July resale prices slipped… yet again!

Resale prices of private homes slipped lower in July according to Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) estimates, which were released on Thursday (Aug 28).

The SRPI, compiled by the National University of Singapore’s Institute of Real Estate Studies, showed overall prices fell 0.3% in July from the previous month. In June, prices fell 0.5% from a month earlier.

Prices of small unit homes led the decline, with a 0.8% fall in July from the previous month. A small unit has a floor area of 506sqft or below.

Prices of homes in the central region, excluding small units, declined 0.7% on-month. However, home prices in the non-central region edged-up 0.1% in July from June. These figures exclude prices of small units in the non-central region.

Source: CNA

Despite the consecutive fall in resale prices for June and July, some may argue that the % drop were rather insignificant. While the wife and I cannot disagree with that one, we are always mindful of the Chinese saying “积少成多” – literally translated as “accumulation of little becomes a lot”.

Pine Grove revisited

Someone asked about Pine Grove last evening. What are the chances of en bloc? Is it still worth getting a unit there?? 

The wife and I have not written specifically about Pine Grove since the demise of their last en bloc attempt in 2011. So we deemed this morning as an opportune time to revisit an “old friend” that was previously on our “buy” radar. 

 

The first thing that struck us when we arrive at Pine Grove was the amount of construction that is happening next to and across from the estate. Closer inspection revealed that these are for canal upgrading purposes – seemed like the PWD had finally decided that they ought to do something about those “once-in-50-year floods” that had already happened numerous times over the past 2 years.

 

 

Driving around the estate, we were once again greeted by the familiar sights of space and greeneries. And how many developments these days can actually boast of having 3-bedroom apartments of 1,600+ and even 1,700+sqft… and without PES at that?

 

However, the estate do look like it could use a fresh coat of paint. The wife and I are unsure when the last repainting exercise for Pine Grove was carried out but hopefully the next one will come soon (if not already!).

 

Looking at the transactional side of things, the wife and I discovered that   

·         There were only 55 transactions at Pine Grove over the past 3 years.  

·         Between August 2013 to August 2014, only 11 units were transacted. Out of these, 4 were for the 1,600+sqft units and 4 for the 1,755sqft units. 

·         The 1,600+sqft units were transacted at an average price of around $1.4 million. This seems to be holding steady throughout the past one year. 

·         The 1,755sqft units were transacted at an average price of around $1.55 million. However, it seems like prices for this unit type has been on the decline during the past year – from $1.588 million in Nov 2013 to the recent $1.5 million in Aug 2014. 

 

Now to provide our humble “non expert” opinions on the 2 questions asked:

What are the chances of en bloc?

There is always a chance, but the wife and I reckoned that it will be slim to none over the next 2 or even 3 years.  

The current depressed market sentiments, which is expected to worsen further over the next 2 years, is likely to stifle developers’ interests in collective sale plots. This is especially for an estate such as Pine Grove, where the plot size is huge and the amount developers have to pay to top up the land-lease is substantial. And coupled with the new government ruling imposed on developers that all units within a new project must be built and sold within 5 years of site acquisition, this will definitely make them think twice about Pine Grove over the next 2 – 3 years.  

There is also the question of disparity between Sellers and Buyer expectations – the folks at Pine Grove have shown that they are only prepared to sell-out at the “right” price, while developers are not so convinced that the asking prices so far are “right”. This probably explained the 3 previous failed attempts to en bloc. 

Is Pine Grove still worth the buy?

When the wife and I were considering the estate back in 2008 – 09, the 1,755sqft units were only asking for about $1.2 million (if our rusty memories served us right). However, those were different times then and we recalled one unit was subsequently sold for over $1.7 million when talks of en bloc were at its fever pitch back in 2010 – 2011. So prices have certainly came off a bit.

Our answer to this question is simply “If you are not buying it at the peak of the market and have the financial capability to hold on to the unit for the next 5 years or so, then it is probably a worthy buy”. Having said that, there are not that many units available in the market going by experiences over the past 3 years. So even if you are prepared to pay the asking price, your choices are likely to be limited. This is especially if you are particular about the unit orientation, facing, high/low floor etc. 

 

Hope the above will be of some help to those looking at buying into Pine Grove!

