SGHOUSING.COM 新加坡房地产网

A TOTAL of 183 real estate agents braved injury to raise money for charity - walking barefoot on a 1.8m-long bed of broken glass.

Their efforts paid off - the event raised $50,000 for PromiseWorks, which guides youth through their developing years.

The agents - from HSR International Realtors - entered the Singapore Book of Records record too for the most number of people to walk on broken glass.

The ‘Glass-a-thon’ was held on Tuesday in conjunction with HSR’s 27th anniversary celebrations.

Although some of the agents suffered minor cuts, there were no serious injuries.

Source : Straits Times - 28 Apr 2007

The number of HDB resale transactions dipped sharply in the first quarter of this year, even as the price index continued to edge up, data released yesterday by HDB shows.

And market watchers said that although transactions can be expected to pick up over the next few quarters, the market is likely to remain lacklustre for one or two years.

In the first three months of this year, the number of HDB resale transactions was the lowest since Q1 2004. Just 6,258 units were sold in January-March 2007 - down 11.1 per cent from 7,039 a year earlier. And down a bigger 20.2 per cent from Q4 2006. The HDB resale price index, on the other hand, continued its slow climb, increasing 1.3 per cent in Q1.

The low volume could be loan-related, says property firm ERA. Starting Jan 1, flat buyers who want an HDB loan to buy a resale flat had to get an HDB loan eligibility letter, while those taking bank loans have needed a letter of offer from a bank.

‘Buyers and property agents were not used to this new procedure at first and the resulting confusion did slow the pace of resale transactions for the whole market,’ said ERA assistant vice-president Eugene Lim.

But the market is now used to the change and volume has picked up, Mr Lim said. About half of the resale flats that ERA sold in Q1 were transacted in March, he said. ERA says it has 40 per cent of the HDB resale market.

Another factor that could have squeezed Q1 resale volume is keen competition, other property agents reckon. ‘More people could be buying private property after selling their HDB flats, rather than just moving onto bigger HDB flats,’ said PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail.

The resale market may also be facing competition from HDB’s Build-To-Order programme and the Design, Build and Sell Scheme launched for private developers last year.

Source : Business Times - 28 Apr 2007

Office block at Alexandra Distripark among six projects given the nod in Q1

The Urban Redevelopment Authority granted provisional permission in the first quarter of this year for six projects that can generate a combined 121,360 square metres (1.3 million square feet) gross floor area of offices.

The biggest project, involving nearly 500,000 sq ft of offices, is at Alexandra Distripark, owned by Mapletree Investments.

Approval has also been given to OUB Centre Ltd to add nearly 52,000 sq ft of offices and about 55,300 sq ft of shop space to OUB Centre at Raffles Place under an additions and alterations scheme proposed by the owner.

Provisional permission has also been given for 123,570 sq ft of ‘reconstruction to existing’ building in the case of Dapenso Building at Cecil Street/Stanley Street.

A stone’s throw away, a Kajima-Lehman joint venture received the green light for 275,900 sq ft of offices at Robinson Road (on the Crosby House site).

Straits Trading also obtained provisional permission for a nearly 200,000 sq ft office redevelopment of its Straits Trading Building at Battery Road.

Over in North Bridge Rd/High Street area, approval has been given to add 160,000 sq ft of offices and almost 200,000 sq ft of retail area to be housed in a nine-storey commercial building and additions/alterations to the Funan Digitalife Mall.

URA’s office price index appreciated 4.3 per cent in Q1 this year over the preceding quarter, slower than a 7.7 per cent gain registered in Q4 last year.

The office rental index gained 10.4 per cent in Q1, following an 11.6 per cent rise in Q4. With tightening office space, the vacancy rate fell from 10.3 per cent as at Dec 31, 2006, to 9.1 per cent as at March 31, 2007. CB Richard Ellis says: ‘Looking ahead, we expect demand drivers to remain strong albeit demand levels in 2007 may stay below the exceptional 2.4 million sq ft in 2006, principally due to the constraints imposed by the lack of new supply as well as low vacancy rate. It is likely that some demand may divert to business parks as well as high-tech industrial space.’

Source : Business Times - 28 Apr 2007

33-station network to link north-west and east of island to CBD, Marina Bay

The $12 billion Downtown Line (DTL) will be built in three stages and is expected to be ready in 2018. It will have 33 stations - 11 of them linked to the existing MRT network - and will connect the north-west and east of the island to the central business district and Marina Bay.

Most of the stations will be underground to optimise land use and minimise land acquisition. When completed, the DTL will add 40 km to the current network’s 109 km of track as well as the upcoming Circle Line’s 37 km.

The Land Transport Authority, which is in charge of building the DTL, says the line will:

Enhance accessibility to the new downtown;

Expand the MRT network into new corridors;

Cut travel time; and

Improve connectivity on the existing network.

Transport Minister Raymond Lim said yesterday in a speech at an LTA work-plan seminar that LTA will significantly increase the density of the current rail network, given its ability to carry large numbers of people quickly and reliably.

Singapore’s limited land means transport planning is critical, he said. Lack of land also means trade-offs. But the government always strives to do ‘the right thing rather than the popular thing’.

‘If we succumb to political pressure and intervene to override the Public Transport Council when it approves, for example, a bus fare increase, then we will not be serving the long-term interest of the general public,’ Mr Lim said.

