Alex Residences in Redhill has 173 unsold units.
Some developers in Singapore are optimistic they can sell all the remaining units in their private residential projects before the stipulated deadline, even if they don’t offer huge discounts, reported The Business Times.
Under the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) rules introduced in December 2011, these companies need to build, complete and sell all units within five years of purchasing the land. If there are any unsold units after that period, they need to pay a 10 percent levy, which was subsequently raised to 15 percent for land parcels purchased as of 12 January 2013.
According to SingLand’s General Manager Michael Ng, they are confident of clearing all units before the deadline, and they don’t intend to slash prices.
Last month, its luxury projects Mon Jervois and Pollen & Bleu in District 10 reported 61 and 94 unsold units respectively, while Alex Residences in Redhill had 173 unsold units. These developments will be penalised with an ABSD of 10 percent if there are any leftover units by February, June and December 2017, respectively.
“For boutique projects, our priority is to hit temporary occupation permit (TOP) quickly, as many interested parties for luxury homes want to see the completed units. For Alex Residences, we will clear all units before TOP,” he said.
Similarly, City Developments Limited (CDL) is bullish that they can offload all unsold units at Jewel@Buangkok and two joint venture projects, Bartley Ridge and The Venue Residences, before their respective ABSD deadlines in 2017. This is because the developments are located in established neighbourhoods, and the number of unsold units is low.
“There are no significant ABSD issues for the three projects which have been selling steadily,” said a CDL spokesperson. As of February 2016, there were three, 31 and 160 unsold units at these three developments respectively.
As of last month, the projects with the most unsold units are Malaysian developer IOI Properties’ The Trilinq (524 units), The Crest (365 units) by a Wing Tai-led consortium, and The Glades (331 units), jointly developed by Keppel Land and China Vanke.
Furthermore, SingLand or CDL could be hit with the heftiest ABSD penalty of approximately $70 million, based on their stakes in projects with leftover units, assuming there are still leftover units after the deadline.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
