Property analysts expect to see more bulk sales deals as developers race to move unsold units to avoid paying the additional buyers’ stamp duty (ABSD) charges and Qualifying Certificate (QC) extension charges this year, reported Today Online.
In fact, developers have been sweetening the deals for prospective home buyers by offering discounts and deferred payment schemes just to offload the units.
The potential charges facing developers were brought into the limelight again following reports that United Overseas Bank chairman emeritus Wee Cho Yaw purchased all 45 units at The Nassim – via his family’s property arm, Kheng Leong – for S$411.6 million.
While the bulk sale represented a discount of around 18 percent, it prevented CapitaLand from having to pay substantial QC penalties.
“It will almost certainly likely happen for high-end projects in the Core Central Region (CCR) that have been stuck for a long while with unsold stock. I see an 80 percent chance the bulk sale will happen in CCR projects,” said Ong Kah Seng, director of property market research company R’ST Research.
“There is, however, still a small chance (20 percent) that this can also happen for mid-range or mass-market condo projects because, after all, such properties are way cheaper on a per quantum basis, so it actually makes good sense for developers to have a bulk sale of such low-end and mid-range condos to avoid paying taxes.”
Christopher Chitty, Senior Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email christopher@propertyguru.com.sg
