Issue 109

Copyright 2011-2013 www.Propwise.sg. All Rights Reserved.

CONTENTS
p2 p7 p8 p14
My Experience with Property Agents in a Haze Property Selling Tip #2: Increase the Value of your Property Singapore Property News This Week Resale Property Transactions (June 5 June 12)

FROM THE

EDITOR

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109

My Experience with Property Agents in a Haze

By Property Soul (guest contributor) With no better suggestion from the government, the only way Singaporeans can deal with the haze from Indonesia is to stay at home, with all the doors and window closed. Despite poor visibility, through the glass window we could still see a property agent showing the house of our neighbor living opposite us. And there he was, walking his clients to the house in the midst of a smog, with the PSI reaching 170 and the worst haze hitting Singapore since 1997. The potential buyers probably couldnt see much of the houses exterior. But the smell of smoke might help them better visualize holding barbecue parties at the house
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109 during weekends. I could imagine our neighbor shutting all the doors and windows like us, while turning on the air conditioning in full blast. Property agents in a haze The scene reminded me of a similar incident that happened months ago. Well, it was not exactly a haze the property agents were so confused that they behaved as if they were in a haze. A friend was interested to see some houses in my estate. Being a first time buyer, the couple came to me for advice and I promised to join them for house viewing. One fine Sunday I rushed home after lunch for a joint viewing just a few houses away from mine. When I arrived, they were already half-way through the viewing. Up on the third storey, I overheard the couple asking about some
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crack lines on the walls and the ceiling. The property agent was touching the lines on the wall, trying to figure out what they were. The owner mentioned that they were the first owner of the house, with a look on his face that said we have been staying here for 10 years so what do you expect. The couple, on the other hand, had the usual worried buyer look on their face. Dont know the difference between a crack and a hairline I immediately told them that I had seen these fine lines appearing in my apartment before. They were the result of prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. That explained why the lines were only found on the highest floor because it was the hottest under the sun. The quality of the paint chosen by the developer also contributed to it.
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109 I also explained the differences between a crack and a hairline. For the latter, you could cover it by putting a fresh coat of paint over it after you took over the house. I added that I just stayed a few houses away. We didnt have those lines in the house because we repainted the whole house with good quality paint when we moved in five years ago. My friend was relieved after my explanation. The property agent was also relieved that she was able to move on to show other parts of the house. But the rest of the house was dark, stuffy and gloomy. The place looked like it was waiting for its weekly house-keeping. The curtains at the windows were not drawn up and the airconditioning was not on, except for a small fan in one of the bedrooms. That made us all sweating like hell in a fiercely hot afternoon! Dont know anything about the property The next house was a co-broke case. The agent murmured the address and looked at a loss. Then she turned to me and said, Since you are staying here, can you show us the shortest way to this house? It didnt help that the property agent on the other side was also in a haze. He was not familiar with the layout of the corner terrace. For most of the time, we were walking around the house free and easy. When my friend couldnt get the size of the land and the floor area from the two agents, I had to whisper to them the exact numbers. It might be more than five years back, but I had those numbers hammered in my mind after viewing at least twelve houses in the same estate.

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109 Before we left, my friend asked for a layout plan of the house. Both agents said that they didnt have one. What about the floor plan of the whole development? Sorry, we dont have that either. I had to whisper again behind the agents back. Yes, I keep those at my place and please drop by for a copy after this.

This is the first house viewing experience of the couple. They probably think that it is normal not getting any answer or anything you need from a property agent. This is one of countless times doing a house viewing for me. I just have one question in mind: If you are selling a two million dollar house, will you risk showing it in a haze?
By Property Soul, a successful property investor and enthusiast who shares her experiences and knowledge on her blog.

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109

Property Selling Tip #2: Increase the Value of your Property

Besides benefitting from the impact of hedging against inflation, you can increase the value of your property via some cost effectivemethods. One of them is to do some simple renovation such as patching up cracks, re-painting, epoxy-coating, and re-lamination,instead of major renovation,to give the property a new look. You can also re-install fittings such as lights and curtains to make the place more pleasant and saleable.

