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More on the luxury homes market slowdown

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Prices of luxury homes in Singapore have moderated in the first quarter of this year due to property cooling measures, data from CB Richard Ellis’ (CBRE’s) Asian Luxury Residential Capital Value Index showed on Monday.

The measures, announced in January, included raising seller’s stamp duty and reducing credit available to those who already have outstanding mortgages.

CBRE said the increase in prices of luxury homes in the core central region moderated to 0.9% quarter-on-quarter, while sales volume was also down by 20.4%.

Prime rents in Singapore remained unchanged, but CBRE said they appeared to show signs of softening towards the end of the quarter, along with the slowdown of expatriate leasing demand.

Commenting on the outlook of luxury residential markets in Singapore, Joseph Tan, executive director of residential at CBRE said that with the absence of further government initiatives in 2011, he expects minimal growth in both the inflow of foreign investors and home prices.

As such, CBRE said it expects the volume of luxury transactions in 2011 to be about 150 to 200 units, with prices likely to average at $3,000psf for resale projects and $3,500psf for new projects.

Source: Channel News Asia
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Well, we tried…

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Our attempt to restart our showflat visit failed miserably this morning.

The wife and I had 2 hours to spare before our Boxing Day lunch. So we decided to try the sales gallery of d’Leedon but it was closed (Come to think of it, is the showflat opened to the public yet? That’s a ginormous sales gallery, by the way!).
dLeedon showflat

We then drove down Bukit Timah to The Glyndebourne, and that was closed too. Our search along Newton and Balestier proved futile as well, so we ended up visiting a development of a somewhat different sort… (little/no en-bloc potential here, as the owners are unlikely to sell out)
showflat

Looks like the next review will have to wait till next week.

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Farewell Uncle Pete…

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You may wonder what this has got to do with the Singapore private property scene, but do bear with us for the moment.

Uncle Pete was a family friend of ours. My dad used to work under him while he was GM for a foregin-based insurance company.

I remembered the Chinese New Year visits to his home in the Sembawang area when I was a teen. The piece of land that his bungalow stood on was so huge that you can easily park 8 cars in his front porch. Uncle Pete also used to hold big parties in his garden.

However, Uncle Pete’s fortune began to turn with the 1997-98 financial crisis. During the property bull runs prior to 1997, he has accumulated several residential properties for investment purpose at what was considered then “market prices”. As the financial crisis unfolded, all of these properties had gone “underwater” and his financial resources became severely overstretched.

With the banks on his back calling back loans given the drastic reduction in valuations on his investment properties, Uncle Pete was forced to dispose of all his properties at loss and also had to sell his bungalow to pay off the balance of his bank loans. His misery was compounded by several miscalculated career moves.

Uncle Pete was a pale shadow of himself thereafter. He lost his high-flying job and was unable to find a similiar position given his age (despite his experience and status within the industry). The last I have heard, he was working as an insurance agent and living in a 3-room HDB flat. His health also begun to fail on him.

Uncle Pete passed away last evening due to his protracted illness. May he rests in peace!

And given the subtle indications that we may be turning the corner from this red hot property market, Uncle Pete’s story is probably another timely reminder that we should buy within our means…

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Apartment vs Condo status: What we know…

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The age-old question about the differences between an “Apartment” versus “Condo” status development has resurfaced on our blog, after one of our readers made the comment that The Scala is actually of Apartment (rather than Condo) status.

The wife and I must admit that we do not know enough to fully explain the difference. But this is what we know (thus far):

Since 1973, the Singapore Government had imposed restrictions on foreign ownership of private residential property in Singapore. Such ownership is governed by the Residential Property Act (the Act).

Foreign ownership of private residential property had been restricted to condominium development and other “privatised” developments that is 6-storey or higher. These include HUDC Phase I, Phase II flats and privatised HUDC Phase III and IV flats.

However the Act was amended on 19 July 2005 to allow foreigners to purchase apartments in non-condominium developments of less than 6 stroeys without the need to obtain prior approval. This means that it is no longer important for developer to obtain condominium title to allow foreigners to purchase. The importance of condominium title has since diminished with the waiver of the act for allowing only condominium to be purchased by foreigners. 

The main differences between the two titles (as we know it) are:

• Condominium requires a larger land area of at least 4,000 sqm (approx 43,000sqft).

• There is usually more generous provision of communal and recreational facilities in condominium developments. Under the existing regulation, the site coverage for condo projects should not exceed 40%. As such, more space is dedicated to communal facilities as compared to an “Apartment” status development.

If anyone has more to add on to the differences between an “Apartment” and “Condo” title, we would love to hear your comments.
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Latest Government Announcement: Measures to maintain a stable and substainable property market

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The government has announced several new measures today aimed at cooling the property market. This is according to report from Channel News Asia.

The new measures include:

  • Increasing the holding period for imposition of Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) – The SSD will be raised from the current one year to three years.
  • Property buyers who already have one or more outstanding housing loans at the time of the new housing purchase will have to pay more money upfront – The government will increase the minimum cash payment from 5 per cent to 10 per cent of the valuation limit.
  • Those with more than one outstanding housing loan will also see a decrease in the “Loan to Value” (LTV) limit for housing loans granted by financial institutions regulated by MAS – The LTV will be lowered from the current 80 per cent to 70 per cent.

The measures will take immediate effect on August 30.

Below is the official press release extracted from the Ministry of National Development website, which provides more details on the new measures.

SG New Property Measures (30 Aug 2010) http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=36610185&access_key=key-2ccio9vn556yddtoa4d1&page=1&viewMode=list

The wife and I wonder if Christmas has indeed come early. More interestingly, if the latest announcement will sway the property market prices closer to our “Price Correction by October Prediction”…
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What’s with SUITES DE LAUREL…?

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The wife and I are pleasantly surprised by the interests shown in Suites De Laurel, judging by the number of comments/discussions received in our post for this development.

Our readers (currently averaging 150 or so per day) do come across as a rather subdued lot, and we are really looking forward to more active participation.

So do share your thoughts and comments (the wife and I can even stomach criticisms… especially constructive ones) on our posts like the good people did for Suites De Laurel. This will certainly motivate us to continue blogging.

Happy reading!

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No yard, no problem?

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A photo that the wife took as we drove past this high-end development over the weekend.

laundry

Each unit in this newish development cost in excess of $2 million and you see laundry hanging out in the balconies. Not exactly the right sort of image to project!

This is what happen when your apartment does not have a functional enough yard area to confine your laundry to. But we reckon they could at least invest in a decent dryer…

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