singapore property weekly issue 140

8/13/2019 Singapore Property Weekly Issue 140

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Issue 140Copyright 2011-2013 www.Propwise.sg. All Rights Reserved.
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CONTENTS

p2 5 Facts You Probably Didnt Know About

the Singapore Property Market

p6 Singapore Property News This Week

p13 Resale Property Transactions

(January 8 January 14)

Welcome to the 140th edition of the

Singapore Property Weekly.

Hope you like it!

Mr. Propwise

FROM THE

EDITOR
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 140

Page | 2Back to Contents

By Marcus Sim (guest contributor) Fact #1

Singapore Has a Higher

Population Density than Hong Kong

Many people regard Hong Kong as one of the

countries with the highest population density

in the world. To a large extent, this is true.

Based on their population of 7,182,724 (July2013 estimate) and their land size of 1,054

square kilometers (sqkm), the population

density works out to be 6,815 Residents per

sqkm!

However, did you know that Singapore has a

much higher population density?

Our 5,460,302 strong population is packed

into a mere 687 sqkm land size which means

that for every square kilometer,

5 Facts You Probably Didnt Know About the Singapore Property Market


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there are 7,948 people! Based on worldwide

statistics, Singapore is currently ranked as

the 3rd most densely populated country in the

world, followed by Hong Kong at a close 4th.

The top spot for population density goes toMacau with 20,069 residents for every square

kilometer.

It is no wonder that the Singapore

Government has ongoing plans to increase

land size via reclamation to refrain from

claiming the crown from Macau. Land scarcity

is a very real problem for Singapore which

explains the ever-increasing land costs and

property prices which are driven by pent up

demand.

Fact #2

If Singapore Reaches theTargeted 6.9 Million Population by 2030,

the Population Density Will Rise Above

10,000 Residents per SQKM

At the projected 6,900,000 population by year

2030, Singapore will hit an approximate

10,044 residents for each square kilometer.

That is a huge number of people!

Fact #3

ECs Have the Highest VacancyRate

Strangely enough, even with the high

population in Singapore today, there are still

unoccupied houses in Singapore!

Vacant units affect the property rental marketdirectly. Generally the higher the vacancy

rates, the weaker the rental market.

It is also interesting to note that Executive

Condominiums (ECs) have the highest

vacancy rates (10.38%) among the different

private property categories.

Perhaps, there is a disparity between the

rental expectations of EC owners and their

prospective tenants.


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Fact #4 The Average Household Size in

Singapore is Just 3.53

Did you also know that the average

household size of families in Singapore is amere 3.53? (In 1990 it used to be 4.25)

Shrinking household sizes affect the property

markets in a couple of ways.

Developer new launches are offering a

greater number of smaller units to cater to

this trend.

Developers are aware of this trend and will

likely continue to offer more shoe-box and

smaller sized units in their new launches

which are more affordable to the average

buyer in Singapore.

Demand for larger sized units will

decrease

Developers are less likely to build

condominium units with a larger square

footage as it will be too high in terms of price

quantum and generally not well received by

buyers.

Fact #5 Over 600 Thousand New

Residential Units Will Be Needed to House

a 6.9 Million Population

Currently, there are about 1,342,155

completed residential units in Singapore.

Based on the average household size of 3.53,these completed units cater to approximately

4,737,808 residents.

However this number is not entirely accurate

yet as we have to discount the number of

Work Permit Holders (Foreign Domestic

Worker and Construction) who have their own

accommodation. They add up to a combined

total of 517,500.


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As stated earlier, the current population of

Singapore at Jul 2013 is 5,460,302. This

suggests that in the current market, there is

still a strong demand of approximately

204,994 residents in search for properties to

rent or buy.

By 2030, a projected 6.9 million people will

reside in Singapore and assuming that the

average household size remains the same,

1,954,675 residential units will be needed tocater to the housing needs of the population.

By Marcus Sim ofSG Property Reviews.
http://sgpropertyreviews.com/http://propertymarketinsights.com/http://sgpropertyreviews.com/http://sgpropertyreviews.com/http://sgpropertyreviews.com/http://sgpropertyreviews.com/http://sgpropertyreviews.com/


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Singapore Property This Week


Residential

H al f o f Panoramas un its s old in f i rs t

release

In its first release on Jan 19, half of the 120

units released for sale at The Panorama

condominium were booked. Prices of theunits were from $650,000 for the one

bedroom units to nearly $2.4 million for the

five bedroom units. Most of the units sold

were two and three bedroom types from 678

sq ft to 1,130 sq ft in size. The Panorama,

developed by Wheelock Properties, is locatedat Ang Mo Kio Avenue 2, and is Wheelock's

first 99-year suburban condo project here in

two decades. Most buyers were reported to

be owner-occupiers with young families aged

from thirties to fifties.