Click on link below to access the URA caveats for Pine Grove from August 2011 – 13:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/237842542/Pine-Grove-Transactions-Aug-2011-Aug-2014

GuocoLand @Sims Drive: Concept discussion and Feedback session

The wife and I attended a concept discussion and feedback session organised by GuocoLand for its Sims Drive site last weekend. 

Sims Driveis an old housing estate located on the fringe of Geylang, which for many of us, is a love-hate relationship – you probably love Geylang for the food but hate it (especially amongst women) for the somewhat dodgy nightlife and “extracurricular” activities.

And Sims Drive, given its relative proximities to the city and with a slew of exciting developments set to take place in its surrounding area such as Kallang and Paya Lebar, may soon be transformed into a hip and modern town at the city fringe.  

This is what GuocoLand will like us to believe anyway…

 

GuocoLand acquired the 99-year leasehold housing site in April of this year. The developer paid $530.89 million or $687.88psf ppr for the nearly 2.4-hectare (263,000sqft) plot fronting Sims Drive, Aljunied and the PIE. Guocoland envisaged a 19-storey condo project with about 800 – 850 “affordable compact-sized units of mainly one, two and three-bedders”. The project is expected to be launched by mid-2015.

 

Market analysts had estimated that the breakeven cost would be around $1,090 – $1,130psf and a launch price of around $1,220 – $1,300pf. 

As part of their Public Communications Plan, GuocoLand have been holding sessions to discuss concept and solicit feedback for their Sims Drive project.  

The event was held over lunch at the Fansida, a “fine dining” restaurant serving Western/European food located at the corner of Sims Avenue and Aljunied Road.
 

About 10 invited guests were present at the session. No project detail or pricing information was given, rather a short presentation on the potential that the Sims Drive site can offer. These include: 

·         Excellent location at the fringe of the city – the CBD, Marina Financial District, Orchard Road and Kallang Sports Hub are all within a 15-minute drive away. 

·         Within 5 minutes walk to the Aljunied MRT station. 

·         The site is mere minutes drive or 1 MRT stop away from Paya Lebar Central (Ex Singapore Post Building next to Paya Lebar MRT station), which has become another hub for banks and IT-related companies.  

·         Choice of primary schools within 1-km of the site – Canossa Convent Primary, Macpherson Primary and Geylang Methodist Primary. 

·         James Cook Universitywill be moving into a bigger campus at the former site of Majusri Secondary Schoolin Sims Drive. This will probably happen sometime in 2017 and should help to drive up rental and even resale demands around the vicinity. 

·         Mid to high-end F&B outlets are beginning to mushroom around Geylang and its fringe areas like Cassia Crescentand Guillemard Road. Fansida is one such example. Other newcomers include The Tuck Shop, Maple & Market Cafe and Backstage Cafe. Such development may change the demographic and help to “raise the right profile” around the area, much like what Tiong Bahru has experienced over the past years.

 

Over lunch, viewpoint and feedback were sought from participants on what they like to see in the upcoming project at the Sims Drive site. Opinion on how much in terms of $/psf is considered a “fair price” for this project was also sought.  

Below are what the wife and I have to say about the site and proposed new project, some of which we had shared during the feedback session and others we came up with after driving around the site for a bit. 

·         One of the slides during the presentation has associated the Sims Drive project with other new projects around the city fringe like CommonwealthTowers (Queenstown) and L’VIV (Newton). We find this comparison a tad unrealistic as not all city fringe areas are perceived equal. We are already struggling to associate Sims Drive with say, Balestier, much less Newton. 

·         Although Geylang and its fringe areas are moving towards the right sort of  transformation, we will not be quite as hasty to say that it will soon become the “Tiong Bahru of the East”. In terms of size and spread, Tiong Bahru is definitely a much smaller area to transform. It also did not come with as big a “perception baggage” that required unloading.   

·         Although the participants were told that GuocoLand are still working on the project detail and pricing, the $1,400psf number was floated supposedly for discussion purposes. And you do not typically suggest a number without prior consideration and more importantly approval from management. With The Panorama (Ang Mo Kio) currently selling at an average price of around $1,200psf and Thomson Three(Upper Thomson) at a tad below $1,300psf, we do feel that $1,400psf is probably way too ambitious. This is especially when every father, mother, son and even their pets are saying that the property market outlook is going to be worse come next year. 

