dresser microelectronics: Singapore Property News This Week #80

Friday, December 7, 2012

Singapore Property News This Week #80

Residential

The Topiary at Seletar Hills to open for e-application

700-unit The Topiary, an EC development along Fernvale Lane, at Seletar Hills has been opened for e-application. The development with a mix of two-bedroom, three-bedroom, dual-key, and single-storey penthouses is expected to fetch from $700-$720 psf. There are mainly three- and four- bedroom units, with 904-1,130 sq ft three-bedroom units, 1,259-1,539 sq ft three-bedroom dual-key units, and 1,389-1,636 sq ft four-bedroom dual-key units. The 16 penthouses range from 1,970-2,476 sq ft. Since there is not much competition from other ECs in the region, the project is likely to do well.

(Source: Business Times)

Latest cooling measures does not affect overall house prices

According to the October flash estimates of the Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) series, the 35-year cap on loan tenure and lower LTV ratios have no significant impact on overall housing prices in October. Excluding ECs, prices of completed private apartments and condominiums saw a 1% increase, with prices of suburban units (excluding small units) increasing by 1% and prices of units in the Central Region increasing by 0.9%. Meanwhile, prices of small units (up to 506 sq ft) islandwide saw a 0.6% increase. While the cooling measures introduced thus far do not help to control inflation of house prices, it is helping to reduce house price volatility, with the average absolute monthly change falling from 2.6% per month before the introduction of the cooling measures to 0.9% per month after the introduction. The lack of effectiveness of the cooling measures in the suburban market is attributed to domestic liquidity.

Meanwhile, the revised SRPI values for September reflected a 1% increase in the Central Region and the Non-Central Region, and a 2% increase for small apartments islandwide, leading to a overall increase of 1% in September.

(Source: Business Times)

Bishan St 14 residential site draws $505m top bid

The 11,227.80 sq m residential site located at Bishan Street 14 site next to CapitaLand?s Sky Habitat development attracted a top bid of $505 million, or $852.94 psf ppr from Allamanda Residential Development, a 75-25 Capitaland- Mitsubishi Estate Asia joint venture, beating out eight other bidders. The plan is to develop the site into a 700-unit condominium to be launched in H2 2013, which estimated breakeven price and selling price are $1,350-$1,400 psf and $1,650-$1,700 psf respectively. The high bids suggests that private residential sites are still in demand and that developers are willing to pay higher land prices.

(Source: Business Times)

Commercial

Downward trend in Grade A office rents continues in Q4

According to CBRE, the average monthly rental value for Grade A office space (best-quality office buildings in Raffles Place, Marina Bay and Marina Centre) slipped 3% to $9.51 psf in Q4 from $9.80 psf in Q3, bringing the full-year fall to 13.5%, compared to the 11.1% increase in 2011. Similarly, Jones Lang LaSalle also reports a 2.2% fall in the average rent in its Grade A basket (best-quality buildings in Raffles Place, Marina Bay, Shenton Way, Tanjong Pagar and Marina Centre) from Q3 to $8.90 psf in Q4, leading to a full-year fall of 8.7%. Colliers International also reported a 2% fall in the average Grade A Raffles Place/New Downtown rent from $9.26 psf in Q3 to $9.07 psf in Q4. In addition, all three firms predicts flat Grade A rents in 2013.

The islandwide net absorption of office space is estimated to hit two million sq ft in 2012, much like the 2.1 million sq ft in 2011. Net new supply of office space (new completions less demolitions) is also estimated to be around one million sq ft, compared to 2.8 million sq ft last year, leading to an estimated fall in the islandwide office vacancy rate from 6.7% in 2011 to 5.1% this year. However, this is expected to change in 2013, with an increase in vacancy to 8.7% expected since net absorption of 1.12 million sq ft and net new supply of 2.56 million sq ft is estimated for the next year.

(Source: Business Times)

Victoria St/Ophir Rd hotel site launched on reserve list

The 99-year leasehold 82,057.5 sq-ft plot with a 344,649.3 sq-ft maximum permissible GFA and a maximum building height of 20 storeys is likely to be triggered. Assuming a four-star 550-650-room hotel development with a retail component, the top bid for the site is expected to be in the range of $1,000 to $1,100 psf ppr. It is likely to be popular, given the rising visitor arrivals, its location near main Bugis shopping area, the Kampong Glam Conservation Area, and the upcoming mixed development DUO as well as the Bugis MRT Station and the upcoming Bugis Downtown Line.

(Source: Business Times)