singapore property weekly issue 151

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CONTENTS

p2 Who Manages the Land Supply in Singapore?

p7 Singapore Property News This Week

p12 Resale Property Transactions

(March 26 – April 1)

Welcome to the 151st edition of the Singapore Property Weekly.

Hope you like it!

Mr. Propwise

FROM THE

EDITOR

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 151

Page | 2Back to Contents

By Paul Ho (guest contributor)

Have you ever wondered how Singapore's

land supply is managed? Who controls the

largest land supply? You often see that the

URA and HDB launches land for sale – do

they own this land? In order to shed light on

this topic, it is important to understand the

role of each statutory body.

Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)

The Urban Redevelopment Authority is

primarily in-charge of urban renewal,

designing Singapore's land use master plan

and various other initiatives. Their role spans

residential dwelling, entire township designs

Who Manages the Land Supply in Singapore?



which includes commercial, industrial as well

as residential zoning and density.

The URA also acts as an agent for the State

in carrying out land sales for commercial,

hotel, private residential and industrial

developments. In addition, the URA also sells

sites for special uses, for example for heavy

vehicle parks, conservation shophouses and

recreational developments.

Housing Development Board (HDB)

The HDB as most people are already aware,

involves itself in building low cost public

homes for Singaporeans as well as

Permanent Residents. Apart from that, HDB

is also involved in many other facets of

properties.

The HDB also manages a total of close to

12,000 ready-built factories and industrial

land leases located island-wide catering to a

wide spectrum of customer needs. These

properties include low-rise workshops,

warehouses, high-rise factories with vehicular

ramps for access, specialized high-rise food

factories and motor-vehicle service and repair

complexes, and land-based properties. The

majority are for rental. Most of the trades that

can be accommodated within these

properties and developments are Clean and

Light industries and some small-scale

General industries.

It is still a puzzle why the HDB is involved in

industrial properties to begin with. The HDB

also acts as an agent for the state to sell land

for various uses, though the bulk of this land

is residential HDB or EC use, it is not

restricted to these.



Singapore Land Authority (SLA)

The SLA helps the government to manage its

land sales system. Its role is to make sure

that the land achieves optimum returns. The

SLA also manages the land title system, and

is also in-charge of appointing sales agents

for state land. Hence it is the authority

responsible for appointing sales agents such

as the HDB, URA, JTC, and LTA and to make

sure that compliance and statutory guidelines

are adhered to for the land sales process.

Certain parcels of land are also available for

sale by the state under the SLA. These lands

are remnant lands (landed developments)

which cannot be economically used by the

state and could also be odd shaped. These

lands hold great value to the adjacent land

owners as they can extend their development

and combine it with these remnant lands to

create better economic value, or more

luxurious consumption. Other lands such as

agricultural land on short leases are also sold

by SLA to bidders.

Contrary to popular belief, SLA is a statutory

board of the Ministry of Law.

Jurong Town Corporation (JTC)

The JTC is mainly focused on building

Singapore's industrial infrastructure, and has

developed 7,100 hectares of industrial land

and 3.2 million square metres of ready-built

facilities across the entire spectrum of

industrial space.

The JTC’s role is to help Singapore

concentrate industrial and economic clusters

together by grouping the suppliers and

services close to the end users coupled with

funding and support, to promote the economic

growth of Singapore.



JTC is also appointed to be the sales agent of

state lands, hence it launches land under the

government land sales program (GLS). JTC is

under the purview of Ministry of Trade and

Industry.

Ministry of National Development (MND)

This is the ministry where Minister Khaw Boon

Wan sits. This is the hottest seat. The MND

develops the land use planning for Singapore

and pushes through various visions such as

the “endearing home and global city" initiative.

As such, the MND has purview over national

well-being, namely food (via Agri-Food &

Veterinary Authority, AVA), safety of dwellings

(via the Building and Construction Authority,

BCA), housing (via HDB), housing

transactions and orderliness (via the Council

of Estate Agencies, CEA), nature and

enjoyment (via the National Parks, NParks)

and land use planning, zoning and land user

master planning (via the Urban

Redevelopment Authority, URA), and aims to

provide a superior living environment for

Singapore citizens, Singapore PRs as well as

other nationalities.

The URA is often appointed as the sales

agent for government land sales relating to

private condominiums and commercial

properties, but less so in other property

segments. The SLA helps to appoint sales

agents for the government land sales (GLS)

program for sales of state land. The URA,

HDB, JTC, LTA as well as SLA can be

appointed sales agents for state land. The

MND overlooks the URA and HDB, the

Ministry of Trade and industry (MTI) overlooks

JTC, the Ministry of Transport overlooks the

LTA, and the Ministry of Law overlooks the

SLA.



Hence for any researcher to do a

comprehensive research of property and land

supply, he cannot overlook any of the above

organizations.