·         The Sims Drive-Aljunied area currently consist of primarily HDB dwellers. As such, the catchment in terms of potential buyers are more likely to be upgraders. Although there may be some demand for one-bedroom units from singles and investors seeking rental income (in view of the new James Cook university campus situated round the corner), we reckon the bulk of the interests will probably be for the bigger 2- to 3-bedroom units. So GuocoLand may want to put more of these into the project instead of maximizing on the one-bedders. 

·         The wife and I decided to take a drive around the actual site and we were not too impressed by the location. The site is really right smacked at the junction of the Aljunied Road and Sims Drive, with the PIE (make that the Aljunied Flyover) running along the back of the plot. And if the Anak Bukit Flyover at Upper Bukit Timah is any indication, the decibel levels coming from vehicular traffic on the flyover can be quite deafening especially for units on the higher floors. So GuocoLand will probably have to design the project to minimize such noise impact, e.g. building the apartment block as far away from the flyover as they possibly can and providing lots of tall trees at the back of the plot to “absorb sound”.  

·         We also reckoned that the view for the higher-floor units may not be too pretty.  The surrounding area consists mainly of older HDB flats and flatted factories. Although there are talks about the Government wanting to redevelop and revitalise the Sims Drive area, nothing concrete is in the pipeline as yet. So GuocoLand will probably have to double their efforts to beautify the interior grounds of the project to compensate for the “not-so-exciting” external view.

 

Our humble opinions aside, the wife and I felt that such concept discussion and feedback sessions, while more of a PR stint, is actually a pretty good idea. At least it demonstrates to some extent that the developer is keen to obtain (and consider) the viewpoints and suggestions of potential buyers. Hopefully more developers will adopt the same approach for their upcoming new launches.

And just for our own feedback purpose (not on behalf of the developer), what do you think about the Sims Drive area and how much in terms of $/psf will you deem the project as “fairly priced”?

 

TEL may boost collective sales in East Coast!

According to a report in Lianhe Zaobao today, market analysts said that several residential developments along the newly announced Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) may see higher potentials for collective sales. However, developers are unlikely to move on these till 2017 at least. 

 

These developments, which are freehold, include AmberPoint and Parkway Apartments (near Amber MRT station) and Katong Park and Equatorial Apartments (near Katong Park MRT station). All are more than 20 years old and given their smaller plot areas, may be “bite-size” enough to raise developers’ interests.

 

But with current depressed market, the climate for en bloc sales is less than rosy given the big disparity in price expectations between seller and buyer.

A report published last week by Colliers International has indicated that during the 2010 – 11 en bloc “peak” period, a total of 78 collective sales were concluded. However, the numbers have been falling since, with only 22 sales concluded in 2012. And up to July of this year, there was no en bloc transaction made in 2014.

The failure rate of collective sales have correspondingly been increasing over the last 2 – 3 years. This was 67% in 2013, up from 61% in 2012. Developers have generally been partial towards acquiring new land sites via Government Land Sales (GLS), while keeping their options opened on en bloc sites.

However, analysts expect that developers may become more active in the en bloc market come 2017, which is 6 years before the scheduled completion of the TEL in 2023. And older developments that are 20 years or older and having less than 200 units each, in areas such as Amber Road, Katong, Marine Parade and Siglap will be especially in their radars, given the smaller purchase quantum and corresponding lower risks.

Some developments along the TEL have already made several attempts to en bloc. These included

• Laguna Park (near to Siglap MRT station), a 99-year leasehold development with 63 years left on its lease. The last en bloc attempt was in October 2011, where the asking price was $1.25 billion, equivalent to $954psf ppr.

• Hawaii Tower (near to Amber MRT station), a freehold development that last attempted to en bloc in 2011 as well with an asking price of $700 million.

So with the announcement of the TEL and location of its MRT stations, these two developments may now stand a better chance of finding buyers.

 

Collective sales aside, the TEL may also provide a new lease of life for new projects with unsold units that are currently under construction. As of Q2 2014, new projects launched along the TEL included The Meyerise – a 239-unit freehold development, of which 101 units are sold, and Amber Skye – a 109-unit freehold project with majority of units unsold.
 

