Property developers believe that Punggol (pictured) has the potential for private residential development after a new study revealed that around 30 percent of HDB households in the area have a monthly income of S$9,000 or above. Compared with the national average of the other HDB estates, this is four percentage points higher.
Research shows that Pasir Ris has the highest number of HDB households earning over S$9,000 per month at 35 percent. Although Punggol is a relatively new estate, it has the largest number of households with university education, which explains the interest of developers in the estate.
With their higher income, developers believe that Punggol residents can afford private property. Moreover, 97 percent of HDB residents in Punggol live in four-room or larger units.
Analysts noted that those looking to upgrade to private homes generally come from this group. So even though the government is rolling out 5,400 private homes in the area, analysts believe there is still demand.
“Bearing in mind that private home buyers of condominiums in Punggol are not just from Punggol but also from Sengkang and Hougang, and there are a finite number of such buyers in the area, I think the present pace of government land sales is just right. If the government were to accelerate land sales in Punggol, this could actually increase or enhance a risk of oversupply in the area,” said Nicholas Mak, Executive Director at SLP International Research & Consultancy.
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