Yishun to get first DBSS project

Adora Green, which had a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, will be the first HDB project in Yishun under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS).

“The development will be launched next year after the Chinese New Year season,” said Michael Leong, executive director of Guthrie SK Land. “The price of the flats is expected to range from $450 to $500 psf.”

The residential development, which is located at the junction of Yishun Central and Yishun Avenue 11, will comprise 800 housing units. About 65 percent of the total number of units will be four-room flats, 15 percent will be five-room units, and 20 percent will be three-room flats. Sizes of the units range between 67 sq m for a three-room unit, 92 sq m for a four-room unit and 112 sq m for a five-room unit, with a price tag between $300,000 and $600,000.

The new project will comprise six 16-storey blocks, with commercial facilities like shops, a mini-mart and an eating house, as well as recreational facilities like barbecue pits and fitness stations.

“One of these measures was to allow eligible first-time households with a monthly income between $8,000 and $10,000 to buy new DBSS flats with a CPF housing grant of $30,000. This revision will be applicable to DBSS projects launched for public sale after Aug 30, 2010 which includes Adora Green,” said Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam during the project’s ground-breaking ceremony

MM warns against selling off HDB flats

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has advised HDB flat owners not to sell their flats since their value appreciates year after year.

Speaking at the annual Tree Planting Day in Tanjong Pagar GRC, Mr. Lee said: “I urge you not to listen to the estate agents and sell it, and go and rent a flat because that's a stupid thing to do.”

“You sell it, you may not get a rental flat for a long time. And you cannot gain from a rental flat... Please remember that,” he added.

Mr. Lee’s plea comes just after the government implemented measures to deal with the trend of home owners trying to dispose of their flats for a quick profit.

To emphasise the need for financial prudence, HDB introduced a seven-day cooling-off period for those planning to sell their flats.

320 units at The Lakefront Residences sold

Keppel Land’s The Lakefront Residences has sold 70 units over the weekend, bringing its total sales to 320 units sold.

This represents 80 percent of the 400 units currently in the market for sale, where the average psf price for the project is at $1,020, said a Keppel Land spokeswoman.

The 99-year leasehold condo is situated near Jurong Lake and is next to the Lakeside MRT station. Its average psf price has reportedly set a new record in the area.

The project comprises 69 one-bedroom, 158 two-bedroom, 255 three-bedroom, 98 three-bedder-plus-study units, 32 four-bedder units, and 17 penthouses from 484 sq ft for a one-bedder unit to 3,000 sq ft for a penthouse.

In comparison, units at the neighbouring residential project, Caspian, have been selling at between $700 psf and $800 psf since August.

Some high-end homes resold at a loss

Nine units purchased in 2009 were sold this year at a loss in the sub-sale market, according to an analysis by Savills of caveats captured by the URA Realis as of October 19.

According to the analysis, 78 out of 87 homes purchased between 2006 and 2009 were sold for a profit.

The sellers who lost money sold one unit each in Leonie Parc View, Grange Infinite, Paterson Linc and Orion, two in Parkview Eclat and three in Scotts Square at sizes ranging from 818 sq ft to 3,250 sq ft. Eight of the nine units were acquired from developers.

The two biggest losses were seen at Parkview Eclat, where two sellers lost $1.75 million and $1.72 million each. Both owners acquired the units from property developer Chyau Fwu Group in 2007.

According to Steven Ming, executive director for prestige homes at Savills Singapore, the high-end market has yet to recover to the peak levels in 2007 and 2008, and homes generally continue to trade at 10 percent to 15 percent discounts.

The fact that all nine losses were seen on units acquired in 2007 “may be due to the high prices the owners paid when the residential market reached its peak in 2007”, said Mr. Ming.

On the contrary, units acquired in 2006, 2008 and 2009 were resold at a profit this year. Mr. Ming also said more owners incurred losses in the second and third quarters of 2010 than in the first quarter.

Ku Swee Yong, chief executive of International Property Advisor, said that some owners could just be “weary” of holding onto their properties, particularly as tenants have become more difficult to find following an outflow of expatriates last year.

“If you were a tenant with a monthly budget of $9,000-12,000, there will be many vacant brand new properties to choose from - Ardmore II, CityVista, BelleVue, St Thomas Suites and Latitude, just to name a few - and these new projects will be competing with older, more established and larger-sized units such as those in Ardmore Park and Grange Residences,” said Mr Ku.

