Month: November 2017

The number of resale transactions was significantly higher in October than in comparison with what happened in September, an indicator that the real estate market is pretty much alive and kicking. Of course, while things are indeed much better than in previous years, the numbers are far from the exceptional ones achieved back in 2010 and 2014, two glorious years for this particular market sector. Thus, the month of October brought 1,461 non-landed private residences sold, in comparison with the 1,231 recorded in September. This means a growth of 18.7%, which is more than great from one month to another.

But, if we are to compare 2017 with 2016, the numbers achieved this year are significantly better than what happened in the previous year. So, in October 2017 there as an increase of 122% of resold units, in comparison with October 2016. But, even so, the numbers were far below those recorded in October 2017, with 27.8% less, to be more precise. If this trend will remain the same, the first 10 months of 2017 will manage to exceed the maximum number of resold private residences of 2016, forecast predicting a total number of 12,600 units resold by the end of the year, which means 65% more than 2016 when only 7,633 units were resold.

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October was an incredible month for developers in Singapore, as they managed to sell 7% more homes then they did in the previous month. Numbers show that no less than 969 units were sold, both executive condominiums and private homes. What fueled this increase? Apparently, the fact that more new homes were launched and made available during the month of October meant that more people had the chance to find their ideal home. Thus, if in September the number of newly launched homes was just of 73 units, the situation looked much better in October, when 242 new launch condos were placed on the market by local developers.

If we are to exclude the executive condominiums out of the equation, we will manage to notice a considerable increase in the sale of private residences, developers managing to sell 15% more in this particular sector than they did in September. The Urban Redevelopment Authority decided to see the evolution of the real estate market, so it launched a survey among the developers of Singapore and checked out their performances. The numbers are quite impressive considering that only one new project was launched in October and we are talking about the Roxy-Pacific Holdings, called The Navian, in the Jalan Eunos area. The developer managed to launch half of its 48 units in October, also selling a total of 12 units, the average price of a unit being $1,543 per sq. ft.

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Collective sales are great, but they can also be a gamble. You can either win big or you can lose big, depending on the situation. The idea here is that you need to try and identify which is the right approach when it comes to investing in something like this.

The Singapore government does win from this, but the reality is that some collective sales did transform some property owners into winners too. So yes, there are some benefits to be had from things like this, you just have to know how to tackle all these things in a proper manner.

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We will have double the private housing units in 2 years

There’s no denying that the city is expanding at a very rapid pace, and a study has shown that the private housing number will just end up doubling in 2 years or so. The thing to note here is that private housing is becoming more and more impressive nowadays and it does bring in front a huge number of benefits. The thing to note here is that the vacancy rate is pretty low, around 8.4%, so there’s a lot of demand and even the vacancy rate is getting lower according to the trends.

It can be an issue for people with a poor track record, because they need a bit more accountability into the mix. It’s definitely one of the best ways to offer people the results they want and the government is carefully studying the market to see where it can deliver some good results. The thing to note here is that the standards are challenging to overcome all the time, but with the right focus and commitment things can be very good.

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The inflation levels are predicted to reach around 1.3% next year, and the workers are bound to get a salary increase of around 2.7%. While it may not seem a lot for plenty of people, this still shows the tremendous approach and unique set of features that you can expect in here. The thing to keep in mind is that the last year’s survey was bringing in some better expectations, but it seems that the inflation levels are a bit higher than the 1.1% they anticipated.

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Parc Botannia in Sengkang has managed to sell very well, in fact right during its weekend launch it managed to sell around 230 units. Not a record, but definitely one of the more interesting things you will want to get from something like this. And yes, the fact that you will see apartments sold here is quite interesting.