The first stage of the DTL is 4.3 km long with six stations running from Bugis to Chinatown via Bayfront - the station that will serve the Marina Bay Sands resort and the new Marina Bay Financial Centre. The target date for completion of this stage is 2013.

The second stage is 16.6 km long and will serve the Bukit Timah corridor. Its 12 stations stretch from the Bugis station on the East-West Line to Bukit Panjang LRT. This stage comprises the previously announced Bukit Timah Line. The locations of the other stations will only be determined next year. Completion for this stage is targeted for 2015.

The final stage of the DTL comprises the northern half of the previously announced Eastern Region Line and runs for 19.1 km from the North-east Line’s Chinatown station to the East-West Line’s Expo station. As with the second stage, its exact alignment and the location of stations will be determined in 2010.

For an idea of how travel time can be improved, LTA said yesterday that the current 60-minute trip from Bukit Panjang to the city will be slashed by a third. It hopes this will encourage motorists to switch to public transport.

LTA wants to bring the public in on the future of public transport, so it has launched a series of focus group discussions to get suggestions and feedback.

It has also launched ‘The Great Transport Challenge 2020 - if I were the Transport Minister’ - a game in which players get a chance to be transport minister for at least a day.

Players will have to tackle issues such as the impact of more roads on the environment and the amount of resources that should be allocated to promote public transport.

Public transport now accounts for 63 per cent of all morning peak-hour trips. The government has said that it aims to raise this to at least 70 per cent by 2020 - and the DTL is the next phase of development in the overall plan.

LTA said yesterday that tenders for two civil contracts have closed and construction is likely to start later this year or early next.

Source : Business Times - 28 Apr 2007

URA data points to speculative activity in 12% of Q4 sales in high-end residential sector

The subsale market of the private residential sector - often seen as reflecting speculative activity - has been more active than previously thought, the latest official data show.

Subsales accounted for 6.4 per cent of total private housing deals on the island in the final three months of last year, one percentage point higher than estimated figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority in January.

In the sizzling high-end sector as reflected in URA’s core central region - which includes districts 9, 10, 11, Downtown Core (including Marina Bay) and Sentosa - the Q4 2006 subsale share of total private housing transactions was 12.1 per cent, instead of the 9.7 per cent in the earlier figures.

The private housing market in the core central region is still buoyant, with developers chalking up a big increase in sales in this location in the first three months of this year. The region continued to record the biggest price gains.

The Q1 price index for all non-landed homes in this region was up 5.5 per cent from the final three months of last year. The highest increases - of 7.3 per cent - were for uncompleted homes, compared with 3.1 per cent for completed ones.

Prices of all non-landed homes (covering both completed and uncompleted projects) in the rest of the central region - which includes places like Bukit Merah, Geylang and Toa Payoh - rose 3.7 per cent in the first quarter.

Outside the central region, which covers typical suburban mass market locations such as Woodlands, Clementi, Jurong, Hougang, Tampines and Bedok, the increase was 2 per cent.

URA’s overall private home price index posted a 4.8 per cent rise in the first three months of this year.

The leasing market also sparkled, with the rental index for non-landed homes increasing 8.1 per cent in Q1 this year over the previous quarter, higher than the 5.8 per cent gain in Q4 2006. Rents are expected to continue rising as supply shrinks because of collective-sale sites being redeveloped, says CB Richard Ellis executive director Li Hiaw Ho.

Yesterday’s figures show that developers launched 2,259 uncompleted homes in the core central region in Q1, which was 59 per cent more than in the preceding quarter and more than eight times the 265 units released in Q1 last year.

But there appears to be no glut, as developers also managed to sell 2,055 homes in this region, almost as many as they launched in the period, although some of the sales could have involved projects launched earlier.

The figure of 2,055 for uncompleted homes in the core central region sold by developers between January and March is 17 per cent up on the previous quarter and over five times the 385 homes they sold in this area in Q1 2006.

For the whole of Singapore, developers sold 4,565 uncompleted homes in Q1 2007, nearly 10 per cent up on the previous quarter - and a new quarterly record.

URA’s latest numbers show that there were 581 subsale deals in Q4 last year and 1,156 for the whole of last year, an increase from the 426 and 989 respectively in the estimated figures.

For Q1 this year, there were also 581 subsale deals according to yesterday’s data, but market watchers expect URA to revise upwards this figure next quarter as more caveats are lodged.

The URA has said that statistics on secondary market transactions (comprising subsales and resales) will be updated each quarter as more caveats are lodged.

Subsales involve projects that have yet to receive a Certificate of Statutory Completion, while resales cover completed developments.

The URA captures primary market or developers’ sales from returns of a comprehensive quarterly survey of licensed developers. These showed that four units at the 428-unit Marina Bay Residences were unsold as at March 31, and at The Orchard Residences, just eight of the 98 units released in the 175-unit condo were unsold by that date. Over at the 341-unit One Shenton project, 91 units were unsold as at March 31. But that was almost a month ago, and City Developments, the developer of One Shenton, said yesterday that it has ‘about 50 units (excluding the 11 penthouses) available for sale to-date’.

Colliers International predicts that the overall private home price index could grow 17 to 20 per cent for the whole of this year, with the biggest gain of 20-25 per cent coming from the core central region, followed by the rest of the central region (15 to 18 per cent) and outside central region (12 to 15 per cent).

Source : Business Times - 28 Apr 2007