Currently, the number of loss-making transactions is still very low, said Mr, Ming, with 90 percent of sub-sale transactions this year still making profits ranging between $3,620 and $1.92 million.

Weakening economic indicators to affect growth

Despite evident improvement in transaction volume and investor sentiment in the third quarter of the year, the weakening economic indicators could still negatively affect growth, according to a report compiled by CBRE.

“In particular, the risks associated with volatile exchange rates and monetary policy settings by major Asian governments remain a cause for concern,” said Andrew Ness, executive director of CBRE Research Asia.

Majority of key Asian property markets recovered in Q3 following a short period of uncertainty after the onset of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Direct property investment in Asia, excluding land transaction, surged 53 percent quarter-on-quarter to US$18 billion.

Overall, Asia saw a 102 percent growth in transaction volume to US$46 billion in the first three quarters of the year, compared to the previous year.

Hong Kong recorded the highest investment volume at US$5.2 billion or 29 percent of the total regional volume, followed by Singapore and Japan, which made up 22 percent and 20 percent of the total volume, respectively.

China, South Korea and Singapore also saw strong quarter-on-quarter growth in transaction volume at 191 percent, 165 percent and 161 percent, respectively. According to CBRE, institutional investors continued to show a strong appetite for prime investment real estate in these markets.

CBRE, however, warned that the substantial quarterly growth in investment volume could be partly due to the strengthening Asian currencies against the greenback in Q3 2010, which significantly inflated the overall volume in terms of the US dollar.

Real estate investment activity in Asia also soared 80 percent in Q3 to US$3.1 billion. However, the figure is still relatively low than the US$6.3 billion achieved when it peaked in 2007.

The highest amount of investment was seen in the office sector with US$7.4 billion or 41 percent of the total investment volume in Q3. The office sector also accounted for six of the ten largest transactions in the quarter.

Among the most active office markets included Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea, which collectively accounted for US$5.3 billion in transactions.

BTO flats six times oversubscribed

Demand for HDB’s Built-To-Order (BTO) flats in Bukit Panjang and Sengkang remains strong, with 1,322 units in the two new developments oversubscribed by about six times, drawing a total of 7,994 applications.

The most popular units were the larger flats, with 1,838 buyers applying for 148 five-room flats at Anchorvale Horizon in Sengkang or 12 times overbooked.

The four-room flats in both developments were about five times oversubscribed, while the two-room units at Senja Parc View in Bukit Panjang were the least favourite, with 89 applications received for the 112 flats released for sale.

This shows that buyers prefer larger units than smaller ones, and premium flats over the standard ones to get more value for money, said Colin Tan, head of research and consultancy at Chesterton Suntec International.

The high level of overbookings in the recent offering is nearly on par with previous BTO developments in Punggol, which had been launched in April. Two recent projects in Woodlands and Yishun were also oversubscribed by 2.2 and 2.4 times, respectively

Park Regis Singapore set to launch

Park Regis Singapore, a 203-room hotel in the Raffles Place area, is set to launch on November 16, marking the entry of Australian-based StayWell Hospitality Group (SWHG) into the Southeast Asian region.

The new hotel marks a significant milestone in expanding SWHG's brand in major destinations across the region. SWHG currently manages over 10 Park Regis hotels particularly in Australia, and has new properties being developed in Kuala Lumpur and Dubai.

“Park Regis hotels deliver a distinctive blend of old world English charm combined with modern Australian hospitality. We see enormous growth potential for this brand in Southeast Asia and are confident that the debut of our new hotel in Singapore will help pave the way for more properties to come in future,” said Simon Wan, Chief Executive of SWHG.

Park Regis Singapore is strategically located in the Raffles Place area, alongside Clarke Quay and the Singapore River. The hotel features a stunning 25 m outdoor lap pool, spacious gymnasium and two meeting and conference rooms. It also offers distinctive dining options such as Suite 23, an all-day dining restaurant serving international cuisine, ‘Scape Lounge, a chic setting perfect for pre-dinner drinks, Splash! Pool Side Café, a perfect venue to unwind and relax by the pool, and the SiLuEt, an al fresco rooftop bar for a relaxing evening.

“Our focus at Park Regis Singapore is to enhance guest experiences so the hotel is positioned to deliver some of the highest levels of comfort and quality. Situated within walking distance from the business and entertainment districts, the hotel is the ideal location for corporate and leisure travellers coming to Singapore,” said Jason Dowd, General Manager of Park Regis Singapore