A New Age Singapore Real Estate Salesperson For You

We’ve discussed earlier on exclusivity and its importance especially for resale homes today to get sold effectively. We will now touch on the trending of real estate salesperson role change for you to understand how market has also evolved.

Buyers Market

For the past 3 years it has been a primary buyers market. There was a short period of time when market started to pick up and it belonged to the sellers until July 2018 when the last cooling measure was introduced. LTV was reduced and ABSD was increased by 5 points.

It wasn’t made any better when the HDB was unsure of how to respond when citizens were asking about what happens thereafter when their apartments reached 99 years; thus floated the tenure decay term. This has been since patched by Prime Minister Lee’s National Day Rally speech in August 2018 with a VERS solution apart from their usual SERS exercises.

Real estate salesperson whom primarily only serves the resale sellers during this period suffers a decline in transactions for both private resale and HDB homes.

New Home Rush Drove Primary Sales Numbers

Home buyers has been predominantly driving up the primary sale numbers on identifying values from prices that the developers are priced for their inventory.

Affinity at Serangoon, one of the many quality products of award winning local developer Oxley Holdings
Affinity at Serangoon, one of the many quality products of award winning local developer Oxley Holdings

The sheer numbers for primary sale to do well has got to do with many effects in play including merits such as developers reputation, location, product offerings and pricing as developers usually priced them well especially at the launch stage before adjusting median prices upwards overtime, allowing home buyers to sit with a paper gain when the developments obtain Temporary Occupation Period (TOP).

There is also a step up on the real estate agencies with consumer enrichment and awareness with great value knowledge not normally presented that steps up the engagement from the realtors to the intended home purchasers for transparency and product awareness.

A SRI Enrich Consumer seminar for home purchasers with SRI Managing Partner Ken Low
A SRI Enrich Consumer seminar for home purchasers with SRI Managing Partner Ken Low

The Consultant Trend

We see a newborn consulting role which salesperson assumes new responsibilities in growing wealth and sophistication methods such as decoupling to assist consumers in leveraging for another asset.

Realtors undergo trainings to understand their clients needs better by picking up skill sets from the banking calculations, and understanding better on possible legal solutions to offer solutions.

Such solutions if being effectively and responsibly offered would benefit home owners in the long run as real estate is a long term investment.

As mentioned with new added abilities of marketing, traditional realtors whom usually chooses sides (doing either more of buyers or sellers) are doing both extremely well with technology adaptation and wide spread knowledge trainings that the realty companies provide them with.

One of the many SRI Enrich for Realtors as they step up their Facebook marketing campaigns.
One of the many SRI Enrich for realtors as they step up their Facebook marketing campaigns.

Trust is a two-way street

Not all clients are suitable for such leveraging and real estate is one sure but not the only way to grow wealth effectively. Again, clients would be in safer hands having trusted realtors since sensitive information such as net worth might need to be diverged for a clear structured advice.

Trust is a two-way. If the realtor exercises responsibility and common sense when advising, the plan should be sound based on the objectives of the client and will nurture a business relationship in the long run.

Greater Southern Waterfront Update – What We Know

As Greater Southern Waterfront unveils itself, these are the pointers and timeline on what is happening in the prime south of Singapore:-

It’s 6 times the size of Marina Bay. On such grand scale that tips our southern coastline by 30km and spanning over 200 hectares, you can imagine the huge transformation that unveils in the next decade for the young and old.

National Day Rally – Greater Southern Waterfront

First Stop – Keppel Club to yield Private and Public Housing

Both public and private housing will occupy Keppel Club (44 hectares) as its lease expires in 2.5 years time and will yield approximately 9,000 homes. It will be interesting to see how HDB will house its public housing within this prime waterfront plot by tweaking MOP or tenure. Commercial waterfront nodes will also be included in the precinct fulfilling Live, Work and Play. This will also allow people of different backgrounds and income levels to enjoy seafront living, creating a good sense of diversity.

Sentosa rejuvenates and Pulau Brani will have a Downtown South

As part of Sentosa rejuvenation plans in line with also Integrated Resort 2.0, the Government will revitalise it’s beach line and expands its heritage trails.

