Our top Singapore and regional property stories.
REDAS: Concerns remain over unsold condo units
Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said the government, real estate industry and homeowners have a shared interest in ensuring a stable and sustainable property market.
According to a report in The Straits Times, the government “has always taken a medium-term approach towards managing land supply, based on fundamental demographic and economic factors, and has encouraged a competitive and transparent environment to ensure a well-functioning property market,” he said at the recent anniversary dinner of the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (REDAS).
He noted that the government introduced several measures “to smooth out the cycles and promote market sustainability over the medium term”.
Meanwhile, REDAS President Augustine Tan revealed that developers remain concerned over the growing supply-demand imbalance, citing a survey of 14 projects that showed prices for some apartments had been lowered by up to 11 percent, with several projects having to cut prices twice.
In addition, around 3,000 units from projects built on sites from the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme in 2012 are still unsold.
“The total number of unsold units is about 40 percent of the 7,500 units that developers are expected to sell this year,” he said.
Moreover, the cost of construction has also increased due to improved quality, as well as higher specifications for home finishes and fittings.
“Prices cannot drop too deeply without affecting the quality of our products and operational obligations,” added Tan.
Singapore’s luxury home prices in a free fall
Prices of luxury residential properties in Singapore are still diving, down 7.9 percent in the third quarter of 2015 from the same period last year, according to the latest results of Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index.
This means that for the seventh consecutive quarter, Singapore is home to the weakest-performing luxury housing market, stated the report, which tracked 34 global cities.
The rate of annual decline is still lower than the 15.2 percent drop recorded at the end of Q2 2015.
Alice Tan, Research Head at Knight Frank Singapore, previously said: “The Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) has been a significant deterrent for foreign buyers, and the negative price performance compounds the weak demand situation.”
Globally, prime property prices rose 1.9 percent in the year to September, down from seven percent two years ago, noted Kate Everett-Allen, Partner, Residential Research at Knight Frank.
Vancouver and Sydney were the standout performers, posting huge price increases of 20.4 percent and 13.7 percent respectively.
Knight Frank defines prime property as the top five percent of the wider housing market in each city.
MCC Land renames new condo, mall after outcry
MCC Land has renamed its mixed development properties in Potong Pasir from The Andrew Residences and The Andrew Village to The Poiz Residences and The Poiz Centre, reported Channel NewsAsia.
The move comes after several members of St. Andrew’s alumni protested the original names, saying it could potentially cause confusion among members of the public.
“As a socially responsible developer, we take such community sentiments seriously as our development vision is to bring about a positive transformation to Potong Pasir at large,” said an MCC Land spokesman.
St. Andrew’s Village is the official compound of three St Andrew’s schools, and also houses a kindergarten, the Anglican Diocesan Office and three church buildings.
MCC Land’s new mall and condominium is located nearby and integrated with Potong Pasir MRT Station – a major reason for the new names.
“We seek to adopt the first two alphabets of ‘Potong’ so that it gives the naming a sense of place,” explained the spokesman.
“The mixed-use development comprising The Poiz Residences and The Poiz Centre is poised to be the central landmark of Potong Pasir with its unique architectural design and seamless integration with the Potong Pasir MRT station.”
“The name Poiz has a similar ring to ‘poise’, which suggests grace, balance and presence,” he added.
The project is set to be completed in 2019, while sales are expected to start by end-2015.
Most expensive 4-room flat sold for $990,000
A four-room HDB flat at The Pinnacle@Duxton measuring 93 sqm (approx. 1,000 sq ft) was recently sold for $990,000, making it the most expensive four-room resale flat to date.
In a report by Shin Min Daily News, the unit situated on the 43rd to 45th storey was sold in September 2015.
Despite the property cooling measures, 20 four-room flats were sold this year, five of which went for $950,000, while seven five-room flats were sold for at least $1 million each.
