Singapore Private Residential Price Plunged Further in Q1 2009

URA Released Figures for Q1 2009

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has released its figure for 1st quarter of this year on its real estate statistics. The figures for private residential sale prices has declined 14.1% on overall, abeit slightly more over the projected rate of 13.8% by URA.

Rest of Central Region was hit the hardest with a -17.0% quarter on quarter (qoq), with Core Central Region (CCR) at 16.2% and Outside Central Region (OCR) at 7.3% qoq.

Landed residential decline softer than its non-landed counterparts at 9.2% (qoq).

Rentals Have Dipped

Rentals have fell by 8.5% this quarter, as compared to the previous quarter of 5,3%, a much sharper dip. You can download a compilation of rentals data with individual residential projects here.

Even HDB data wasn’t spared either. Although HDB prices are still holding up, but the cash over valuation (COV) has been declining since Q1 2008. A complete data release is on URA’s website.

Will The Slide Stop From Here?

Highly unlikely. We will see further contraction in prices before it eases out. Property prices are highly tied to economy status and reacts especially much to local stock market situation. As property price index is a lagging indicator, until our economy picks up, we won’t see any high rally in property prices anytime soon. You can take a look on Salary.sg’s chart which pegs STI’s performa to property market index.

Again, we should see secondary sub-sale market picking up as supplies are getting ready soon. Pressure will be on buyers who have purchased their homes on Deferred Payment Scheme (DPS) and have not secured their finances.

More analysis from Nicholas Mak, Knight Frank on URA Q1 released data here.

Definition Areas of CCR, RCR and OCR

Core Central Region (CCR)

Singapore prime postal district areas 9, 10, 11, Downtown Planning area and Sentosa.

Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR)

Postal district areas that are outside Core Central Region 9, 10, 11, Downtown Planning area and Sentosa.

RCR areas are depicted in the Central Region Boundary line excluding CCR. Any areas which is out of the boundary line is considered OCR.

Refer to the map from URA here.

Key Collection for Tierra Vue in July 2009

Key Collection for Tierra Vue Owners this July

It’s confirmed. A Tierra Vue owner client of mine has gave me a call 2 weeks ago to inform me about his unit’s keys availability in July as his solicitor has asked him to get ready.

He has sneaked into his unit and has a couple of shots of his unit as well as the surrounding compiled in pdf. Any interested parties of Tierra Vue can take a look at his duplex unit which is open for sale as well. You can contact me for more information.

A General Overview on Tierra Vue (Pre-TOP)

Actually I have snicked in before when the gardeners are doing the landscaping for Tierra Vue. The general feel for the project is good, nice ambience, decent sized project.

There are a few good factors which should be able to maintain the price of Tierra Vue project at its developer’s price; again it’s a bet. We know Tierra Vue’s pricing wasn’t the most ideal for buyers at the time of launch; median about 890psf, which is pretty high.

Good Finishing, Bedroom Sizes Err..

MCL Land’s finishings for projects has always been decent. I’ve peeked into the ground floor units. You have decent finishing for sure. A probable complain would be about the bedroom sizes. Again, most of the new projects have this same problem with the bedroom sizes. To overcome this problem, you can always consult your Interior Designer for space-saving techniques.

Prices for Tierra Vue

Since we know the launched developer’s price was high, we expect most current owners wouldn’t mind breaking even should there be any chances; As we can see lately there was two transactions (a 3 and a 2 bedder) in February and March that was clearly underwater.

Whether the transaction prices could still hold would determine on the key collection phase whether the owners will have the ‘Wow’ factor when they open the door to their apartment. We would expect some transactions to happen still before the TOP phase in July.

You can find more information about Tierra Vue and download a copy of the catalogue here.

CDL’s The Arte Sells Over 80% in Phase I

Good news for sustaining the following month’s home sales index with the numbers The Arte has helped to crunch.

City Development has sold over 80% of its Phase I released units, which is 150 units out of its total 336, 44% of the overall numbers in the project. The median sold price for The Arte during the launch is at $880 psf, a very affordable and fair range for Thomson-Balestier area.

Home Sales Figure Holds Strong In March

Home sales figure reported for March breached the 1,000 figure again with 1,220 units sold, holding up strongly with projects such as Caspian, Double Bay Residences, Mi Casa and The Quartz, all priced below the $1,000 per square foot range.

The mid-tier market is still running the numbers, with many seeing this as a good opportunity to switch between HDB and private apartments as HDB prices are still holding where the private segment has been falling significantly from November 2008 till date.

About The Arte

The Arte (District 12), a freehold 336 apartment (2 blocks of 36 storeys) development by City Development, is well situated in Thomson within minutes driving distance to Central Business District, close proximity to both Novena and Toa Payoh MRT Station.

