Discover upcoming condo launches in Singapore

Fierce bidding expected for Fernvale condo site especially after last year's incredible success of High Park Residences situated nearby. Analysts expect the 99-year leasehold 17,196.4 sq m plot of land in Fernvale Road to draw between five and 10 bids from developers, with offers reaching as high as $272 million.
Analysts expect keen competition, given better market sentiment and the blockbuster sales at High Park Residences. The project had sold 1,169 out of 1,186 units when they were released in July last year. As of last month, only 26 out of 1,390 units remained unsold.

Located near Thanggam LRT station and amenities including Sengkang Riverside Park and The Seletar Mall, this land site could yield about 605 private apartments.

Most of the condominium units near the Fernvale Road site were transacted at prices ranging between $970 psf and $1,060 psf, based on sales in the first seven months of the year. Property consultancy Edmund Tie & Company said URA Realis data showed the average unit price at High Park Residences was about $988 psf.

It is the first of four confirmed list sites to be put up for sale under the Government Land Sales programme for this half of the year. Three other sites - in Perumal Road, West Coast Vale and Upper Serangoon Road - are also confirmed for sale by the end of the year.

"The launch of this tender is timely as it provides a window of opportunity for developers to shore up their land banks... Competition will be keen, especially from developers who have not been awarded any residential sites for the past few tenders," said Mr Desmond Sim, head of CBRE Research for Singapore and South-east Asia.

The tender closes at noon on Sept 27.

A new smart concept bus stop designed by a group of architects from DP Architects (DPA) along Jurong Gateway Road aims to make daily commuting less boring, with free Wi-Fi, handphone charging points, e-books download, bicycle parking and even a swing.

Project Bus Stop re-imagines how people transit, interact and socialise in this public space featuring interactive smart boards that provide content and services such as bus arrival timings, a green roof and artwork by local illustrator Lee Xin Li.

Project Bus Stop’s features will be in operation for a year from this month, with the public encouraged to give feedback at AUDE@ura.gov.sg.

The Jurong Lake District will become a mini version of a “smart city” – with more than 1,000 sensors deployed to control and monitor everything from traffic to street lights, and crowded buses. Jurong's residents will be able to use phone applications that can help them find sheltered walkways. Motorists stuck in a jam may find traffic light timings adjusted automatically to ease the gridlock.

Sensors will be deployed in parks to adjust the lighting based on factors such as the time of day and motion detection. Sensors will be able to detect illegal smoking and determine the cleanliness of public areas. Sensors on smartphones can even send data on how bumpy a bus ride is.

These are some of the 15 innovations to be tried out in Jurong as a test bed for Singapore’s push to be a “smart nation”. The upcoming Jurong Lake District will give Singaporeans a glimpse into the future.

Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index for Q2 2016 ranked Singapore ninth globally with luxury home prices increasing by 7.9 percent in the year to June 2016. According to the property consultancy, prime property corresponds to the top five percent of the wider housing market in each city.

Vancouver topped the list for the fifth consecutive quarter, with prices of high-end homes surging by 36.4 percent. Other top performers in the second quarter include Shanghai (22.5 percent), Cape Town (16.1 percent), Toronto (12.6 percent), Melbourne (11 percent) and Sydney (10.2 percent) – all of which saw annual price growth reach double figures. Also in the top ten are Tokyo, Guangzhou and Seoul.

Knight Frank noted that majority of the top ten ranking cities have been on the receiving end of new cooling measures over the past year. In fact, the latest move by policy makers in Vancouver “to apply an additional tax for foreign buyers has mirrored some of the similar moves over the last few years in Asia-Pacific”, said Nicholas Holt, Asia Pacific Head of Research at Knight Frank.

