Saturday, September 15, 2012

Singapore property update September 2012


HDB is building 2000 more flats in 2012 - The Housing and Development Board (HDB), the statutory board of the Ministry of National Development responsible for public housing in Singapore, is launching 7,055 flats today. 3,727 of these flats are Built-To-Order (BTO) units and 3,328 of them will be Sale of Balance Flats (SBF). These flats will be offered both in mature and non-mature towns.


HDB has also stated that it will increase its new flat supply for 2012 by 2,000 units from the originally planned 25,000 units to 27,000 units. This boosts the number of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats for the year to 27,000 - up from the originally planned 25,000.



Singapore Government has collected half a billion dollars from Aditional Buyers Stamp Duties (ABSD) - The Govt has gained $500m from that stamp duty, according to a report in Singapore's largest local rag the Straits Times. As Ryan Ong in moneysmart.sg, ABSD did curb some foreign speculation in the short-term but eventually it has hindered the rich to the same degree that a toothpick would hinder an attacking polar bear.
Source :  Govt gets half a billion from the cooling measures

Interesting part of the news is the numbers paid by Singaporeans and Singapore PRs:

About $261 million of the ABSD take came from foreigners who are not permanent residents (PRs). They bought 1,400 homes in the nine months leading up to the end of August. They make up a quarter of the buyers who have paid the additional tax.
Source : $500m in taxes collected from property cooling measures
Which means Singaporeans and PRs bought 5,600 private property units as their second or third investment property. If we assume 1,500 units of private property (excluding executive condominiums) per month were sold in Singapore in the first 9 months of 2012, doesn't this mean that 40%+ of property bought in Singapore was by Singaporeans and PRs buying their second+ and third+ properties. Even they need to pay 10% extra, it seems like rich in Singapore are still buying private property to park their money.

From these numbers what I understand is damaging high inflation - low interest rate environment we have experienced (and thanks to FED we will continue experience for a long time) is still forcing large sums of money to Singapore property. Even a 10% spread over the value of the home is not deterring rich out may mean that they have no other feasible choice to park their money and protect from erosion by inflation. Smells like a textbook case of malinvestment under near zero interest rate environment.


Heron Bay 4.2 times oversubscribed - Singapore's first deluxe executive condominium Heron Bay, in Upper Serangoon View has received 1,664 applications for its 394 units, said developer Serangoon EC. This is probablt the highest number of applications per unit in the Executive Condominium (EC) history over the last 10 years.
Source : Deluxe executive condo Heron Bay more than 4.2 times oversubscribed

Singapore's private home sales in August dropped 27 percent from July - Singapore's private residential property sales in August 2012 dropped 27 percent from July to its lowest in two months, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority released on Monday. Developers in Singapore sold 1,421 residential units last month and including Executive Condominiums, home sales were 1,539 units.

The decline in home sales in August could have been partly due to the Hungry Ghost Month which typically sees fewer buyers in the market. It also worth to note that July 2012 numbers were very high. September sales figures may be much higher given the fact there there are some good project launches this month.
Source : Singapore private home sales down 27 percent in August

Shunfu HUDC sells for $1.28m - An HUDC maisonette in Bishan has been sold for a record $1.28 million, the Straits Times (ST) reported today. This beats the $1.22 million record set last year by a 1,668 sq ft HUDC flat in the same area. According to the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX), which gathers and crunches data on property sales, the 1,680 sq ft Shunfu Road flat was sold for about $762 per sq ft in July this year.

You may ask what is HUDC? HUDC stands for Housing and Urban Development Company. These flats were built in the 1970s and 1980s as a housing option for middle-income citizen families. These flats were introduced during high private property prices and were phased out by HDB in 1987 as private property prices and demand for HUDC units fell. There are a total of 18 HUDC estates comprising 7,731 residential and 23 shop units.

The catch  of theHUDC flats are their larger size (an average area of 1,650 sq ft, HUDC flats are typically bigger and more spacious than five-room HDB flats, which are 1,200 sq ft on average) and more convenient locations. Plus there is also a high chance that they can be privatized and sold to private developers in en-bloc sales. For some HDB

Source : Shunfu HUDC sells for $1.28mWhat is HUDC?

Resale home prices and rents are up - As if they were not already painfully high, resale home prices and rents have climbed for both public and private flats in Singapore in August. Private resale flat prices went up 4.5% from July while condominium rents increased 2.4%. Overall median HDB resale prices also went up by 1.8%.

The Heron Bay Executive Condominium - Heron Bay Executive Condo has been one of the most talked and searched housing project in the town in September thanks to its luxurious features like living rooms with ensuite private pool cum jacuzzi.  Heron Bay Executive Condo is located at Upper Serangoon Road  (1.3 km to Buangkok MRT Station) and is composed of 2 bedroom, 3 bedroom, 3 bedroom dual key, 4 bedroom, 4 bedroom dual key, 5 bedroom dual key units and penthouses (total 394 units).

Heron Bay Executive Condominium
Heron Bay Executive Condominium - Photo : Newlaunchguru


Public housing flats passed 1 million dollar mark - A resale executive maisonette flat at Queenstown has been the first public housing unit to reach the million-dollar mark. A PRC new citizen bought the house with his PRC citizen father from a Singaporean seller.
And more resale public housing units are expected to be sold above 1 million Singapore Dollars since as a number of resale flats are currently on the market with asking prices well over S$1 million. A low interest rate fueled property bubble as well as the erosion in the value of Singapore Dollars thanks to high inflation (2012 $1 million is equal to 2005 $800,000) is helping public houses to record 1 million dollar. Although authorities and experts are noting that these units are very rare and their prices are exceptional, many seems to think that 1 million dollar public housing is a clear sign of property prices out of control. Although these units are rare, more rare units which can make 1million dollar+ price tag for an HDB flat frequent are coming: i.e. Pinnacle @ Duxton with its 1,848 apartments will be available in the resale market from next year.
Source : PRC new citizen buys million-dollar HDBMore million-dollar flat prices expected

1,848 apartments in Pinnacle@Duxton in the city center are approaching to the end of their
MOP (Minimum Occupation Period) and could attract $1 million plus bids.
Nearly 3 in 10 Singaporeans own more than one house - According to a new survey from iProperty, 29% of Singaporean own 2 or more properties. Survey is done in Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Singapore and found out that 43% of Malaysians surveyed owned two or more properties.
Source : Nearly 3 in 10 Singaporeans own more than one house

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