Within the radius are good schools and upcoming overseas universities. This development has a future niche be it on rental or for parents who are planning for their kids to enrol in good schools.

The expected TOP date for the Arte is in December 2012. You can download a pdf version of the brochure from here.

Clustered Homes in Singapore In a Nutshell

The trend has been on the upscale for clustered bungalows lately with project marketing teams like Huttons, OrangeTee and also Knight Frank dealing with niche areas like Goodman Rd(D15), Dunsfold (D13) and more.

Clustered Bungalows, Matlock Residences at Matlock Rise

What is a Clustered Home?

They’re strata-titled landed housing. In short, its like your condominium which is strataed and being placed to a Management Corporation Strata Title (MCST) for maintenance of your strata area. Strata area can include anything shared between the few terraces or bungalows such as a common pool (or your own jacuzzi pool), private enclosed spaces, terraces, aircon ledges, planter boxes, so on and so forth.

They’re considered a hybrid in between landed properties and condominium since some developments do have communal and shared facilities such as a gymnasium, barbeque areas etc.

Why a Clustered Home as Compared to a Conventional Terrace or Bungalow?

Lifestyle.

You get the best of both worlds of what a condominium and a landed property enjoys. Perks include the above mentioned such as a gymnasium, a shared pool, jacuzzi pools, barbeque areas in which normal landed doesn’t get to enjoy unless land size permits for alterations, which would cost more. The cost of maintenance is spread among the project, which makes it affordable and hassle free.

Also, it seems that a foreigner has a higher chance of owning a clustered home (subjected to LDAU’s approval) since its strataed.

Some Things to Take Note

Owners of clustered homes are generally not allowed to tear down and rebuild their properties unlike their counterparts since they’re part of a strata-titled project. Cluster homes tend to have the same unision appearance.
En bloc would be treated the same as your condominium counterparts, with 90% consensus for a less than 10 year clustered project and 80% for more than a 10 year clustered project.
Unlike full landed properties which transaction is based mostly on land area, clustered homes pricing are calculated with its built-in size as they are part of a Strata.

Horizon Towers gets a No Go for En Bloc

After a tormenting two years en bloc legal pursuit, the highest court, the Court of Appeal finally gave its verdict on Horizon Towers, the 199 unit condominium lying on Leonie Hill. The enbloc sales was halted, a judgment that surprised many owners.

The judgement based mostly on the sales committee established for the enbloc by Horizon Towers not performing its fiduciary duties as it’s suppose to. I think the deciding blow was on two owners who bought additional units before being appointed to the sales committee.

SINGAPORE: A group of homeowners has finally won the fight to keep their condominiums, ending a two-year legal saga.

In an unprecedented move, the Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of owners who objected to the S$500 million en bloc sale of Horizon Towers.

The Leonie Road condominium was to have been sold in 2007 to Hotel Properties and its partners.

Had the en bloc sale gone through, owners of its 199 units would have earned S$2.3 million each, while 11 penthouse owners would have received about S$4 million each.

… Channel News Asia

This is a ugly case of enbloc which got blown out of proportion that coughed up much legal costs along the way. Again, that would means more transparency in the future as people would be using this case to benchmark on the type of treatments they could get from the law.

For owners of Horizon Towers, it’s a 50/50 case in benefits as we do see a climb in land pricing with its next door neighbour Leonie Hill Residences (2005) by Tiong Aik with recent transactions hover the 1,800psf mark (freehold). Horizon Towers is a 99 year leasehold apartment which should command about 800psf at this current market rate. HPL and partner’s plan of 253-unit condo and eight detached houses on the site effectively was halted by the decisions from the Supreme Court.

Again that would call for another round of en-bloc, which I’m not sure whether any developers are willing to take the bite with the tarnished reputation the sales commitee have left in the near future. Horizon Towers definitely had a good deal in the climbing 2007 market from Hotel Properties.

It’s amazing also with 1.5 million incurred in legal costs, they could have done something better with the money.

Progress Photos of One Amber on 31st March 2009

UIC’s One Amber looks set to TOP in time as they’re already mounting their glass panels. Looking good.

One Amber Block 3 Taken from across Mountbatten Road

For more information visit this blog entry of One Amber.

Homeowners who are looking for a Property Agent to market your One Amber apartment or Homeseekers who’re looking for One Amber apartments can also contact me.

Rent Protection Insurance in Singapore by Jardine Llyod Thompson and QBE

Rent Protection Insurance in Singapore by QBE and Jardine Lloyd Thompson

It’s confirmed.