After reading the zaobao report, the wife and I wish to add 3 more candidates to the list of “enhanced en bloc potential due to TEL”, given their supposed proximities to the Tanjong Rhu Station:

• Costa Rhu – a 99-year leasehold project that will be 19 years old come 2017. It is located at the very end of Tanjong Rhu and nearest to the Marina Bay and Gardens by the Bay.

• Pebble Bay – a 99-year leasehold project that will be 20 years old come 2017. It is situated along the KallangRiver Basin and has excellent view of the area around the Sports Hub.

• Park Shore – this is the only freehold projects around the area and will be more than 20 years old come 2017. Given its smaller plot size/number of units compared to Costa Rhu (737 units) or Pebble Bay (510 units), Park Shore (152 units) probably has the best potential for collective sale amongst the three.

 

 

Thomson Three: Photo review of 3-bedroom "compact" unit

  

 

 

 

 

 

Thomson Three (Review)

The wife and I had passed by the sales gallery of Thomson Three umpteen times during the course of the past year that it has been around. However, due to one reason or another (wrong timing, overly crowded, too lazy etc.) we have not hit the project until this week. 
 

First and foremost, it may be useful to let our readers know that Thomson Three is already about 93% sold – the premium 3-bedder units are fully sold while only one of the 4-bedder remains. Many of the 1- and 2-bedders have also been taken up.  So read on if you are not discouraged by the somewhat limited unit choices that are still available. 

 

The sales gallery of Thomson Three is located at the junction of Upper Thomson Road and Venus Drive. However, the actual site of Thomson Three is actually at Bright Hill Drive – across the main road from Thomson Plaza. 
 

Thomson Three is a 99-year leasehold project that consists of 3 towers of 21-storey each and 10 strata townhouses (semi-d). It is jointly developed by UOL (Meadows @Pierce) and SingLand (Mon Jervois).  The developers bought the plot of land in August 2012 via a government land sales exercise for $291.5 million, or $719.90psf ppr. The break-even cost was estimated then to range from $1,100 – $1,150psf and the average selling price was expected to be around $1,250 – $1,300psf. One interesting comment made during that time was the supposed lacklustre number of bids for the site because (1) the plot is odd-shaped with narrow access and (2) it is not near to a MRT station. Fast forward 2 years and developers that did not make a bid then might be kicking themselves now…  

In terms of unit mix, Thomson Three offers apartments ranging from 1- to 4-bedrooms. The 10 strata townhouses are 3-storey + basement semi-detached units with 4 bedrooms and 2 dedicated parking lots. 

Facilities wise, Thomson Three provides a slew of what you will expect of “full facility” condos these days. However, nothing really jumps out at us when we were looking at the scale model. And it also suddenly dawned on us that all the three recent projects that we have reviewed do not come with tennis court. Maybe tennis is no longer that much of an “in” thing, but more probably because it takes up too much space. 

There were 2 showflat types on display at the sales gallery – both the 3-bedroom “premium” and “compact” units. And although the former are sold-out, we decided to feature this because we feel the general layout is quite representative of both the 3- and 4-bedroom units within the project. 

The 3-bedroom “premium” showflat on display is a ground floor unit (Type C4G) of 1,259sqft. The typical “non-ground floor” units are about 1,141sqft. 

The first thing we liked about the unit is the foyer between the main door and the living room – maybe it’s just us but the area adds that little bit of class to the whole apartment in addition to ensuing better privacy. 
 

The kitchen is the first thing you see as you enter the unit. It is a long strip of width that will probably just fit two people working back-to-back. The kitchen comes with appliances (hood, hob, oven & fridge) from Electrolux and a semi-glass window partition that looks into the living/dining area. 

At the end of the kitchen is the utility room and the yard. If you intend to house your helper here, you probably will need to custom-fit her bed. But as the photo suggests, one can certainly do quite a nice job fitting out the utility if one chooses to. The yard area comes with its own bathroom (for the helper) and also houses the washing machine. A large window ensures adequate ventilation although laundry hanging may continue to pose a challenge. 