Charles Chua, Head of Investment Sales at PropNex Realty, noted that it is only a matter of time before four-room Pinnacle@Duxton flats are sold for $1 million.
“Pinnacle@Duxton flats are benchmarked against private property prices, not public housing. If a buyer has a budget of $1 million, instead of buying a private property in Pasir Ris, he might find a unit near the city to be more attractive,” he said.
Transactions at the development have set new records this year, following the fulfilment of the five-year MOP in December 2014 by the first batch of owners.
Prices of new four-room flats ranged from $289,200 to $380,900 during the project’s 2004 launch, while five-room flats were priced from $345,100 to $439,400.
Interlace wins architecture Oscars
The Interlace condominium at Depot Road has won the Building of the Year award at this year’s World Architecture Festival, reported The Straits Times.
Designed by OMA / Ole Scheeren, the 1,040-unit project by CapitaLand Singapore comprises 31 apartment blocks, stacked in a hexagonal arrangement. Located on an eight-hectare site, the iconic building was completed in 2013.
Festival Director Paul Finch revealed that the judges were impressed by the project’s “bold, contemporary architecture and thinking”.
“It offers an alternative for developments that might otherwise be default tower clusters. The judges also think the approach could generate other possibilities,” he said.
“You could use this idea and have different building types or ownership patterns, or change the dimensions of some of the blocks. It’s a proposition which is fertile.”
The Interlace beat 338 other projects, including high-profile entries such as the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies in Doha.
Considered the Oscars of the architectural world, the annual event was held recently at Marina Bay Sands.
This is only the second time that the city-state has bagged the Building of the Year title. The first was in 2012, when the festival was first held here, and Gardens by the Bay crowned the winner.
Regional MD of LinkedIn to join PropertyGuru
PropertyGuru Group announced on 4 November the appointment of LinkedIn executive Hari Krishnan as President and Chief Business Officer, with effect from 1 January 2016.
Krishnan will focus on leading and accelerating regional business growth initiatives, with the Country Managers and Sales Enablement teams in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia reporting directly to him.
Currently the Managing Director of LinkedIn’s APAC and Japan business, a position he’s held since 2013, he joined the company as its first employee in Asia in 2009, and was its Country Manager for India before being promoted to his current role at the business social network.
Steve Melhuish, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of PropertyGuru Group, said: “I am delighted to welcome such a seasoned executive such as Hari to lead all our business activities regionally. I look forward to working closely with him and our leadership team in taking our business to the next level.”
Krishan, who first used PropertyGuru’s portal when he relocated to Singapore, added: “PropertyGuru is synonymous with the process of searching for a home in Singapore. As a happy customer, I am now excited to help the company to its next growth phase across the region.”
“Surfacing the unique insights available on the platform, and by partnering even closer with real estate agents and developers in the region, we are looking to be the go-to platform for everyone who wants a dream home,” he added.
CapitaLand pulls out of talks on Asia Square Tower 1 deal
Property developer CapitaLand on 4 November announced that it has pulled out of talks to buy Asia Square Tower 1, in a deal previously valued at more than $3.5 billion.
The acquisition could have been the largest ever office transaction in the country.
In a filing to the Singapore Exchange (SGX), CapitaLand said parties involved in the talks have now ceased negotiations regarding the potential acquisition of the 43-storey office building, but “will continue to explore opportunities which fit in the group’s strategy, and the terms of which allow the group to generate the required returns”.
CommercialGuru reported on 14 October that CapitaLand confirmed its involvement in the talks to buy Asia Square Tower 1.
At that time, CapitaLand said “as negotiations with the vendor of Asia Square Tower 1 and the other parties on the terms of the potential transaction are still on-going, there is no certainty or assurance that any transaction for Asia Square Tower 1 will materialise, or that any definitive or binding agreement will result from such negotiations”.
The office tower, located in the city-state’s central business district, is owned by asset manager BlackRock. Tenants include Citigroup, and Swiss private bank Julius Baer.
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