For example, if there is an over-supply in

condominiums (private properties), but an

under-supply in commercial properties, it is

possible for condominiums to be converted to

commercial properties by paying a Differential

Premium (DP) to the Singapore Land

Authority (SLA) for change of use. Hence

often we cannot analyze any particular

property segment in isolation of the other

segments.

Is HDB veering too far off?

And some statutory boards such as the HDB

seem to be more enterprising and even have

industrial properties under management for

rental, which is weird considering its mission.

Perhaps it has veered a little off its original

aim of providing housing for the masses.

What do you think? Leave a comment below

to let us know what you think.

By Paul Ho, holder of an MBA from a

reputable university and editor of

www.iCompareLoan.com, Singapore’s first

Cloud-based Home Loan reporting platform

used by Property agents, financial advisors

as well as Mortgage brokers.

http://www.icompareloan.com/





http://propertymarketinsights.com/


Singapore Property This Week


Residential

Condo project The Sorrento to be

launched at Easter weekend

The freehold five-storey condominium project

The Sorrento (the former Regent Gardens)

by Allgreen Properties at West Coast Road

will be launched on the Easter weekend of

April 19. The indicative pricing was between

$1,380 and $1,600 psf. The project is on a

site of 78,100 sq ft, and has 131 one to three-

bedroom units of between 441 sq ft and

1,808 sq ft. The marketing agent for the

project is CBRE, which said that the pricing is

considered attractive compared to other

nearby developments.

(Source: Business Times)

Resale condo prices up in March

The resale prices of non-landed private

homes in March 2014 increased 0.2 percent,

alongside an increase in transaction prices in

the Rest of Central Region (RCR), compared

with the 3.1 percent decline in resale prices in

February. The number of resale transactions

in March also went up to 451 transactions,

which is the highest figure since October

2013, and is 82.6 percent higher than the

previous month and 22.5 percent lower than

that of March, 2013. Analysts said that this

recovery shows the higher demand in March

from buyers after the festive January and

February, but it will be too early now to cheer.




HDB resale prices go up slightly

Data from the Singapore Real Estate

Exchange (SRX) shows that the resale prices

of HDB flat has slightly increased for 0.3

percent in March, as price increases in

smaller units balanced the declines in larger

units. Prices for three- and four-room units

went up 0.5 percent and 0.8 percent, as

buyers looked for units with smaller quantum

due to the loan cap of the Mortgage Servicing

Ratio (MSR). Transaction volumes also

significantly went up since buyers returned

after the festive months of January and

February.


Hillview House up for sale

The freehold Hillview House is now up for

sale with an asking price of $55 million, or

$875 psf based on its potential gross floor

area including an $18.2 million estimated

development charge payable to the state –

the same price as of last round when it was

offered in a tender exercise closing in July

2013. This time’s tender closes on May 12. Its

owner will offer the site in a vacant state, after

having pulled down the old Hillview House

industrial building to meet the Urban

Redevelopment Authority's Feb 23, 2014

deadline of ceasing industrial activities and

clearing the site for the qualified 1.92 plot

ratio, including a 0.3 additional plot ratio.


Sky Habitat to be relaunched at lower

prices

CapitaLand's Bishan project Sky Habitat is

reported to be relaunched at lower prices of

$1,370 psf on April 19, according to its

marketing agent Knight Frank.



At the project’s first launch in 2012, the prices

was from $1,435 to $1,893 psf, and the

average selling price was about $1,650 psf

with the initial 3 per cent discount given to all

buyers. 36 percent of 509 units have been

sold as the project is near its temporary

occupation permit in 2015. The relaunch price

of one-bedroom cum study could be from

$1.05 million or $1,485 psf, compared with

the previous price of $1,600 psf.


Commercial

Frasers Centrepoint Trust purchases

Changi City Point

Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) was reported

by its manager Frasers Centrepoint Asset

Management (FCAM) to have reached a

conditional sale-and-purchase agreement for

Changi City Point mall for a possible $305

million. The decision of acquisition was

negotiated on an arm's-length basis between

FCAM and the vendor Ascendas Frasers,

which is a 50-50 joint-venture between

Frasers Centrepoint Limited and Ascendas

Development.


Far East-Sekisui House joint venture wins

highest bids for Woodlands office site

The joint venture between Far East

Organization, its listed unit Far East Orchard

and Sekisui House was reported to have had

the highest bid of nearly $634 million, or

$906.29 psf of the potential gross floor area

for the office site in Woodlands Regional

Centre in a state tender. The venture is

planning to build two 16-storey office towers

on the site with large and small strata office

units for sale and lease.



Some retail space will also be expected for

the venture’s long-term investment. The

second highest bid was $887.42 psf ppr by

CapitaLand units Mahogany One and

Mahogany Two.


14th floor of Samsung Hub sold for $39.72

million

The 14th floor of Samsung Hub was sold at

$39.72 million, or $3,030 psf on its 13,110 sq

ft strata area. It has also been speculated that

Arch Capital Management is selling the whole

office floor of four strata units to a mainland

Chinese company, but the floor is still leased

until the end of 2014 to a law firm. If this

happens, Arch Capital will be leaving the 999-

year leasehold office tower, as it had already

sold its 13,110 sq ft space on the 13th floor in

late 2012, early 2013 for prices between

$2,920-$3,150 psf.