The life style resort housed by NTUC labour movement in the East will have a new brother in Pulau Brani as PM Lee promised a Downtown South.

Power Plants in Pasir Panjang going for a transformation

Aerial view of Pasir Panjang Power Plants (Source – URA)

Two former power plants are going through idea calls on how they could be transformed. Prime Minister in his NDR speech asked the Nation to imagine how St James Power Station was transformed that has given an iconic night life spot for Singapore for the past 2 decades. We won’t know what is going to happen there for now, but the project name at this point is called “Power-up Pasir Panjang

Green and Blue Connects – The Extension of Park Connectors

Connectivity improvements with the new parks. (Source – URA)

The green reserves and parks will be connected by a water promenade. Pasir Panjang Linear Park connects both West Coast Park and Labrador Nature reserve where existing waterfront promenade where condominium projects such as Reflections, Caribbean and Corals at Keppel Bay is connected. The West and the East Coast gets connected, giving lifestyle choices for families and sportsmen to stretch their activities all the way towards Changi Airport.

Sentosa-Brani To Start Construction 2019 Q4

Announced on 20th of September 2019, the 37m tall Merlion will make way for a 30,000 sqm multi-sensory walk-way. The walk-way will complete in 2022.

Artiste Impression of Brani-Sentosa (Image Credit – Sentosa Development Corporation)

Hailed as Sentosa Sensory, it will connect RWS Sentosa in the north to the southern beaches of Sentosa. As a two-tier walk way, it aims to stimulate all human senses, touch, sound and smell from the audience’s walking experience.

As Greater Southern Waterfront unfolds, watch out for this space on updates.


Looking for homes that will benefit from Greater Southern Waterfront growth stories? Check out Avenue South Residence by UOL.

New Cooling Measures Effective Today – ABSD & LTV adjustment

With immediate effect, the cooling measures shall take place. Attached are summary of how the ABSD (Additional Buyer Stamp Duty) and LTV (Bank Loan to Value) is adjusted in points.

 

These bittersweet move is somewhat anticipated yet executed very quickly, causing an overnight uproar of sales over showrooms. These measures should hamper existing buying sentiments and should effectively cool en bloc cycle and foreigners’ interest in Singapore residential market.

New Master Plan 2014 is Gazetted

After a long time wait, the Chief Planner has finally gazetted the new plans which will determine the land laws for the next 5 years.

Published Date: 06 Jun 2014

The Chief Planner has gazetted the Master Plan 2014 on 6 June 2014. The Master Plan 2014 is the statutory land use plan that guides the physical development of Singapore for the medium term.

As part of the Master Plan, all 75 heritage buildings proposed for conservation under the Draft Master Plan 2013 were also gazetted today. See Annex A for the list of buildings.

The gazetting of the Master Plan concludes the year-long review of the Draft Master Plan 2013, which was exhibited in November 2013 for a month at The URA Centre Atrium and URA website. During this period, the exhibition attracted some 61,000 visitors, and the website had more than 513,000 page views. The review also involved consultations with Members of Parliament, grassroots leaders, professional institutions and other stakeholders. We thank members of the public for their positive and constructive feedback.

Read the full release here. To view the gazetted Master Plan 2014, you can browse it here.

Redhill GLS – Litmus Test to Singapore Market

The Singapore Government has cut short of supply to their Government Land Sales with the announcement of 7 new sites for next year in H1 2014. Of the 7, 4,630 private apartments can be carved to the supply and it’s one of the lowest supply introduced since 2010.

Right next to Wingtai’s “The Crest” (960 psfppr in September 13) would be the only GLS plot (2.37ha) which is at City fringe for H1 2014 and can potentially yield 655 homes would be the highlight of the exercise.

This would be a good indicator of Singapore developers sentiments for the market on whether are they still positive on topping and developing their land bank for the consumers.

With limited residential supplies coming online, the Government is watching very closely on the supplies as well to prepare a soft landing should the market do some corrections.

this is an interesting plot

ps. What’s interesting to me would be the commercial plot which is right next to City Plaza. The area has a good vibe going on with UOL’s Katong Regency coming online.