(Source: Business Times)

C o o l i n g m e as u r e s n o t l i k e l y t o b e r e la x ed :

p o l l

Although home sales and home prices have

dropped, a poll by the Business Times for

CEOs and industry-group leaders revealed

that cooling measures for the property sector

are unlikely to be rolled back. Data showed

that home sales dropped to the lowest since

Jan 2009, and URA's overall private housing

price index decreased 0.8 percent in Q4

2013. Yet it would be premature to say the

property market is stabilizing because more

time is needed to assess if the cooling

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY I 140


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measures have sustained their objective of

managing property speculation. Market

watchers also applaud the Total Debt

Servicing Ratio (TDSR) which has effectively

shown that low-cost financing has been acatalyst for property purchases.


Ch in es e b uy in g o f Si ng ap o re p ri vat e

h o m e s s t i l l h o l d s u p

Despite a 35 percent drop in private home

purchases by non-Singaporeans in 2013,

mainland Chinese buyers had the smallest

drop among the top four nationalities. DTZ

analysis showed that the Indians buying

dropped 54.5 percent from 2012, but the

mainland Chinese only bought 16.9 percent

fewer than that of 2012. The Malaysians

buying was also down 36 percent. DTZ

revealed that 65 percent of the 1,479 homes

bought by the mainland Chinese were priced

below $1.5 million, 62 percent were bought

from developers, and more than 80 percent

were outside the traditional prime districts of

9, 10 and 11.


Geylang si t e draw s $146m t op bid

A plot at Geylang East Avenue 1 has drawn

16 developersbids, with the highest bid at $

145.9 million, or $775.96 psf ppr from

Sustained Land's SL (Serangoon). Nicholas

Mak, executive director at SLP International

said that this is the second highest number of

bids that a government land sales (GLS)

tender has attracted until now in the GLS

programme for 2013. The top position is the

condominium site at Faber Walk in Clementi,

which drew 18 bids. The high number of bids

is because many developers are now more

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY I 140


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selective of the development sites they would

acquire, and they prefer well-located sites

that are relatively small.


H D B resale f lat pr ices hi t record low

Housing & Development Board (HDB) resale

flat prices hit a record low in Q4 2013, the

first annual price decline in eight years.

Transaction volumes of 2013 reached thelowest level since HDB started compiling the

data in 1997, and sales continued to weaken

in the last three months of the year. Property

consultants are expecting an even wider fall

in prices in 2014.


P r i v at e h o m e a n d i n d u s t r i a l s p a c e m a r k e t s

s an d w ic h ed b et w een r is in g s u p pl y an d

c o o l i n g d e m a n d

Nearly all indicators in the UrbanRedevelopment Authority's (URA) Q4 2013

figures for the private housing market point

towards weakening. Official statistics show

that the private residential property and

factory space markets have been affected by

both the weight of supply and the propertycooling measures including the total debt

servicing ratio (TDSR) framework. However,

the office market is appearing to witness a

gradual rent recovery.




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3,139 BTO f lat s u p f o r s ale

Some 3,139 new flats have been launched in

the HDBs first build-to-order (BTO) exercise

of 2014. These new flats are in six projects in

the non-mature estates of Bukit Batok,

Jurong West, Punggol and Woodlands and

the mature estate of Serangoon, and are

expected to be fairly well received, especially

from cost-sensitive applicants, young couples

who can afford to wait, and buyers

constrained by the cap on their mortgage

servicing ratio (MSR) from purchasing more

expensive resale flats.


Secondary-market deals low est s ince 2004

According to a caveats analysis by DTZ, the

number of resale private homes in the

secondary market dropped from 15,678 units

in 2012 to 7,695 units in 2013, the lowest

volume in 2004. This drop is much larger than

the 31.3 percent decrease in the number of

private homes sold by developers in the

primary market to 13,372 units in 2013. DTZ

said that the drop might be due to the factthat those who own multiple properties are

not in a hurry to sell their properties, as their

replacement cost is now higher, with the

higher additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD)

and the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR)

framework in implementation. Individual

owners are also less able to offer incentives

or discounts to entice buyers.


Commercial

R ec o rd b i d f or f or m er J o o Ch iat p o li ce

s t a t io n s i t e

A new record bid for Government Land Sales

(GLS) hotel site has been established for a



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99-year leasehold site along East Coast Road

housing the former Joo Chiat police station.

Out of 8 bidders, a consortium comprising

Master Contract Services and Keong Hong

Construction had the highest bid of $352.8million, or $1,326.11 psf ppr. This record has

eclipsed the previous price of $1,303.24 psf

ppr for a plum site at Havelock Road last

November by an unnamed developer. Ong

Kah Seng, director at R'ST Research said

that this shows the implementation of theTDSR caused the private residential

sentiment to cool and investors are shifting

interest to hotel development.


Japans Par c o t o v ac at e M il len ia W al k a f te r l o s i n g m i l l i o n s

Japanese mall and department store operator

Parco is reported to quit its 83,000-square

foot premises at Millenia Walk in Feb,

following its losses of millions there since it

moved to the mall in 2010. In 2011, it made a

loss of $8.7 million and in 2012, made

another loss of $3.4 million. Parcos lease

would end in March, and it is looking tocontinue its operations in another mall with

smaller scale of about 10,000 sq ft of space

to accommodate its food, cafe and restaurant

operationsthe only part that Parco is doing

well. Pontiac Land Group, which owns and

manages Millenia Walk, is working out plansfor the space that Parco will leave behind to

focus on a renovation and enhancement

exercise.


