0.7% fall in non-landed private home prices in October

Prices of non-landed private homes fell by 0.7% in October, according to the monthly index compiled by the National University of Singapore (NUS).

According to a BT report today, NUS’ Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) shows overall home prices fell last month, after having climbed 1.1% per month in both August and September.

The last time the overall index fell was in July, when it dipped 0.1%. NUS has been compiling the index since March this year.

October’s drop was caused by falling prices in the “central” and “non-central” locations.

Home prices in central locations fell 1.1% last month, after climbing 0.9% in September. The central SRPI last fell in July, by 0.8%.

And in a sign that the slowdown in the property market is now spreading to the mass market segment, the non-central SRPI dipped 0.5% in October – the first time it has fallen since NUS started compiling the index. The non-central SRPI rose 1.3% in September.

Year-to-date, the overall SRPI is up 10.7%. Non-central prices are up 12.8%, while prices in the central region have climbed a smaller 8.1%.

The October flash estimate for the central region is now 3.6% below its pre-financial crisis high in November 2007.

However, for the non-central region, the latest index has surpassed its pre-crisis peak in January 2008 by 14.9%.

As a result, the overall SRPI flash estimate for October is 7.6% above its November 2007 high.

Looking ahead, analysts expect mass market home prices to moderate further, given the impending large supply of development sites being offered for sale by the government.

“Most of the sites in the H1 2011 Government Land Sales programme will inject supply to the mass market segment, and this may rein in mass market home prices,” said Christine Sun, senior manager at Savills Research & Consultancy. But it will have little impact on the mid-tier and luxury home prices, which could rise further, given the positive economic outlook for next year, she said.

DMG & Partners Research analyst Brandon Lee, for example, expects a 10% fall in mass market home prices due to supply and continued policy risks.

NUS’ index, which is compiled by the Institute of Real Estate Studies, was launched to serve as a resource for developing property derivatives in Singapore.

It is computed using the market values of a basket of completed properties.

Uncompleted projects are not included in the basket, as price movements for such projects can be different from those in the rest of the market.

But the impact of new launches on the prices of completed properties in the vicinity is factored in.


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Sales Status: d'Leedon, Spottiswoode Residences & Waterview

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d’Leedon

During the weekend, CapitaLand sold 48 units at d’Leedon – where Farrer Court used to be – for an average of $1,680psf. It previewed the project only to former Farrer Court owners and 266 households visited the show gallery.

Units sold included one+study, two- and three-bedder units. The former residents were able to choose from 200 units of various sizes across all floors in two towers.

The 99-year leasehold d’Leedon will have 1,703 apartments spread over seven towers and 12 semi-detached houses. Official sales will start this Thursday.

Spottiswoode Residences

UOL Group has sold a total of 252 units out of 320 launched at the freehold Spottiswoode Residences. Selling prices ranged from $1,720 to $2,270psf.

Sales at the project near Tanjong Pagar have been brisk. It was first launched about two weeks ago and 130 units were taken up during a three-day preview, out of 150 released then. The highest price achieved for those 130 units were $2,150psf.

A UOL spokesman said sales of the three-bedroom units were good and almost all of the development’s seven penthouses have been sold.

Waterview

Over at Tampines, Sim Lian Group has sold 375 units at Waterview at an average price of $838psf. It has launched 500 units in the 99-year leasehold project so far.

Sales have risen from last Monday, when the developer said that it sold 332 units.

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Farewell Uncle Pete...

You may wonder what this has got to do with the Singapore private property scene, but do bear with us for the moment.

Uncle Pete was a family friend of ours. My dad used to work under him while he was GM for a foregin-based insurance company.

I remembered the Chinese New Year visits to his home in the Sembawang area when I was a teen. The piece of land that his bungalow stood on was so huge that you can easily park 8 cars in his front porch. Uncle Pete also used to hold big parties in his garden.

However, Uncle Pete's fortune began to turn with the 1997-98 financial crisis. During the property bull runs prior to 1997, he has accumulated several residential properties for investment purpose at what was considered then "market prices". As the financial crisis unfolded, all of these properties had gone "underwater" and his financial resources became severely overstretched.

With the banks on his back calling back loans given the drastic reduction in valuations on his investment properties, Uncle Pete was forced to dispose of all his properties at loss and also had to sell his bungalow to pay off the balance of his bank loans. His misery was compounded by several miscalculated career moves.