The living/dining area looked surprisingly spacious considering that this is just a unit with interior living space of no more than 1,159sqft (our estimate). The layout is such that you get distinct spaces for living and dining – you may find it a challenge to place a dining table that will sit 6 (which is probably why a 4-seater round table was used in the showflat), but the living area will easily accommodate a long sofa plus a single-seater and still have space for a small TV console. The living/dining area comes with nice large-slab marble flooring and 2.8m ceiling height. 

 

All the bedrooms are located on one side of the apartment – we prefer this layout as the bedrooms are away and sheltered from the sight and sound coming from the living/dining area.  

The 2 common bedrooms looked “typical” in size (our lingo for “not very big”). Having said that, both rooms are “queen-sized bed friendly” and better yet, we realised that you do not have to push the bed against the outer wall to make space. However, that’s about all the furniture you can get into the room minus the wardrobe. All bedrooms come with parquet floors.  

The common bathroom is small but adequate, which is probably a good space-saving idea. You get homogenous-tiled floor and walls and bathroom fittings from Hansgrohe (taps) and Roca (basin and toilet). The standing shower looked rather nondescript. 

The master bedroom is again more suited for a queen-sized bed but will probably fit a king one. And as per all new developments these days, the 2-panel wardrobe is barely sufficient for one person much less two. So we expect quite the conversation between couples on “who gets what” in terms of wardrobe space. 

The master bathroom is again small compared to some of the other developed we have visited. So those who expect a bath-tub will be sorely disappointed. Consolation is that the bathroom stall does come with “rain-shower”. The floor and walls are decked with similar type of homogenous tiles as the common bathroom, but you get Duravit basin and toilet here instead of Roca– we wonder if the differentiation is more for cost reasons rather than aesthetics. 

Pricing wise, this is moot for the 3-bedder “premium” since they are sold out. But the “compact” equivalent is priced at around the $1,300psf level. There is only 1 stack of 4-bedrooms, and the sole remaining one is a 1,485sqft third-floor unit that is currently going at $1.92 million ($1,293psf). But if you are looking at the townhouses, you be happy to know that 8 out of the 10 units are still available. All are 3,285sqft units and priced at $3.23 million ($983psf).

What we like: 

1.      The wife and I like the layout of the 2 showflat units, which we find extremely functional and made the units seemed more spacious than what their sqft numbers tell you.

2.      Did we mention that the Upper Thomson MRT station along the future Thomson Line (scheduled to be completed in 2020) is located just 100m from Thomson Three? And we are talking about actual walking distance from the main entrance to the station, not how Superman will describe it flying from point A to point B. 

3.      If you are a big fan of supermarkets (like the wife) or your greatest fear is dying from starvation (like yours truly), then Thomson Three is the ideal home for you. With Thomson Plaza a mere 5-minutes walk across the road, and the much touted “food street” along Upper Thomson Road also within walking distance, chances of you having no food in the fridge (or tummy) are almost zero. 

4.      If you are nature lover, the higher-floor units at Thomson Three should provide a good view of the golf courses at SICC as well as the greenery and water around Pierce reservoir. 

5.      We are pretty certain that quite a few buyers of Thomson Three have “Ai Tong Primary” in mind. Yes, this much sough-after primary school is within 1-km from the project so your child will at least get the chance to ballot for a place into the school. The downside is that we cannot identify any other primary schools within the 1-km radius of Thomson Three so Ai Tong may just be your one and only choice if you do not wish to travel beyond 1-km. 

What we do not quite like: 

1.      The cookie cutter facilities within Thomson Three – we can hardly find anything that made us go “wow”. Maybe it’s because of the irregular and narrow land plot that made everything looked squeezed and a tad claustrophobic.

2.      The furnishing and fittings provided within the units do look a little pale in comparison to, say, what we saw at The Panorama, which has a lower price point compared to Thomson Three. 

3.      Bright Hill Drive is not a very wide stretch of road to begin with. Currently it is the only conduit onto Upper Thomson Road for the landed households across from Thomson Three as well the HDB flats behind. With another 465 households coming online once Thomson Three TOP, this may create quite a bit of agony traffic-wise especially during the rush hours. So patience may be key to avoiding road rage. 

4.      Although we were told that the orientation of the 3 towers in Thomson Three ensures that all the higher-floor units are unblocked by Thomson View, we remain convinced that some of these units will be partially blocked.