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Jurong island is the heart of Singapore’s petrochemical industry, and is home to some of the largest petroleum and chemical companies in the world. Singlehandedly, it enables the nation to compete as a major player in the industry despite having no crude oil deposits of its own. Located off the south west coast of Singapore, opposite Jurong Industrial estate, the island is connected to the mainland via a 2.3 kilometre long bridge. Today, Jurong Island is the largest of the islands that lie off Singapore proper, but that is a recent phenomenon, and as an island there is a lot more to it than initially meets the eye.

As recently as the 1960’s the area now occupied by today’s island was made up of 8 small islands, many home to stilted fishing villages. Gradually, these islands, via land reclamation, were joined together, until with the completion of the main project in 2009 (a full twenty years ahead of schedule), they became the Jurong Island we know today. Or not quite. Subsequent reclamation work has further pushed its coastline into the sea, and today the island covers a total area of 32 square kilometres, or 3,200 hectares.

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Electronics are still a large part of our lives and people around the world continue to buy the latest models emerged on the market, such as the new iPhone X. But this is only one mere example that sales in the electronics domain will continue to grow in 2018, as manufacturers expect to have an even better year than this year, which is almost over. When it comes to Singapore’s economy, the manufacturing industry is responsible of the fifth of it, making economists to rethink their forecasts when it came to the growth recorded by the country’s economy in 2017.

Irvin Seah, who is a DB senior economist, released a report in which he mentioned that he expects to see a considerable growth in Singapore’s economy, as it should reach 3.2% in the current year, in comparison with a previous prediction of 2.8%. It appears that both the global perspective, which improved steadily, and the incredible performances of the manufacturing industry, such numbers are indeed possible. Thus, manufacturers in Singapore, due to their efficient production strategies, are making economists reassess their forecasts and point toward a more significant economic growth.

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As part of its ongoing drive to improve efficiency and productivity in all of its construction projects the HDB has set out its plans for the coming years. Its ambitious target is to improve productivity (the floor space completed per day) by 20% by the year 2020, compared with its figures for 2010. From that date until the end of 2016, productivity improved by 12.3%, so just what are they proposing to do, to increase it by almost an extra 8% in a little over 3 years?

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The total amount of landed homes is increasing at a very rapid pace, in fact we are witnessing the largest number of deals when compared to the first few months this year. If it continues, it may very well be the biggest number for the past few years too, which is very interesting.

According to property consultants, this surge comes from the residential market recovery. The landed property prices were a bit too high for the past few years. However, there’s a strong buying activity at this time, and the pent up demand is very good too.

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It is a meeting of minds between two of Singapore’s very best companies, two industry leaders, which could have wide ranging implications for business in the city state. OCBC Bank and StarHub have decided to form a partnership which could bring several benefits to their customers.

OCBC Bank, as the reader would know is the largest bank in Singapore, formed in 1932, which boasts of an Aa1 rating from Moody’s – which is the highest given to any bank in the world. According to Bloomberg Markets OCBC Bank has the strongest financial structure in the global banking industry.

OCBC Bank has over 500 branches in more than 15 countries, including in Singapore, Malaysia, China and Indonesia. They offer a range of specialist financial services including corporate, consumer, insurance, stock broker and asset management services.

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Recently, we have seen a surge on collective sales, and a lot of people suspect that these may bring in a higher price as a whole. But will this happen or not? As you can imagine, something like this is very hard to say, however it seems that the larger demand will not have a huge impact on home prices.

Analysts are stating that more and more customers are focusing on private home sales, and it goes to show that the demand is many times higher than a few years ago. There are 2 reasons why these sales tend to be so popular right now, one of them being the fact that developers are trying to get more money to acquire new pieces of land to work on. There are around 17200 unsold units now too, when compared to 40000 last year, so there is indeed a huge difference as a whole.

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New Zealand seems to be dealing with some market problems at this time. The issue comes from foreign speculators that are constantly trying to make money off the market. And the problem is that locals are hardly finding the right models for them, so it’s crucial to optimize the market and cool it down as fast as possible.