“Hong Kong and Singapore, most notably, have added 15 percent additional buyers stamp duties, while the Australian states of Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales have also recently introduced various additional levies for foreign buyers,” said Holt. “Whilst we have seen foreign buyers penalised in certain markets, in Vietnam and Indonesia for example, we have seen policy makers go the other way with recent moves to relax rules for non-nationals,” he added.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong has eclipsed Taipei to take the title of weakest-performing residential market. This comes as prime prices there dropped by eight percent in the year to June as supply increased and concerns over the slowdown in the local economy persisted.

Buyers of private property taking up deferred payment schemes will not be able to borrow as much as they thought they could, following a clarification in loan guidelines.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a circular to banks last week saying such schemes should be taken into account when calculating how much a buyer can borrow.
Under deferred payment schemes, introduced for completed projects such as OUE Twin Peaks in March, buyers can move into their new homes once they have exercised the option to purchase and made a small down payment. They will then have to pay the rest of the sum, usually through a loan, within one to three years, depending on the developer's rules.

Buyers in standard purchases of completed properties have to pay the full sum within eight to 10 weeks.
But MAS said deferred payment schemes should be treated as a benefit for the buyer and, therefore, be taken into account when computing a mortgage. As "the borrower can use the deferred amount for other purposes during the deferral period, for example, investing the deferred amount for a return... MAS considers this a benefit to the borrowers", it said.

Financial institutions must now deduct these benefits from the purchase price in calculating how big a housing loan a person can take, added MAS, which provided a formula for banks to account for the value of such benefits.Under existing rules, assuming an 80 per cent loan-to-value ratio, a buyer can take out a $1.6 million loan for a $2 million property. But under the deferred payment scheme, assuming 90 per cent of the purchase price is deferred for a year, buyers can borrow only $1,587,328, said MAS.

MAS added that rental guarantees, where developers give buyers the certainty of rental income for a set period, should also be treated as a benefit and be similarly accounted for when calculating loan amounts. This would apply, for example, to Hilltops, being developed by SC Global, which offers two-year guaranteed rental returns for the luxury Cairnhill project.

An OCBC spokesman said home buyers should be aware that banks will grant a loan based on the adjusted purchase price - that is, the price after the deduction of any discounts, rebates or benefits. Borrowers buying under the deferred payment scheme should be aware that their loan amounts will be reduced and be prepared for a bigger amount for down payment.

Said a CapitaLand Singapore spokesman: "Our stay-then-pay scheme remains attractive as it gives upgraders time to dispose of their existing residential property before taking up a mortgage for the private property, in which case the loan required would be smaller." Many buyers in Tower 2 units at Twin Peaks have opted for the deferred payment scheme but most have not yet applied for loans.

"Even with the benefit priced in, the scheme still gives good returns on investment if the buyer rents the unit out," said Mr Dominic Lee, a PropNex Realty branch district director who is marketing the property. "Some buyers who defer payment may also be anticipating loan-to-value changes down the road."

Sales of new private homes more than doubled in July at 1,091 units as developers sold more homes compared to 536 units in the previous month in June 2016 according to URA data on 15 August 2016. However, when compared against the 1,655 units sold in July last year, last month's new home sales were down by 34 per cent.

The stronger sales were were due in part to more projects launched during the month as URA's figures showed that 624 new units - excluding executive condominiums - (ECs) were launched for sale in July, compared with just 234 units in June. The suburban areas sold 825 new private homes followed by city fringe with 213 units and 53 units in the core central region.

The top selling new private residential project in July was Lake Grande in Jurong, which sold 464 units at a median price of S$1,368 psf. "Apart from Lake Grande, existing projects with unsold units also saw good traction in sales. In terms of pricing, we did not observe any sharp discount from June, so this was a case of underlying demand - buyers who've been sitting on the fence deciding to make a purchase," head of CBRE Research for Singapore and South East Asia Desmond Sim told The Straits Times.

July also saw a sharp rise in sales of new Executive Condo projects, with 830 units changing hands up from  232 Executive Condo units sold in June. Including ECs, a total of 1,921 new homes were transacted last month.