If your unit has a large un-used space, you can partition it to have an additional room to increase the value of your private property.Note that his can be done with private property only.For HDB flats, do check the HDB Home Renovation Guidelines and obtain a renovation work permit to ensure compliance. By Eileen Tan and Ui Wei Teck, property investors and authors of Enjoying Mid-Life Without Crisis. This tip and dozens more are from their book.

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109

Singapore Property This Week

Residential
Rising interest in city-fringe homes cause May sales of private homes to increase in sales of RCR was caused by the high selling price of mass-market homes in the Outside Central Region and the narrowing price gap between RCR and OCR homes. On the other end, the high-end market was bleak with only 125 out of 144 units launched, the lowest monthly sales recorded for the region in 2013.

With the rising interest in city-fringe homes, the sales of new private homes for May increased by 5.4 percent with a total of 1,455 units sold, compared to the 50 percent drop of the previous month. 41.4 percent of the sales were taken by the Rest of Central Region (RCR). In fact, transactions within RCR have been on the rise since Q3 of 2012. In addition, RCR projects such as Corals at Keppel Bay, KAP Residences, and Bartley Ridge accounted for the top five sellers by volume for May. It was reported that the rise
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(Source: Business Times)

Government to release land parcels for houses and commercial use The government will release five sites that can yield 3,600 private and executive condominium (EC) housing units as well as commercial development.
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109 Four of the five sites have been confirmed under the Government Land Sales programme list. They consist of two EC sites and Punggol Drive and Yuan Ching Road, a residential plot at Mount Sophia and a mixeduse commercial and residential plot at Yishun Central 1. All four sites have been or will be launched for sale within next week. The fifth site, a mixed-use site at Meyappa Chettiar Road in Potong Pasir, will be on the reserve list next week. (Source: Business Times) Residential site on Faber Walk draws 18 bids at tender close A 99-year leasehold 162,808 sq ft residential site at Faber Walk drew 18 bids at the close of its tender. The top bid was $156.7 million from Aspial Corps World Class Land, or $687.42 per square foot per plot ratio (psf
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ppr) for the site. This was closely followed by Keng Hoe Developments bid of $155 million and Greatview Development with $153.8 million. Consultants said that the price difference between the top bid and second and third highest bidders is a mere 1.1 per cent and 1.8 per cent showed confidence of developers. Other factors could be the sites exclusive location and a possible limited supply of vacant land parcels within the area for development in the future. (Source: Business Times) Forestville EC is to be launched The Forestville executive condominium (EC) project will finally launch for sale this week, six months from its intended date, due to delay in contravening regulations. Hao Yuan Investment is the developer for the project. Hao Yuan had launched the 653-unit project
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109 in Woodlands for balloting on Dec 28, 2012 without having obtained the necessary approvals for adjustments made to private enclosed spaces (PES) in some units. Following this, Controller of Housing (COH) had instructed Hao Yuan to stop selling the units, hence potential buyers could only make an expression of interest instead. COH is now satisfied that necessary approvals for the project have been given. Public sales will be open next Friday. (Source: Business Times) CapitaLand bids $366m for Coronation Road site, topping 11 others Capitaland's Athens Residential Development bid higher than 11 others at the close of tender for the 99-year leasehold site at Coronation Road. CapitaLand bid $366 million or $908.17 per square foot of land,
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compared to the closet rivals bid by Far East Organization unit Astor Properties at $313.3 million, or $777.49 psf of land. CapitaLand Singapore claimed that it plans to develop a prestigious landed development comprising semi-detached houses and bungalows on the site, which will be ready for launch around Q2 of 2014. The top bid was 17 per cent higher than the second highest bid was reported to illustrate CapitaLand's confidence in this market. (Source: Business Times) Roxy-Pac buys freehold apartment block for $136mil Roxy-Pacific Holdings was reported to have acquired the freehold Yi Mei Garden in Tampines Road through a collective sale for $136 million, hence $856 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) including a development
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109 charge of $4 million-plus. In a statutory filing with Singapore Exchange, Roxy-Pacific said the acquisition is subject to approval of the collective sale by the Strate Titles Board (STB) or the High Court. Yi Mei Garden is a 14-storey residential block of 44 apartments and four penthouses and is located 600 meters from Kovan MRT Station. RoxyPacific plans to redevelop the site into a condominium project with 200 units. (Source: Business Times) million. If the sale is successful, it will boost up this years tally of en bloc sales and works out to $799 per square foot of potential gross floor area including an estimated sum of $155 million payable to the state regarding the sites lease from a balance term of around 74.5 to 99 years and intensifying the sites use. The reserve price for Eunosville is expected to help Eunosville set the record to become the second largest ex-HUDC (Housing and Urban Development Company) estate sold collectively in absolute price terms as well as the largest en bloc sale in 6 years. Jones Lang LaSalle consulting group is marketing Eunosvilles collective sale through a tender exercise until July 24. (Source: Business Times)

