Monday, September 30, 2013
Sky Vue: Over 80% of released units sold on first day of launch!
The wife and I understand that Sky Vue, the latest residential offering in Bishan Central by CapitaLand and Mitsubishi Estate Asia had received overwhelming response from buyers on its first day of launch today.
As at 7:00pm on September 28, 410 of the 505 units released for sale have been sold, with one- and two-bedroom units being the most popular among buyers.
The average price achieved for all the units sold is $1,500psf. The average price of a one-bedroom unit is $750,000 while that of a two-bedroom unit is $933,000. The average price of a two-bedroom suite is $1.15 million and the average price of a three-bedroom unit is $1.58 million.
Located in Bishan Street 15, the 99-year leasehold development has a total of 694 units.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
New projects in Bishan/Thomson still hot despite cooling measures?
New property launches in choice locations such as Bishan and Thomson have been attracting interest from home buyers, despite recent curbs on housing loans.
Some analysts said this is because property prices have since softened and are now more competitive.
Potential home buyers have been checking out CapitaLand's latest project in Bishan - Sky Vue - since its showflat was open for previews last week.
More than a third of units at Sky Habitat have been sold since its launch in the first quarter of last year.
Although prices will be unveiled later this week, the average selling price of Sky Vue should range from $1,380 to $1,550psf.
This is lower than Sky Habitat's price range of $1,600 to $1,650psf.
CapitaLand said Sky Vue is targeted towards younger families, while Sky Habitat is for buyers who want the spaciousness of a landed property without the hassle of higher maintenance.
CapitaLand bagged both sites through the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme.
Its bid for the Sky Habitat site was at $869.36 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) in February 2011.
As for the next-door plot for Sky Vue, CapitaLand won the tender with a slightly lower bid of $852.94psf ppr in November last year.
CapitaLand said it is more than just price considerations when bidding for land.
Wong Heang Fine, CEO (Residential) at CapitaLand Singapore, said: “One cannot generalise unfortunately. The Singapore market has matured significantly over the last few years.
"There have been some launches that have great response, there are some launches that do not attract a lot of attention as well. The right product in the right location... is what the market is looking for.”
At a nearby project along Upper Thomson Road, Thomson Three's developers - UOL Group and Singapore Land – have said that more than 80% of its 200 units in Phase One have been sold.
Alan Cheong, research head at Savills Singapore, said: “We may see more competition on the supply side. One would try to achieve a sales rate that would suck up most of whatever they have launched upfront.
"Then they would think what they want to do next. This kind of competition would be healthy to investors in the long run.”
The average selling price of Thomson Three's units is around $1,350psf.
This is lower than what developers UOL and SingLand had earlier planned for before the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) scheme was introduced in June.
Source: Channel News Asia
Coincidentally, the SON and I passed by the sales gallery of Sky Vue last Sunday and it looked packed with viewers. However, there seemed to be more agents than viewers at Thomson Three's sales gallery located at Venus Drive (i.e. the road leading to SICC Thomson clubhouse) whenever we drove past during the past 2 weeks...
Thursday, September 19, 2013
New project Info: Sky Vue
Thanks to Cheryl of PR Communications Pte Ltd, enclosed are the media release and fact sheet for Sky Vue - the latest development by CapitaLand located in Bishan.
Initially called Bishan II (working name), Sky Vue is located next-door to CapitaLand's other upcoming project - Sky Habitat.
The wife and I understand that the show units and sales gallery are ready and official launch of Sky Vue is expected within the next 2 to 3 weeks.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/169273935/Sky-Vue-Media-Release#fullscreen
http://www.scribd.com/doc/169273943/Sky-Vue-Fact-Sheet#fullscreen
Monday, September 16, 2013
August private home demand up 54%!
Demand for new private homes in Singapore surged nearly 54% on-month in August, after the sharp decline seen in July.
According to latest figures from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), 742 new private homes were sold last month, compared to the 482 units transacted in July.
The best-selling project in August was The Tembusu at Tampines Road with 218 units sold.
Including executive condominiums (EC), a total of 1,468 new homes were sold in August, with ECs accounting for nearly half of August's sales.
The most popular EC projects were Ecopolitan at Punggol with 335 units sold and Lush Acres at Sengkang, selling 311 units.
Source: Channel News Asia
Monday, September 9, 2013
August private homes resale prices hit record high!
Resale prices of private homes have surged to record highs in August.
This is despite a slew of property cooling measures introduced by the government, including recent curbs on housing loans.