 

Our parting shot

Ai Tong aside, one should definitely consider Thomson Three for the good unit layout and definitely its location (amenities galore within walking distances). Additionally, the upcoming MRT station will sure to give the development a value boost once the Thomson Line is up and running.

However, one must avoid being “overly comparative” in terms of the project’s facility offerings and interior quality else you may be better off putting money in other developments.

 

More space and greenery mandated for cluster homes!

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said on Friday (Aug 22) it has revised the guidelines for strata landed housing developments, also known as cluster homes, to determine the maximum number of units in an estate.

Under the revised guidelines, which will take effect on Saturday (Aug 23), a new set of formulae will determine the maximum number of houses developers are allowed to build in various types of strata landed housing developments. The new formulae will generally result in fewer units, the URA said in a statement.

“The move addresses feedback from residents in landed housing estates that such developments could inject a disproportionately large number of units, causing additional traffic and parking problems as well as creating a more congested living environment,” the URA said.

There are also new guidelines to enhance the communal facilities and greenery provision within such developments. Developers will have to set aside at least 45% of the land area for communal open space, up from the current 30%. Of this, a minimum of 25% has to be set aside for on-ground greenery while up to 20% can be used for communal facilities like swimming pools and playgrounds.

“By increasing the minimum communal open space to be set aside in strata landed housing developments and mandating minimum on-ground greenery coverage, we hope that strata landed housing developments will further enhance the quality of the living environment for residents,” the URA said.

Source: CNA

The wife and I are glad that URA has finally came out with the latest revision. Hopefully, this will also mean that there will be more “separation space” between rows of cluster homes within the development. One major gripe we have with most of cluster housing projects that we had seen thus far is how close your opposite neighbour’s unit is to yours. We always jest that the next biggest benefactor of such development (other than the developer) is probably the curtain makers… which when one stops to ponder over, may not be entirely a joke.

And if you unit is located in a row that is stuck between two other rows of  cluster homes, your unit can come across as rather dark and gloomy (or stuffy even, with the kind of weather we get in Singapore) given that you are “blocked” from both front and back by opposite neighbours at close proximities. 

Click on link below to read the official circular from URA on the revised guidelines:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/237475141/Revised-Guidelines-for-Strata-Landed-Housing-Developments-22-Aug-2014

All about Home Staging

So what is home staging?

In the words of a home buying/selling expert, it is about illusion. It is how David Copperfield would sell a house. It’s about perfecting the art of creating moods. Home staging makes your apartment looks bigger, brighter, cleaner, warmer, more loving and, best of all, it makes potential home buyers want to buy it and tenants want to rent it.      

Home staging, or sometimes referred to as “property presentation” or “property styling”, is a very established business in the United Statesand UK. But the concept is still fairly new to Singapore, with only a handful of companies performing the service.  

According to a home staging service provider, there are three distinct features in the home staging approach: 

 

 

1. Creating universal appeal –   This differentiates home staging from interior decorating. The later is centred around the owner’s taste and not “everyone”. Universal appeal maximizes your pool of potential buyers or tenants. 

2. Suggestion of a lifestyle –   Home staging aims to suggest a lifestyle to aspire to which is connected to the property. This creates a reason beyond the “brick and mortar” considerations. 

3. Creating emotional trigger-points –   Creating a “bond” to the property by eliciting emotionally charged “wow” moments. 

The wife and I were invited by the good folks at Singapore Furniture Rental Pte Ltd (SFR) to witness and blog about the home staging process.  We must admit that prior to this, we have little knowledge about home staging and have largely associated it with what we see in showflats at new launches. Thus we were glad to have the opportunity to learn more about the service. 

SFR is a relative new company founded by 4 young entrepreneurs. It is the first and only furniture rental company that provides home staging services in Singapore. The company has been in the furniture rental business for a year now and have started providing home staging services about 3 months ago. Unlike other service providers, SFR possess a vast array of furniture that they have put on their online catalogue.
 

During the span of 3 months, SFR has completed 6 staging and their portfolio included conservation shop-houses, condo apartments and land homes. The company operates out of a warehouse and office in the Northern part of Singapore(where all the furniture are stored) and outsources the transport and assembly to dedicated partners in order to keep operating costs low. 