R af fl es M ed i c al b u y s R af fl es Hospitalsadjacent s i t e

Integrated private healthcare provider Raffles

Medical Group is reported to be acquiring

from the Singapore Land Authority



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a 1,978.1 sq ft site adjacent to Raffles

Hospital for $105.2 million by internal

resources and bank borrowings. The site has

a plot ratio of 5.6 and would yield a GFA of

11,077.36 sq m. The total development cost

of the project, including the purchase of the

site, construction costs and improvement

works, is estimated to be about $310 million.


In du st r ial s pac e p ric es an d r en tals

mo derat e in Q4 2013

Prices and rentals of industrial space were

reported to have moderated in Q4 2013, and

are expected to carry on for the next few

years, especially that JTC Corporation plansto double the yearly average supply of

industrial space to two million sq m between

2014 and 2016. JTC Corp has also released

the latest quarterly report on the industrial

property market the first time since it took

charge of collecting and disseminating

industrial property data from the Urban

Redevelopment Authority (URA) last October.


All 52 st rat a of f ice unit s at AR C 380 sold

All 52 strata office units for sale at the 16-

storey freehold ARC 380 project in Lavender

Street/Jalan Besar were sold, but only nine

out of 19 retail units were sold. Two office

floors were sold during a VIP preview before

that, one at $22.6 million and the other at

$23.1 million, or $2,410 psf and $2,464 psf

respectively. The ARC 380 project isundertaken by two companies associated to

Tong Eng Group, and will come up on the

current Eminent Plaza and next-door



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Lavender Food Square site, near the

upcoming Bendemeer MRT Station on the

Downtown Line.


T h e A r c a d e u p f o r s a l e b y t e n d e r

The 20-storey commercial development in

Collyer Quay, the Arcade, is now up for sale

through marketing agent Colliers International

by its owners including property developer

City Developments. The Arcade is a 999-year

leasehold development with a maximum

allowable gross floor area of 303,657 sq ft,

and the total existing strata area of 157,325

sq ft. The site is said to have huge

redevelopment potential as the existing plot

ratio has not been fully maximized. Under the

2008 Master Plan, the 21,909 sq ft site on

which the Arcade now sits is zoned for

commercial use with its allowable plot ratio

being 13.86, which allows a building up to 50

storeys high.


http://www.moneymatters.sg/


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Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Jan 8 Jan 14

NOTE: This data only covers non-landed residential resale propertytransactions with caveats lodged with the Singapore LandAuthority. Typically, caveats are lodged at least 2-3 weeks after apurchaser signs an OTP, hence the lagged nature of the data.

Postal

District

Project NameArea

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)

Tenure

1 ONE SHENTON 1,894 4,000,000 2,111 99

1 ONE SHENTON 1,507 2,720,000 1,805 99

3 YONG SIAK COURT 1,442 1,400,000 971 FH

5 CARABELLE 2,077 2,380,000 1,146 956

10 THE FORD @ HOLLAND 560 1,100,000 1,965 FH

10 STUDIO 3 549 1,060,000 1,931 FH

10 NATHAN PLACE 1,464 2,415,600 1,650 FH

11 SOLEIL @ SINARAN 1,722 3,525,000 2,047 99

11 THE ARCADIA 3,735 4,088,000 1,094 99

12 SUNVILLE 1,141 1,200,000 1,052 FH

13 ONE LEICESTER 1,066 1,400,000 1,314 FH

14 THE WATERINA 721 925,000 1,283 FH

15 ARTHUR 118 893 1,380,000 1,545 FH

15 ONE AMBER 1,378 2,000,000 1,452 FH

15 COTE D'AZUR 1,389 1,865,000 1,343 99

15 THE MAKENA 1,582 2,008,888 1,270 FH

15 SUNSHINE RESIDENCE 1,087 1,035,000 952 FH

16 CASA FLORA 1,561 1,358,000 870 FH

18 NV RESIDENCES 743 903,000 1,216 99

19 SUNGLADE 1,152 1,320,000 1,146 99

20 FAR HORIZON GARDENS 1,335 955,000 715 99

21 THE NEXUS 1,055 1,665,000 1,578 FH

Postal

District

Project NameArea

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)

Tenure

21 HUME PARK I 904 928,000 1,026 FH

21 HUME PARK I 1,356 1,200,000 885 FH

22 PARC VISTA 1,270 1,320,000 1,039 99

23 GLENDALE PARK 1,507 1,600,000 1,062 FH

23 REGENT HEIGHTS 1,023 930,000 909 99

25 CASABLANCA 1,184 1,065,000 899 99

27 THE ESTUARY 1,442 1,268,888 880 99

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