Still, analysts are mixed on their outlook on where private property prices are heading.
Prices of private non-landed residential resale units climbed 1.5% last month, according to data compiled by the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX).
This follows a 0.5% decline in the previous month.
Yet, the number of homes changing hands last month dipped marginally.
540 private homes were sold in the resale market in August, slightly lower than 573 units transacted in July.
Recent loan curbs were cited for slowing down the market.
Jeffrey Hong, CEO of GPS Alliance, said: “I think the resale property prices in the next 1-2 months will basically be very stagnant. Buyers are waiting along the sidelines to watch for any good buy or prices dropping further... I think towards the end of the year, I would see some price corrections but not by a lot. I think it's about 3-5%.
Introduced in June, the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) framework limits how much property buyers can borrow to buy homes. Banks now have to check if a borrower's total repayments of car, student or mortgage loans do not exceed 60% of their gross income.
Other market watchers said the TDSR has also pushed buyers to look for smaller units - those costing between $800,000 and $1 million in August. The upper range is expected to increase to $1.2 million.
However, this means units sold would record higher prices on a per square foot basis.
The resale market saw price increases across all locations.
Private home prices in the city fringe led the market with a 2.4% gain.
This is followed by resale prices of homes in the city - at a 1.8% increase.
Mass market resale home prices inched up 0.2% last month.
Going forward, analysts expect prices of suburban homes to remain stable at current levels.
Lim Yong Hock, key executive officer at PropNex, said: “I think the developers and home buyers are now very cautious, especially now with the latest news of the recent announcement of TDSR. First of all, the developers know it's for the mass markets, so the price cannot be too high. I don't think the price will go down with the fact that land bid prices are still remaining strong and developers are still confident in the future.”
On Thursday, a land tender for a mixed use site in Yishun beat market expectations with a top bid of $1.43 billion - 43% higher than the second highest bid.
Speaking of TDSR, the wife and I have experienced first hand how stringent the restriction can be. With only a small car loan and a remaining mortgage of about 30% of the current valuation of our property, the maximum refinancing that we can obtain from our bank is another 20% of our current valuation! However, TDSR does not apply for overseas property purchase so it is no wonder that more and more local buyers are looking outwards.
This is despite a slew of property cooling measures introduced by the government, including recent curbs on housing loans.
Still, analysts are mixed on their outlook on where private property prices are heading.
Prices of private non-landed residential resale units climbed 1.5% last month, according to data compiled by the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX).
This follows a 0.5% decline in the previous month.
Yet, the number of homes changing hands last month dipped marginally.
540 private homes were sold in the resale market in August, slightly lower than 573 units transacted in July.
Recent loan curbs were cited for slowing down the market.
Jeffrey Hong, CEO of GPS Alliance, said: “I think the resale property prices in the next 1-2 months will basically be very stagnant. Buyers are waiting along the sidelines to watch for any good buy or prices dropping further... I think towards the end of the year, I would see some price corrections but not by a lot. I think it's about 3-5%.
Introduced in June, the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) framework limits how much property buyers can borrow to buy homes. Banks now have to check if a borrower's total repayments of car, student or mortgage loans do not exceed 60% of their gross income.
Other market watchers said the TDSR has also pushed buyers to look for smaller units - those costing between $800,000 and $1 million in August. The upper range is expected to increase to $1.2 million.
However, this means units sold would record higher prices on a per square foot basis.
The resale market saw price increases across all locations.
Private home prices in the city fringe led the market with a 2.4% gain.
This is followed by resale prices of homes in the city - at a 1.8% increase.
Mass market resale home prices inched up 0.2% last month.
Going forward, analysts expect prices of suburban homes to remain stable at current levels.
Lim Yong Hock, key executive officer at PropNex, said: “I think the developers and home buyers are now very cautious, especially now with the latest news of the recent announcement of TDSR. First of all, the developers know it's for the mass markets, so the price cannot be too high. I don't think the price will go down with the fact that land bid prices are still remaining strong and developers are still confident in the future.”
On Thursday, a land tender for a mixed use site in Yishun beat market expectations with a top bid of $1.43 billion - 43% higher than the second highest bid.
Source: Channel News Asia
Speaking of TDSR, the wife and I have experienced first hand how stringent the restriction can be. With only a small car loan and a remaining mortgage of about 30% of the current valuation of our property, the maximum refinancing that we can obtain from our bank is another 20% of our current valuation! However, TDSR does not apply for overseas property purchase so it is no wonder that more and more local buyers are looking outwards.