Cooling Measure for Executive Condominiums

To complete the loop for a sustainable Executive Condominium (ECs) market, Ministry of National Development has introduced 3 primary measures to the EC segment, primarily:-

  • Reduce EC Cancellation Fees – From existing 20% down to 5%
  • Resale Levy for Second-Timer Applicants – Formerly second timers are not required to pay a levy. This is applicable to only new EC land sales which are launched on or after 9th December 2013
  • Revision of Mortgage Loan Terms – From a previous mortgage servicing ratio (MSR) level of 60% to now 30% of a borrower’s gross monthly income. The MSR cap will apply to EC purchases from today onwards.

You can read more from the official source.

How will it affect the EC Market?

This will still primarily drive the 1st timers to purchase at ease and since they have lower cancellation fee, this would allow them to think prudently on their financing capability. Backing out would be less painful for them.

2nd timers would probably rush for existing EC launches prior before today so they would be able to avoid the levy. Again, these pool of purchasers would weed out in the market gradually.

EC developers would also be more careful when it comes to bidding for future EC land when it comes to affordability of EC purchasers since the MSR level came down drastically. We’ll see more competitive land bids for future plots; if not lesser.

Will it affect the Overall Market?

As of current, the primary indicator would still be HDB. With HDB prices tapering and aggressive supplies in the pipeline introduced by the government coming online, this would be the median basis of the fundamentals.

Prices should soften for the resale market for the next two quarters, as we’re experiencing a shift of tide already from the seller to the buyer’s market.

Whilst prices might soften, residential buyers should not expect a drastic drop in pricing as the rental market for residential segment is still active.

Riots at Little India Resolved, Roads are Open

Little India Riot - credits to TodayOnline

Riots happened in Little India last night around 9.30pm at the cross junction of Race Course Road and Hampshire Road involving at least 400 people, involving some 300 police both Special Operations Command (SOC) and the Gurkhas Contingent were activated to mobilise the incident. You can read more about it in Straits Times Online.

Personal Thoughts

As of most Singaporeans, I had trouble sleeping knowing there was mishap happening in the country. The speed of social media’s reach was amazing. Twitter triumph all social platforms on the updates, even faster than our news media since the first photo of the riot was posted, and videos follow suit in Youtube for the explosions of the emergency vehicles. A hashtag search on #littleindiariot and you would get the latest updates with Minister Tan Chuan-Jin (@chuanjin1) pleading the public to stay calm during the ordeal. The tag has caught a huge global audience with the trending ranks of Twitter.

Kudos to the effective Home Team whom managed to subdue the angry mob within a short period of time without even firing a shot (Having gone through Army, I understand the rules of engagement well). At least no one else apart from the traffic accident was killed amidst the riot. My heartfelt gratitude to the peacekeeping HomeTeam and people whom are trying to help on site even amidst the chaos. Continue reading “Riots at Little India Resolved, Roads are Open”

URA Masterplan 2013 is almost here. MCE too

URA Masterplan 2013

Remember I’ve mentioned about the Masterplan is due for update this year? Channel News Asia did a report on the draft Masterplan 2013 which should be exhibiting soon and will be then finalized by next year. Recently I had a discussion with a developer friend and we suspect that there might be some land intensification in this version.

Either intensity or not, this version of Masterplan would be exciting to look at since the current version based on 2008 with revisions of street blocks over the years was definitely deemed successful in terms of urban planning for the nation.

Marina Coast Expressway (MCE) to be opened on 29 December

Probably one of the most costliest expressway to construct (and the most expensive expressway ever built in Singapore), this 10th exciting expressway is set to debute by the end of the year. With this 5km that connects to mainly the Marina Bay area as well as major expressways including KPE, ECP and AYE, this will ease and definitely improve traffic landscape.

Exciting changes doesn’t really end there. This definitely benefits some of the residential and commercial elements along the expressway which has a sea view that was previously pegged by noise levels from ECP.

Watch the video here to understand more about MCE.