There will be a bit of a hassle when it comes to doing that, but in the end the experience can be more than rewarding. The challenge is that prices have surged to the point where it’s very hard for younger persons to get a home here. The law change will obviously put a stop on buying more than a single building in a specific amount of time.

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Singapore has recently announced they will be launching city farms and rooftop gardens to add a natural,  eco-friendly environment to the area.

During a landscape designing event, the second minister of national development made the announcement.  He went on to say that this landscaping project has a goal to reintroduce natural surroundings that were destroyed with the over-development of high rises.  This project will bring back needed greenery landscaping that will enhance the city’s environment.

This project was first introduced to the city in 2009 encouraging developers to turn buildings and areas into eco-friendly environments and in turn get bonuses and exemptions for their efforts.  It was pointed out that this project could open up more spaces for green, lush, natural community areas.

Some Singapore Condos now have green walls that control temperatures and this concept is becoming extremely popular around the city.  Another positive outcome of the program will allow people to take up farming and gardening close to their homes including directly on their rooftops.  Developers are quickly discovering by turning rooftops into gardens, everyone will win.

One developer pointed out that by using an eco-friendly approach will attract residential buyers to purchase their properties.  People, in general, want nature closer to their city dwellings and this program seems to be just what residents and developers are looking for.

A scheme will be implemented to determine how much greenery will be brought into the project.  They will need to determine just how much nature will be appropriate and appealing.  Developers will have the opportunity to decide the level of greenery needed for the areas given to them for their projects.

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Also known as Serangoon Island/Pulau Serangoon, Coney Island is a piece of land laying off the coast between Punggol and  Pulau Ubin. It may be small – the island measures just 133ha – but it has a story worth telling, and has recently come once again into the public’s consciousness with the recent (October 2015) opening of the Coney Island Park, and its integration into the Park Connector Network.  Today joggers, cyclists and nature enthusiasts can access the nature reserve via two bridges that connect it to the mainland, one on each of its tips, whereas in days gone by the only way on and off the island was via boat.

The one thing Coney Island is probably most well-known for is as the former home of Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par – the two Burmese impresarios behind the Tiger Balm story. They bought the island, lock stock and barrel in 1936, but short of building the Haw Par Beach Villa they did very little else with it. That cannot be said of Ghulam Mahmood the Indian entrepreneur who bought it from them in 1950. Mahmood, was maybe ahead of his time, and in a precursor to what would eventually happen not too far away at Sentosa, he had grand schemes to turn the island into an amusement park, Asia’s equivalent of New York’s Coney Island. Accommodation was built, along with a dance hall, bars and a restaurant, but his dreams were never realised. Despite its new title, it didn’t live up to its namesake and just 3 years later the island was put up for auction.

Over the subsequent five decades the island fell back into obscurity while more than doubling in size due to reclamation efforts. The government, who retook ownership of the island, twice tabled plans to turn it once more into a recreation venue, but neither time it came to fruition.  The creation of the park however has given the island a new lease of life, and though the activities may not be as decadent as those envisaged by Mr Mahmood, the island has once again become a place for Singaporeans and visitors alike to visit and enjoy.

Once on the island there is nothing much to do apart from take in the peaceful and natural surroundings, and enjoy being close to nature. The 2.4km path that runs the length of the island and is part of the PCN, has several small rough paths running off it taking you to each of Coney Island’s five beaches. These may not be large, but they have been left as nature intended and are very picturesque as a result.  Elsewhere on the island, there is a boardwalk that allows visitors to explore the mangrove swamp. The original beach villa can also be visited though only as part of a guided tour due to its perilous state.

The only permanent residents on the island today are a rich and varied collection of wildlife, including as many as 80 different species of bird, as well as otters and long tailed macaques. Apart from the original owners of the island the next most famous resident was a Brahman cow, who sadly passed away in 2016.

Love Mother Nature? Below are some new launch condos that are close to parks and lakes.

• Parc Botannia
• Lake Grande
• Shunfu Condo
• Le Quest
• Sengkang EC (Executive Condo)