Eunosville up for collective sale at reserve price of $688mil

Located opposite Eunos MRT Station, Eunosville has a land area of 376,712 sq ft and is planned for residential use under Master Plan 2008. Eunosville is now up for collective sale at a reserve price of $688

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109 Commercial Yomas acquisition of Yangon site delayed due to bureaucratic discussions Bureaucratic discussions have delayed Yoma Strategic Holdings 80 percent acquision of a 10-acre plot of land in Yangon. The land acquisition was reported to be US$81.28 million and it would now be extended until Dec 31 this year. Serge Pun & Associates, vendor of the site, was still discussing with authorities regarding the new leasehold title of the land before the land deal could proceed. Yoma announced that it would develop the former site of the Yangon railway headquarters into a landmark hotel, condominium and commercial development costing between US$330 million and US$350 million. On top of that, Yoma had also signed a non-legally binding agreement with Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels to jointly redevelop the former Burma Railway Company building into a Peninsula Hotel. (Source: Business Time) 22 industrial plots to be released in second half of 2013

The Ministry of Trade and Industry launched the Industrial Government Land Sales (IGLS) programme for the latter six months of the year. Under this programme, the government will make 22 plots of industrial land available to moderate land prices and provide space for industrial end-users. 19 sites will be on confirmed list and three will be on reserve list. The 22 sites have a total area of 22.84 hectares. 14 confirmed plots are in Tuas, 4 other confirmed plots in Woodlands and one at Tai Seng Street. The three reserve list sites are at Woodlands Avenue 12, Tuas Bay Close
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109 and Gambas Crescent. (Source: Business Times) Q2 property investment sales drop by 10% Investment sales of property continued to drop this quarter with the tally for the second quarter is around $4.5 billion and the final number expected to be $4.9-5 billion. This is 10 percent lower than that of Q1s $5.6 billion, which was a big drop from $8.3 billion and $9.4 billion in Q4 and Q3 last year respectively. Q3 and Q4 of last year witness huge transactions such as the flotation of Far East Hospitality Trust worth $2.1 billion, the $825 million sale of a half-stake in Nex mall in Serangoon and DBS $1.035 billion purchase of 30 percent stake in Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3. On the other hand, investment sales for this year is pretty active but relatively smaller. (Source: Business Times)
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Red House to become residential project in 2016

commercial-

Red House and its five adjacent shophouses in Katong, collectively known as the Red House, are to be reborn as an integrated commercial and residential project in 2016 and managed by Muis investment arm, Warees Investments. Red House will include a new five-storey residential block with 42 units of between 441 and 1,206 sq ft, priced from $1,499 psf. The commercial component of the new development will be the ground floor units at the six conserved shophouses. One of the units will be used as a bakery to reserve its heritage as the place of the former Katong Bakery and Confectionary. Warees was reported to spend much time and effort to improve returns from the properties because time has taken its toll on the six shophouses. (Source: Business Times)
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109

Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Jun 5 Jun 12
Postal District 1 1 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 Project Name MARINA BAY RESIDENCES THE RIVERSIDE PIAZZA QUEENS CARIBBEAN AT KEPPEL BAY TERESA VILLE BOTANNIA VARSITY PARK CONDOMINIUM CLEMENTIWOODS CONDOMINIUM THE INFINITI R66 APARTMENTS THE RITZ-CARLTON RESIDENCES SINGAPORE CAIRNHILL HILLTOPS RHAPSODY ON MOUNT ELIZABETH GRANGE INFINITE LUMA ESTILO ORCHARD TOWERS TOWNHOUSE APARTMENTS THE BOULEVARD RESIDENCE VOLARI ONE JERVOIS ASTRID MEADOWS VENTUNO BALMORAL THE SIXTH AVENUE RESIDENCES Area (sqft) 2,379 1,012 1,195 1,485 1,959 1,572 1,012 1,679 2,497 538 2,831 1,335 1,044 2,573 904 581 1,970 2,368 2,034 1,324 1,701 3,800 1,313 1,356 Transacted Price ($) 9,040,200 1,280,000 1,640,000 2,450,000 2,400,000 2,150,000 1,300,000 1,980,000 2,467,036 740,000 10,800,000 4,071,750 2,500,000 5,917,900 1,928,000 1,000,000 3,000,000 2,450,000 5,000,000 3,250,000 3,080,000 6,830,000 2,250,000 2,300,000 Price Tenure ($ psf) 3,800 99 1,265 99 1,373 99 1,649 99 1,225 FH 1,368 956 1,285 99 1,179 99 988 FH 1,375 FH 3,815 FH 3,051 FH 2,394 FH 2,300 FH 2,132 FH 1,720 FH 1,523 FH 1,035 99 2,458 FH 2,455 FH 1,811 FH 1,798 FH 1,713 FH 1,696 FH Postal District 10 10 10 12 12 14 15 15 15 15 15 15 16 16 17 18 18 19 19 19 19 20 22 22 Project Name CASA JERVOIS SPANISH VILLAGE RIDGEWOOD THE ARTE ST FRANCIS COURT THE ALCOVE THE SEAFRONT ON MEYER PARADISE PALMS THE WATERSIDE THE MAKENA THE MAKENA CELESTIA CHANGI COURT TANAMERA CREST FERRARIA PARK CONDOMINIUM OASIS @ ELIAS MELVILLE PARK KOVAN RESIDENCES KOVANA RIO VISTA CHUAN PARK GRANDEUR 8 THE CENTRIS THE MAYFAIR Area (sqft) 1,593 2,056 1,744 1,625 1,270 2,336 2,088 1,141 2,400 1,152 1,636 1,389 872 861 1,195 1,249 1,302 1,442 1,163 1,249 2,045 1,421 1,238 753 Transacted Price ($) 2,300,000 2,638,000 2,230,000 2,030,000 1,053,000 1,550,000 3,600,000 1,650,000 3,450,000 1,600,000 2,220,000 1,410,000 1,118,000 938,000 1,280,000 1,200,000 968,000 1,820,000 1,300,000 1,120,000 1,750,000 1,490,000 1,380,000 780,000 Price Tenure ($ psf) 1,444 FH 1,283 FH 1,279 999 1,249 FH 829 99 664 99 1,724 FH 1,446 FH 1,437 FH 1,389 FH 1,357 FH 1,015 FH 1,282 FH 1,089 99 1,071 FH 961 99 743 99 1,262 99 1,118 FH 897 99 856 99 1,049 99 1,115 99 1,035 99

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 109

Postal District 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 27 28

Project Name HILLINGTON GREEN MONTROSA HILLINGTON GREEN MI CASA THE AMSTON HILLTOP GROVE REGENT HEIGHTS REGENT HEIGHTS REGENT HEIGHTS YISHUN SAPPHIRE SERENITY PARK

Area (sqft) 1,356 1,184 1,356 1,324 1,313 861 1,163 1,023 1,163 1,206 1,313

Transacted Price ($) 1,548,888 1,330,000 1,418,000 1,320,000 1,200,000 780,000 1,046,700 908,000 1,020,000 915,000 1,260,000

Price Tenure ($ psf) 1,142 999 1,123 999 1,046 999 997 99 914 999 906 99 900 99 888 99 877 99 759 99 959 FH

NOTE: This data only covers non-landed residential resale property transactions with caveats lodged with the Singapore Land Authority. Typically, caveats are lodged at least 2-3 weeks after a purchaser signs an OTP, hence the lagged nature of the data.

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