, Property Market / Real Estate

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Sustainable home sales

Posted on 24 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on Sustainable home sales

Strong sales volume has been the cause for the government’s concern that a bubble was building up, says HAN HUAN MEI

DEFYING all expectations, Singapore’s residential property market has rebounded in the thick of the worst recession the country has seen. Buyers turned up in droves at recent project launches, sending the home sales figures in July to its highest level since the peak in June 2007. New home sales between January and August were just 21 per cent below the total number of homes sold for the whole of 2007.

But going forward, prices of mass market and mid-tier projects are expected to face some resistance. The number of launches is also expected to be limited for the rest of the year. Even as the market was debating the outlook, the government announced anti-speculative measures mid-month which makes it almost certain that sales volume and prices will moderate.

The robust residential market of the past few months seemed to mirror the peak in 2007, notwithstanding the recession. Market sentiment ran high as the stockmarket rally continued for four months starting in March. The strong take-up of new homes, led by mass-market projects back in February, filtered up to the mid-tier segment by April and to the prime segment by May.

Buyers have been prowling showflats, concerned that home prices may be rising again after having corrected from peak levels. It appears that what started out as pent- up demand progressed into investment demand, and to some extent, speculative demand. Developers launched 10,496 new homes for sale from January to August, compared to 6,107 units in 2008. The total number of new homes sold up to end-August was 11,721 units, far exceeding the 4,264 new homes that were sold in all of 2008. Continue reading →

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Posted in New Launches, Property Market / Real Estate, Property Price

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