I was attending to a introduction session in our office by a lady from Jardine Lloyd Thompson on their new rent protection insurance product produced by their company and QBE. The launch will be on April’s Fool (1st April 2009) opening only to Real Estate agents to sell to their Landlords.

Cost of the premium is 15% of one month of rental (excluding GST), coverage of up to 24 months of the tenancy, which sounds alot more affordable than I thought. I had the misconception that this will be a premium cut from the rental every month.

Benefit kicks in when the policy is in effect when you have a loss of rental income with the following:-

Tenant defaulting
Tenant absconding
Eviction and/or Failure to surrender vacant possession
Loss or damage to property
Prevention of access
Murder or suicide
Death of tenant under sole tenancy
Loss of rental income due to real estate agent absconding with rent paid by tenant (you’re extremely unlucky if you’re that guy)
Legal costs
Agents commission for replacement tenancy agreement.

It seems and sounds really good, with some catches here and there.You can only get the insurance with a new tenancy term with your property and not when your current tenancy term is in effect.

Remember, you can only get this policy through property agents, so contact your usual leasing agent for more details.

I’d advice you to visit their site (the site is down for me, try it on 1st April 2009) and download the PDFs on their policies to understand the product further. If you need any clarification, you can also contact me questions on how it works.

The Arte by CDL is Moving Well. Mid Tier Market is Moving

The Arte sales has been moving and has sold 60 units till date with a mean average price of $880psf, out of the 100 units released of the total number of 336 (which means its about 17.5% sold).

Most units sold are smaller 2 – 3 bedrooms, but with sizes which are bigger compared to recently launched projects. Location of The Arte @ Thomson is well appreciated as it’s within minutes of driving distance to town.

The Arte’s developer CDL is also offering Interest Absorption Scheme to buyers. Potential buyers who are interested in the layouts and details of The Arte can download this pdf. CDL will be launching more units this weekend for sale.

Mid-tier markets are now moving healthily with numbers as developers are taking advantage of the recent better sentiments in the market with the success of Caspian, The Alexis that pushed February 2009 overall home sales to a very healthy level. We should expect good numbers for March 2009 as well.

There’re many new launches and relaunches in the pipeline waiting to tap the craze. These includes:-

Double Bay Residences by Kheng Leong & UOL (Simei)
Mi Casa by Far East (Choa Chu Kang)
The Mezzo by SB Development (Balestier)

and many more.

Will the resale market pick up with the new launches? We’ve yet to see but the gap between the buyers and sellers on the resale market is slowly closing in.

To register your interest in any of the mentioned projects above, feel free to contact me for a VVIP pass to the showrooms.

Pebble Bay – Tanjong Rhu’s Prime Condominium since 1998

Lush greenery, serene, great view of Kallang Basin, walking distances to good restaurants, driving proximity to CBD.

Looks from a Bayview apartment in Pebble Bay offering full bay view of Kallang Basin and Stadium Bridge. Pocket view of Indoor Stadium

These are the things that is offered in Pebble Bay, touted once as one of the most luxurious waterfront condominium of the East. Pebble Bay is residing in District 15, Tanjong Rhu area, with 510 apartments sitting on a humongous 322,917 sqft land size, it has full range of facilities for its residents.

Pebble Bay by DBS Land since TOP has always been very popular with the expatriates (especially families) for its quality finishes and huge built in spaces which can’t be offered by other newer developments.

The resort feel that Pebble Bay has have always been highly sought after. Barbequeing in large balconies and patio space is a common sight and a well appreciated activity in Pebble Bay as portable electrical pits are being provided by the management.

Pebble Bay

2-bedroom
1,281 sqft
Excellent layout
Serious seller

More Info or call 90915000

Pebble Bay

Pebble Bay’s Brochure

Download a full copy of Pebble Bay’s floor plans and e-brochure here (58.9mb)

Pebble Bay (130 – 136 Tanjong Rhu Road)
– TOP in December 1998
– Towers of various heights with a maximum of 18 storey high condominium developed by DBS Land (The current Capitaland)
– 510 leasehold (99 years) units
– Various sizes:-

Studio units (850 sqft – 947 sqft)
2 Bedroom units (1,281 sqft – 1,916 sqft)
3 Bedroom units (1,894 sqft – 2,809 sqft)
4 Bedroom units (2,626 sqft – 3,153 sqft)
Penthouse units (6,112 sqft – 6,467 sqft)

– Facilities include:-

Pools – Swimming pool, wading pool, lagoon pool, spa and bubble pool
Tennis Courts – Two of them
Squash Courts – Two of them
Golf Driving Range
Putting Green
Fitness Stations
Gym
Steam Rooms
Mini-mart
Children’s Playground (newly renovated)

Newly made-over Children's Playground in Pebble Bay

The Location of Pebble Bay

[googlemap lat=”1.297148″ lng=”103.872379″ yaw=”3.05″ pitch=”-29.62″ zoom=”0″ width=”500px” height=”300px” align=”undefined” type=”STREETVIEW”]Singapore[/googlemap]

If you’re an expatriate who drives, Pebble Bay is located in the prime area of Tanjong Rhu which brings you to Orchard, Central Business District (CBD) area and even Changi Airport within minutes as East Coast Parkway expressway (ECP) and Nicoll Highway is right next to you.

