March 7, 2009
What doom and gloom?
Going by the flurry of condo launches, some buyers believe it is a good time to buy a home
By frankie chee
Information technology director Chris Chong has been spending his evenings in many different apartments lately. Different showroom apartments, that is.
The married 42-year-old has been attending condominium launches hoping to buy a private apartment - a search that has already taken a year.
No wonder he has not bought yet, though - property prices have been going down from their giddy heights last year when he kicked off his hunt.
Like many, he is wondering: Just when will the price be right?
Well, going by the flurry of condo launches last weekend - all of which Mr Chong dutifully attended - there are buyers out there thinking the time is now, despite the doom and gloom.
More than 200 units in at least five developments - from The Beverley in Bukit Timah to St Patrick's Residences in St Patrick's Road - went on sale, in a mix of new launches and relaunches.
Last Saturday's Straits Times contained 23 display advertisements for condominiums - an unusually high number for the traditionally slow period of late February.
The burst of interest follows the success of two condo launches last month: the 293-unit Alexis@Alexandra, which completely sold out, and the Caspian, which saw 527 of its 712 units snapped up.
Mr Chong says: 'I've been to so many launches, I can't even remember the names. I think I've seen everything already, including Caspian and Alexis.'
He still has not bought a unit, unlike some who went to last weekend's launches.
Of the 132 units offered at three of them - St Patrick's Residences, Coastal Breeze and East Coast Residences - a total of 51 had been sold as of yesterday. They were mostly snapped up by young locals starting a family.
Prices ranged from less than $700,000 for a two-bedroom apartment at East Coast Residences to a $3.08-million four-bedroom double-storey penthouse at St Patrick's Residences.
A big draw among the launches is that a buyer can get a brand new condominium apartment for the price of a second-hand five-bedroom HDB flat, say property experts.
One reason for the increased affordability is that condo units are shrinking in size.
Many developments have units that are less than 1,000 sq ft, with Alexis offering some that are as small as 366 sq ft.
Another reason is, of course, outright lower prices. As the house-hunting Mr Chong notes: 'Prices have become more realistic. A year ago, they were quite expensive'.
He reckons that he has observed a 30 per cent drop in condo prices.
True, prices have come down. Units that used to hover around $1,200 per sq ft (psf) a year ago now cost $900 psf, according to real estate agents. Some developments are even going for as low as $580 psf now, which means a 1,000 sq ft unit would cost less than $600,000 - a dream a year or so ago.
Esther Realty's owner Esther Low says: 'Right now is the right time for a lot of people because of good pricing and the willingness of developers to sell at reasonable prices. If you compare it to HDB flats, it's still a better buy because the units are fully fitted and new.'
Of the big number of condo adverts, Mr William Tan, senior vice-president of Singapore Press Holdings, marketing, display advertisements, says: 'Traditionally, this period is not the peak; it's usually December and January.
'But December was a bad month and there was not much activity, so there was a lot of pent-up momentum.
'The dam has burst and everybody is rushing in now.'
More launches coming up
Ms Chua Chor Hoon, senior research director for global real estate adviser DTZ, notes: 'The successful launches of Caspian and Alexis have stirred the sleepy market. So developers are quickly riding on the uplift in buying sentiment by bringing forward their launches.'
Still, this is Singapore's worst-ever recession. Are developers offloading stock now, in case things worsen?
Not so, it would seem. Developers and real estate agents Life! spoke to are positive about the market, despite the prospect of fewer rent-paying expats, rising job losses and a spike in the number of properties for sale.
Mr Michael Ng, managing director of real estate company Savills, says: 'Even in a down market, the good thing about the Asian property market is that it's not as highly leveraged as the United States, due to our mortgage systems. So it's a good time for serious home buyers to buy at good prices with a long-term view.'
Leverage refers to borrowings.
Similarly, Mr Gerry de Silva, head of group corporate affairs for listed developer City Developments, feels the market will remain strong because of HDB upgraders, smaller unit sizes and top-end buyers eyeing bargains instead of luxury developments.
Low prices offer HDB dwellers the chance to upgrade to a private apartment, while the smaller unit size is good for those starting a family, he says.
But the likes of home-hunter Mr Chong find the small sizes a turn-off: 'I've not seen anything I like so far because the places are getting quite small now.'
But there is no hurry, going by an e-mail Mr Joseph Tan, executive director, residential, of international real estate services company CB Richard Ellis, sent to Life!. It contained a long list of 83 launch-ready projects dotting the island from River Valley and Holland Road to Geylang and Punggol.
That list underlines an alert sounded by Savills' Mr Ng. 'There are not that many condos being launched now, compared to the number of projects that are launch-ready. There are a lot more projects to be launched.'
Condos across the island
Here is a selection of mass-market condo developments that still have units available
Waterfront Waves
766 and 768 Bedok Reservoir Road
Date of launch: January last year
Completion: Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) expected in fourth quarter of 2012
Price: $600 to $620 per square foot (psf)
Size of units: 980 to 3,014 sq ft
Units sold: 169 out of 405 (phase 1)
Coastal Breeze Residences
8/10/12 Loyang Besar Close
Date of launch: Last weekend
Completion: First quarter of 2011
Price: $610 to $660 psf
Size of units: 953 to 1,350 sq ft
Units sold: 20 out of 43
East Coast Residences
412 Upper East Coast Road
Date of launch: Last weekend
Completion: TOP in December next year
Price: From $728 psf for penthouse units; from $810 for two- and three-bedrooms
Size of units: From 861 to 1,679 sq ft
Units sold: 15 out of 59
St Patrick's Residences
52/54 St Patrick's Road
Date of launch: Last weekend
Completion: TOP expected at end-2012
Price: From $675 to $900 psf
Size of units: 1,152 to 3,423 sq ft
Units sold: 17 out of 30 (phase 1)
Nova 88
8 Bhamo Road
Date of launch: Jan 3 this year
Completion: TOP estimated for second quarter of 2012
Price: $950 psf on average
Size of units: 484 to 2,303 sq ft
Units sold: 35 out of 88
Ferraria Park
8-28 Flora Drive
Date of launch: End 2006
Completion: On-site showflat is open to public next Saturday; TOP expected within the second half of this year
Price: $600 to $630 psf
Size of units: From 883 to 1,356 sq ft
Units sold: 451 out of 472
Caspian
50-60 Lakeside Drive
Date of launch: Last month
Completion: TOP expected in mid-2013
Price: $580 to $600 psf
Size of units: From 463 to 1,604 sq ft
Units sold: 527 out of 712
Nova 48
8-10 Prome Road
Date of launch: Three weeks ago
Completion: TOP estimated for second quarter of 2012
Price: $950 psf on average
Size of units: 657 to 1,948 sq ft
Units sold: 17 out of 48
Poshgrove East
329 East Coast Road
Date of launch: July 2006
Completion: TOP obtained in mid-December last year
Price: $810 to $880 psf
Size of units: 1,227 to 1,238 sq ft
Units sold: 68 out of 76
Livia
61-81 Pasir Ris Grove
Date of launch: July last year
Completion: TOP expected in 2011
Price: From $597 psf
Size of units: 1,259 to 2,594 sq ft
Units sold: More than 350 out of 440 - developer is unable to give exact figure by press time
Woodsville 28
26 & 28 Woodsville Close
Date of launch: July last year
Completion: TOP in first quarter of 2012
Price: $850 psf; new pricing to be announced at a later date
Size of units: 829 to 2,314 sq ft
Units sold: 22 out of 110
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