SFR provides both long- and short-term furniture rentals. There are also rental packages available for the longer leases. But for home staging purposes, a short-term lease of 3 months is common. And should the unit be sold or rented out earlier than expected, e.g. within the first month, the customer can opt to terminate the rental contract prematurely without penalty as long as they have fulfilled at least one month on the lease. 

A home staging engagement typically begins with a free consultation cum site visit. Thereafter, a staging “floor-plan” is drawn with the proposed furniture set-up. The proposal is discussed and agreed with the customer and once agreed, the actual staging is ready to be performed within 5 days. 

 

The staging that the wife and I attended was for a condo unit of about 1,300sqft located in the Bukit Timah area, which was up for rental.  As the development is older and the unit concerned is located on the ground floor, it can be rather challenging to find tenants especially given the current market condition. Thus the marketing agent has decided (rightly so) to “differentiate his product” by home staging the unit prior to showing it to prospective tenants.                    

Given that property viewing usually last an average of about 10 to 15 minutes, it is crucial to provide the best first impression. All it usually takes is the first couple of seconds for the potential buyer/tenant to decide if they are interested in the apartment. And as you can clearly see from the “before and after” photos, a nicely furnished apartment provides far better eye-candy compared to a bare unit.    

 

Living/Dining (Before)

Kitchen (Before)                                                    Kitchen (After)



Master Bedroom (Before)                                   Master Bedroom (After)

Living/Dining (After)

And for smaller apartments, home staging may provide prospective buyers/tenants with a better perception of space.    

With the large number of new apartments expected to come on-stream within the next two years, both buyers and tenants will be spoilt for choice. As such, it may be increasingly important for older apartments to distinguish themselves to compete with their newer counterparts. And even within the new property sector, the deluge of new homes will definitely create more intense competition on both the resale and rental fronts. So home staging does provide the option for property investors to differentiate their units from others, thereby nudging prospective buyers/tenants over their tipping points to buy or rent.  

 

EcoHouse: More refute from Brazilian government!

London-based developer EcoHouse on Tuesday (Aug 19) provided documents to try to show it has official links with a federal housing programme in Brazil and a state-owned bank, but the Brazilian Embassy here questioned the authenticity and relevance of the papers.

The documents, which EcoHouse chief operating officer Deen Bissessar sent to TODAY, included letters with what appeared to be letterheads of state-owned bank Caixa Economica Federal (CEF) and the state of Rio Grande do Norte, which oversees the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (MCMV) housing programme.

Written in Portuguese and translated into English, the letters largely commended EcoHouse founder Anthony Armstrong Emery for having sound character and recognised his work with the MCMV.

One letter, purportedly from CEF, said Mr Emery had been a client with an “excellent relationship” with the bank and had, “through the company under his administration, contributed to putting into practice the MCMV programme, conducting himself in a distinguished and professional manner”.
Another one, which has the letterhead of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, said Mr Emery was of “irreproachable personal, social and professional conduct”.

On Monday, Brazilian Ambassador to Singapore Luis Fernando de Andrade Serra called on EcoHouse to prove its links to the Brazilian government. After looking at the documents, Mr Serra said they do not conclusively show that the developer has any links with CEF or MCMV.

“We cannot attest to the authenticity. But even if they are real, the information is not relevant and does not determine if EcoHouse is linked to the government,” he said.

Pointing to the letter purportedly by CEF, he said that it does not represent an agreement between Mr Emery and the bank. “It shows that he has an account in the bank, but it doesn’t show the firm is a partner of the bank,” Mr Serra added.

The ambassador also pointed out that the people who signed off on the letters do not have the authority to comment on whether EcoHouse has any link with CEF or the MCMV programme. For instance, the CEF letter was signed by an account manager.

“These sound like reference letters. The people who wrote these letters are not responsible for the programme. The only agencies who can speak on behalf of MCMV are the Ministry of Cities or Caixa,” he said. “Mr Emery may have a wonderful relationship with the bank, but he has so far not proven a real and credible link between EcoHouse and the government.”