As of 17th of April 2010, Stadium and Nicoll Highway Circle Line Stations has opened, allowing public commuters more easement and convenience to travel.

Amenities around Pebble Bay

Restaurants are within walking reaches after crossing the Stadium Bridge. Chill in Brewerkz, have chilli crabs in Jumbo, dinner in the uplifting fusion Indian restaurant Vansh? A stone’s throw away. You have even more food and chill options other than the ones just mentioned.

Grocery shopping is easy with Cold Storage in the newly opened Leisure Park, with also a cinema, ice-skating and bowling facilities found in not many malls in Singapore.

Contact Benson Koh

http://bensonkoh.com/

For Pebble Bay owner who is looking for a property agent to market your unit and fellow agent friend who needs more information or has listing to share, feel free to contact me or call (+65) 9125 3045.

Tierra Vue – MCL Land’s St Patrick’s Baby

We’ve been babbling alot about the beauty of St Patrick’s Road and its close proximity to sea, good schools and a general popular community in the Marine Parade area. The 3 most prominent condominium projects here will be Grand Duchess at St Patrick’s, St Patrick’s Residences and Tierra Vue.

St Patrick’s Residences is still currently at its marketing phase with an indicative price of $676 – $850 per square foot (psf). Savillis is the sole marketing agent for St Patrick’s Residences.

Tierra Vue (District 15)

Tierra Vue, fully sold, launched slightly albeit than Grand Duchess at St Patrick’s on average about 900 per square foot (psf) for first time owners. The project is about close to completion. It’s builder is TPS Construction. Here are some photos of the development’s progress

Tierra Vue Stack 22, facing Marine Parade

Tierra Vue Stack 18, 19, 14, 15 from Marine Parade Road

Take from Jln Tenggiri, Tierra Vue Stack 05,12

Realtor’s Project Information on Tierra Vue

To assist fellow realtors, I’ve uploaded a full scanned pdf of Tierra Vue’s catalogue. If you need a clean version of the pdfs without my watermark, feel free to contact me to request what you need.

Tierra Vue (36 – 42 St Patrick’s Road)
– Official TOP 31 December 2010, from the looks of it, owners will be getting their keys towards the mid to the end of 2009
– Low Rise Condominium of 5 floors developed by MCL Land.
– 129 Freehold units
– Various Sizes

2 bedrooms (From 947 sqft to 1,453 sqft)
3 bedrooms (From 1,216 sqft to 1,550 sqft)
3 bedroom duplexes (From 1,528 sqft to 1,829 sqft)
4 bedroom penthouses (From 1,916 sqft to 2,260 sqft)

– Facilities – Main Pool, Children’s Pool, Spa Pool, Hot Spa, Function Room, Sun Deck, Gymnasium, Rock/ Mist Garden, Reflective Pond, Floral Walk, Exercise Station, Foot Reflexology Path, Children’s Playground, BBQ Area, Aroma Garden, Bamboo Garden

The Builder of Tierra Vue

MCL Land has numerous quality residential projects under their belt, some of which you’d find quite familiar ones including Robertson 100, The Metz, The Grange and the recently TOPed The Esta (District 15). Tierra Vue is almost set for its TOP status in April/ May 2009 with its current progress.

The Location of Tierra Vue

You can’t complain with it’s location as its just a little closer (very negligable distance in fact) to Marine Parade Community Library as compared with Grand Duchess at St Patrick’s, 5 – 10 minutes walk away from the East Coast, prestigious good schools like Tao Nan, Ngee Ann, Victoria Junior College, CHIJ Katong.

Driving to town is convenient as ECP exit is not far away and merely takes you about 10 minutes drive, as with its proximity to the airport which is about 15 minutes drive away from here. Oh food haven is ensured with its string of shophouses at Katong, food courts and more.

Contact Me on Tierra Vue Marketing Units Or Details on Tierra Vue

If fellow realtors or any buyers have any questions about Tierra Vue on apartments for sale or even rental, feel free to contact me.