Uncle Pete was a pale shadow of himself thereafter. He lost his high-flying job and was unable to find a similiar position given his age (despite his experience and status within the industry). The last I have heard, he was working as an insurance agent and living in a 3-room HDB flat. His health also begun to fail on him.

Uncle Pete passed away last evening due to his protracted illness. May he rests in peace!

And given the subtle indications that we may be turning the corner from this red hot property market, Uncle Pete's story is probably another timely reminder that we should buy within our means...

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It's d'Leedon NOT D'Leedon: More info about launch

The wife and I have posted an article on Wednesday about d’Leedon (yes, it now looks like the first ‘d’ in d’Leedon is not capitalized). The ST today has provided more information about the launch of this new development.

Units will be launched at an average price of $1,680psf. That makes the cheapest apartments – 635sqft units with a bedroom and study (this ran contrary to earlier report by the BT that the smallest units in d’Leedon will be about 900sqft) – less than $1 million. A typical two-bedder of 1,055sqft would set a buyer back $1.5 million.

The project is on the site of the former Farrer Court estate, which was sold in a collective sale in 2007. A first phase of 200 units will be launched for sale this weekend to fromer Farrer Court residents. Developer CapitaLand said a public launch would likely follow soon after.

There has been a healthy level of interest among former Farrer Court residents, said Mr. Wong Heang Fine, chief executive officer of CapitaLand Residential. He told a briefing yesterday that 300 of the 600 former residents said they would attend a preview last night.

CapitaLand could adjust prices, depending on how this weekend’s launch goes. The 200 units being launched ranged from one- to four-bedroom apartments and are in two 36-storey towers. The entire project consists of 1,703 apartments in seven towers and 12 semi-detached villas.

Although d’Leedon sits on a huge site of over 840,000sqft, only 22% of the land area is being taken up by homes. The rest is slated for gardens, facilities such as two swimming pools and a gym and retail outlets, which could include restaurants, a Laundromat and a clinic.

And from a RODYK news report that we have managed to gather over the internet, the wife and I understand that the ex Farrer Court estate was sold to Morgonite Pte Ltd, a consortium comprising CapitaLand, Hotel Properties and Wachovia Development Corporation, in June 2007 for $1.3388 billion.

Each of the 618 owners received sums of $2.238 million or $2.722 million per unit, depending on the size of their units, which were either 1,615 sq ft or 1,453 sq ft. Based on the apartments' existing strata areas, the proceeds worked out to $1,386 psf and $1,460 psf respectively.

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D'Leedon (or Ex-Farrer Court) open for sale!

As the wife and I were busy moving into our “temporary shelter for the next year or so” yesterday, we only had the time to read the papers today.

It was reported in the BT yesterday that CapitaLand has started marketing D’Leedon, the 1,715-unit, 99-year leasehold residential project it will build on the site of the former Farrer Court.


The D’Leedon showflat has been built and agents have started distributing flyers to prospective buyers.

Units in the District 10 project on Farrer Road will mostly be priced upwards of $1,600psf for the most part.

In terms of the number of units, D’Leedon is believed to be the largest single condominium project ever in Singapore.

But CapitaLand is expected to rollout the projects only in phases.

The developer paid a record $1.3 billion for Farrer Court in a collective sale in June 2007 at the peak of the property boom.

That worked out to as much as $783psf of potential gross floor area.

In 2008, CapitaLand said the entire development would cost around $3 billion and would be in the recognised style of architect Zaha Hadid, the first female recipient of the coveted Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Patricia Chia, who was then head of CapitaLand’s residential arm, pegged the project’s breakeven cost at around $1,350psf to $1,450psf.

D’Leedon will comprise seven high-end residential towers and 12 villas.

The smallest condominium units will be about 900sqft, while some villas will be larger than 4,000sqft.

Zaha Hadid Architects’ design for D’Leedon consists of seven 36-storey, 150-metre towers that will appear to “grow” from sunken private gardens in the project’s landscape.

The towers themselves are sub-divided into “petals”, according to the number of residential units on each floor.

The tops of the buildings will be a series of "fingers" stepped at different heights.

Given the "upwards of $1,600psf" price-tag for D'Leedon, the wife and I certainly expect the quality of interior furnishings of D'Leedon to be much better than what we last saw at The Interlace. Marble floors for the living/dining area for starters, perhaps...?

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