Last week, the Brazilian Embassy here issued a statement saying that the Brazilian government has no dealings with EcoHouse, which had touted itself as the only United Kingdom company picked by the Brazilian government to build homes under MCMV.

In response, Mr Bissessar called the matter a “misunderstanding”, which led to Mr Serra calling on EcoHouse to furnish proof of its links to the Brazilian government.

One disgruntled investor, Mr Brijesh Vora, 37, who came forward after reading TODAY’s reports, said he recently received notification that the project which he had ploughed money into last year will be delayed by about six months to a year, due to reasons such as slow and poor construction work. He added that he had invested in several units.

Various media reports have put the number of Singapore investors in EcoHouse projects at between 800 and 1,500.

Up to S$70 million had reportedly been put into three housing projects. Reports have been filed against EcoHouse with the police and the Commercial Affairs Department.

Source: TODAY

Double oh oh… Seems like the money that Singaporean investors have put into EcoHouse is now 冻过水 (Cantonese idiom literally translated as “colder than water”, which is used to describe a situation getting from bad to worse).

And speaking of Cantonese idioms, below is an “explained list” (some even with pronunciations) for those who are interested:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/237269352/Cantonese-Idioms-and-What-They-Mean

London home prices: Is the bull-run ending?

Home sellers in London cut asking prices by the most in more than 6 years this month, adding to signs that the property market in the British capital is coming off the boil.

London values fell 5.9% from the previous month to an average £552,783 (S$1.1 million), the biggest drop since December 2007, property website Rightmove said yesterday.

Nationally, prices declined 2.9%, an August record.

While property demand usually weakens during the summer, Rightmove said the slump this year was steeper than it expected.

Tougher new mortgage rules introduced by Bank of England (BOE) Governor Mark Carney, as well as anticipation of higher interest rates, are putting pressure on the market after a surge in value raised concerns that a bubble may develop.

“Buyers and sellers are becoming increasingly aware about personal finances, given that the cost of mortgages are going up and regulators are trying to bring availability down,” said Rightmove director Miles Shipside.

“This limits what buyers are willing or able to pay, and helps moderate sellers’ price expectations.”

Some of the biggest price declines in London were recorded in affluent boroughs including Kensington and Chelsea, Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham, according to the report.

“Top-end sellers are very much discretionary ones, so can delay marketing till a more active time of year,” Mr Shipside said.

“That tends to depress property prices more in the higher-priced boroughs, with those that need to sell in summer pricing lower to attract holiday-distracted buyers.”

Mr Bruce Dear, head of real estate at law firm Eversheds, said the main problem in London remains a shortage of housing supply, which has pushed property prices to more than 16 times the average salary.

“Urgent policy measures are required to reduce that gap, ” he said in a statement.

“The only answer is for the government and local authorities to urgently build more.”

Nationally, the annual pace of growth in prices slowed to 5.3% in August from 6.5% in July. The average asking price was £262,401.

Rightmove said the drop in monthly prices is a “lead indicator of a slower market in the second half”.

Out of the 10 regions tracked by Rightmove, all but the north of Englandshowed a decline in home values in August from July.

London led the drop, followed by East Anglia with a 4% drop and the south-east with a 2.5% fall.

Source: Bloomberg

So it looks like the law of gravity for so long defied by the Londonprivate home market appears to be reasserting itself. So are buyers finally going on strike?

According to a report in The Observer (a British newspaper), the mundane answer to that question may be that prospective buyers simply cannot amass the finance to buy for now. The mortgage market review (MMR), imposed by regulators to avoid a repeat of the lax lending and “liar loans” common before the financial crisis, has already curtailed borrowers from taking jumbo-sized mortgages.

And then there are also others who are repelled by fears of interest rate rises.  

However, British households remain heavily indebted, making the BOE deeply hesitant about raising rates. Given that there are no sign of wage rising, and that the Eurozone economy is heading into reverse, the prospect of an early rate rise is receding yet again.

In addition, the fundamentals that have driven the Londonprice spiral – deeply restricted supply, a fast-growing population, cash buyers, investor-landlords and the capital’s role as a safe haven for the global elite’s billions – are still largely in place.

The irony is that the cheerleaders for a price crash want only one thing: to buy. With such a large reservoir of potential buyers, it’s difficult to envisage much more than a pause in prices.