CapitaGreen has its first tenant

The new 40-storey Grade A office tower

CapitaGreen, which will be completed in Q4

2014, has landed its first tenant, as Cargill

has signed a lease of 50,000 sq ft on two

floors with the monthly rents of $9 psf. Swiss

private bank Bordier & Cie may be the next

tenant as it could be signing a lease for

11,000-12,000 sq ft - or half a floor in the

tower as it leaves its current location at GB

building along Cecil Street. A serviced office

operator could also be in negotiation to lease

a floor at the building.




Hotel room rates increase in early 2014

Initial figures from the Singapore Tourism

Board (STB) showed that average room rates

(ARR) increased 2.5 percent year-on-year to

$260.10 in January and February 2014,

painting an optimistic outlook for the industry.

The industry-wide occupancy also increased

0.8 percent to 86 percent. The revenue per

available room (RevPAR), a performance

indicator based on ARR and average

occupancy went up to $223.60. Luxury,

upscale and mid-tier hotels were all reported

to slightly increase in their ARR and RevPAR.

However, economy hotels lost 4.7 percent in

ARR to only $95.80, while its RevPAR

declined 8 percent to $76.20.


http://www.moneymatters.sg/



Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Mar 26 – Apr 1

Postal

DistrictProject Name

Area

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)Tenure

1 THE SAIL @ MARINA BAY 614 1,520,000 2,477 99

1 THE SAIL @ MARINA BAY 614 1,290,000 2,103 99

1 EMERALD GARDEN 926 1,750,000 1,890 999

3 RIVER PLACE 786 1,200,000 1,527 99

3 ALESSANDREA 1,098 1,480,000 1,348 FH

4 CARIBBEAN AT KEPPEL BAY 1,335 2,158,000 1,617 99

5 LANDRIDGE CONDOMINIUM 1,765 1,970,000 1,116 FH

7 SOUTHBANK 958 1,565,000 1,634 99

8 CITY LOFT 344 613,000 1,780 FH

9 MARTIN NO 38 969 2,665,000 2,751 FH

9 RIVERGATE 1,841 4,045,000 2,198 FH

9 RIVERGATE 1,755 3,780,000 2,154 FH

9 ROBERTSON 100 1,033 1,900,000 1,839 FH

10 LATITUDE 1,615 3,700,000 2,292 FH

10 MUTIARA VIEW 1,345 1,950,000 1,449 FH

10 THE TRIZON 2,067 2,960,000 1,432 FH

10 HOLLAND RESIDENCES 1,755 2,000,000 1,140 FH

11 M21 1,066 1,531,000 1,437 FH

12 AIRSTREAM 334 550,000 1,648 FH

12 RIO GARDENS 1,152 1,250,000 1,085 FH

12 MOONSTONE RESIDENCES 1,238 1,300,000 1,050 FH

15 THE SEAFRONT ON MEYER 1,066 1,920,000 1,802 FH

15 ESPIRA SUITES 441 728,500 1,651 FH

15 DE CENTURION 1,044 1,220,000 1,168 FH

Postal

DistrictProject Name

Area

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)Tenure

15 PEACH GARDEN 2,766 3,050,000 1,103 FH

16 COSTA DEL SOL 1,313 1,858,000 1,415 99

16 WATERFRONT WAVES 1,259 1,460,000 1,159 99

16 THE BAYSHORE 1,012 1,058,888 1,047 99

16 RICH EAST GARDEN 2,573 2,600,000 1,011 FH

17 COASTAL BREEZE RESIDENCES 1,184 1,166,000 985 99

17 LOYANG VALLEY 1,873 1,100,000 587 99

18 EASTPOINT GREEN 969 900,000 929 99

19 KOVAN GRANDEUR 570 680,000 1,192 99

19 KOVAN MELODY 1,152 1,200,000 1,042 99

19 CASA ROSA 1,130 1,060,000 938 99

19 SUITES @ PAYA LEBAR 1,249 938,000 751 FH

19 HOUGANG GREEN 1,141 790,000 692 99

21 THE BLOSSOMVALE 1,324 1,888,000 1,426 999

21 PARC PALAIS 1,389 1,380,000 994 FH

22 THE MAYFAIR 1,163 950,000 817 99

23 GUILIN VIEW 861 800,000 929 99

26 THE CALROSE 1,238 1,600,000 1,293 FH

26 THE CALROSE 1,238 1,580,000 1,276 FH

NOTE: This data only covers non-landed residential resale property

transactions with caveats lodged with the Singapore Land Authority.

Typically, caveats are lodged at least 2-3 weeks after a purchaser

signs an OTP, hence the lagged nature of the data.

singapore property weekly issue 151

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