Month: March 2018

 

The collective market has seen another four freehold residential development sites of different region go on the market in Singapore for millions of dollars. The insatiable demand for development has taken the market by storm over the last few months, causing many residential properties to choose to sell their land. The four residential sites include the Asia Gardens which is in the central Singapore along Everton Road, Park View Mansions which is the West and is close to the Jurong Business District, Moulmein Rise, and Katong Omega Apartments.

Read more

Bidding for sites across Singapore are very actively taking place across Singapore. Developers firmly believe that supply and demand for executive condominiums will drive bidding higher and higher. There is a great deal of speculation where this will go during this year. Some analysts are still quite skeptical and warning developers to slow down a bit. That said, developers are not sharing their views and believe the market is ripe for picking.

 

City Development Land Constellation, in joint-venture with TID Residential, won the bid for executive condominium site, setting the highest record for Executive Condo Land. The winning bid was a stunning $509.37 million, equating to $583 per square foot per plot ratio. This price was higher than anyone could have imagined and believed it’s due to a shortage of executive condos in Singapore. The executive condo site on Sumang Walk in Punggol brought in an astonishing 17 bids and closed on Tuesday. Acting as land sales agent, the site’s tender was conducted by the Housing & Development Board.

Read more

Starting at the beginning of this year, we keep hearing about how well the economy of Singapore is doing, as it began to recover and follow a positive trend since the last part of 2017. But, for the moment, the households of Singapore are only seeing the numbers, as there are no palpable effects of this economic improvements just yet. Still, the statistics are showing that we are doing better than in 2016. So, according to a report made public by the Department of Statistics, a medium sized household had its income increased by 2% every month starting with 2016. Thus, if this income was around $8,846 in 2016, it reached $9,023 in the year that just passed.

 

But, of course, the numbers are a bit better than what is actually happens in reality. So, the increase was only 1.5% because we had to think about the inflation as well and cut it from the increase the authorities are bragging about. Still, having in mind that the economy surprised everyone with its improvements that exceeded all expectations, an increase of 3.5% is expected to be recorded during the remainder of the year. Even so, some state that the income of the average household increased by 2.6% in reality, in spite of an economy that was not showing signs of improvement at the moment. According to experts, this happened because of two main reasons.

Read more

While it is not believed that the rise in the value of Buyer Stamp’s Duty will affect the current recovery of the property market in Singapore in any way, this change may affect the prices of future projects. The much higher prices of land, which falls in the expenses supported by developers, is another factor that can lead to a price rise as well, according to specialists. According to Mr. Augustine Tan, who is the president of Redas, or Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore, the sudden increase in this particular stamp duty will not impair the recovery of the market in this sector, although it may cause a certain degree of friction. Home buyers are still reacting to prices in a very sensitive manner, but they will still do their best to obtain the desired property.

 

Mr. Tan spread the good news at a lunch during the Spring Festival, an event that is celebrated every year by Redas. Having no less than 620 guests, there were plenty of people to hear the news and share them with the rest. As Mr. Tan said, the recovery of the market is just in its beginnings, but the feelings are positive about it and it is expected to the trend to continue in the same manner. Although there are circumstances that are difficult to predict, the economic growth recorded in Singapore in recent times, which is more than expected, gives everyone hope that that the positive trends will remain the same in the following years.

But, in spite of all these increased, the property prices in Singapore are still affordable, if we are to compare them with what you can find in larger cities like London or Shanghai. While it takes 14 or 15 years to afford a property in Beijing or Shanghai, and 8 and a half years to afford one in London, it takes only 4 or 5 years to be able to afford one in Singapore. So, the situation is by far a grim one. It is also worth mentioning that the rise in buyer’s stamp duty applies only in the case of properties that cost more than $1 million. For the properties that have a selling price of $1 million or less, the stamp duty will remain in the 1 to 3% area, as it did so far.

Let us not forget that property prices were on a constant drop in the past years, falling 3.7% in 2015 and 3.1% in 2016. Last year the first raise was recorded, of 1.1%, in the past 3 years, so we are still far from having to face large prices. Desmond Lee, who is the Second Minister for National Development said that even though he is confident in the market growth Singapore is enjoying at the moment, the number of properties that will be available for sale will likely double or go beyond this threshold in the near future. At the end of 2017 alone there were no less than 17,000 unsold properties, so we tend to believe Mr. Lee. Mr. Tan added the fact that there may be more than 34,400 private residences available on the market between 2018 and 2019, a number that is generated by the sales of land sites that have not received planning approval just yet. But he also said that the limited land availability in Singapore will lead to the development of properties with mix uses, if the country and its developers wish to maintain the economic growth and meet the demand.

http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/prices-at-new-projects-may-rise-due-to-hike-in-duty

 

 

 

Upcoming new launch condos in Singapore

• Shunfu Condo
• Woodleigh Condo
• Rivercove Residences

 

Upcoming new launches that are freehold

• Harbour View Gardens
• The Verandah Residences

 

 

The job market in Singapore could be seriously refreshed by new investments in the offshore engineering and marine sectors. Besides bringing an additional $5.8 billion to the local budget, these investments will also generate approximately 1,500 new positions on the job market until 2025. A team formed out of the representatives of several agencies and managed by the Economic Development Board came out with a plan involving roads that are meant to refresh these two sectors of Singapore’s industry. Also, a few days ago, a map that presented the transformations that were going to take place in these industries was released by S. Iswaran, who is the current Minister for Trade and Industry.

 

The Economic Development Board, or EDB, mentioned, in a public statement, the fact that the offshore engineering and marine sectors went through three very difficult years. Also, the significant decrease in the price of oil that took place in 2014 did nothing but aggravate the situation. Even so, these two sectors are still very important for the economy of Singapore, offering jobs to 23,000 locals and bringing $3.6 billion to the GDP of the country. The Government couldn’t just stand and do nothing while this part of the industry was being challenged, so it came up with measures meant to offer support to the business owners in these sectors during the years of hardship. Thus, two different schemes were used, the Internationalization Finance Scheme and Spring Singapore’s Bridging Loan. These schemes provided loans to approximately 100 different companies, or more, which summed up the amount of $700 million. The majority of the companies that applied for such a loan were the small and medium ones.

Read more