SGHOUSING.COM 新加坡房地产网

The Housing Board has added yet another feather in its cyberspace cap - an e-portal called MyHDBPage. Details of your flat’s mortgage status, renovation permit and even parking fines are now just a click away. Already, about 40,600 people have visited the portal, which was introduced in December and officially launched yesterday. Using the portal, an owner can also find out which HDB officer to contact for queries about his property, as well as how an en bloc redevelopment programme in his estate is progressing. He will need his identity card number and an HDB-issued password or his SingPass to access the portal, which adds to HDB’s range of electronic services like SMS alerts on available flats. The board last week also revamped its way of selling flats to encourage people to make online applications. It replaced its walk-in booking system with one which required online balloting before leftover flats were put up for walk-in bookings. With the new system, those who ballot online do not need to queue. In a queueing frenzy last month at the HDB Hub, hundreds of people queued at a walk-in selection exercise - some without knowing clearly what sort of flats they were queueing for. The majority eventually decided not to book any flat. Speaking to reporters at the board’s annual Quality Service Day yesterday, HDB chief executive Tay Kim Poh said: ‘It’s a lot of wasted effort…people queueing up for things that they are not aware of and our sales people having to attend to 4,000 to 5,000 applicants, when so far only about 300 have bought the flats.’ Mr Tay was quizzed about the recent changes that make it easier for flat owners to sublet their whole units. Before the change was announced on Saturday, owners could rent out their flats only after five years, or 10 years if they had not paid off their HDB home loans. With the change, owners can rent out their units after three years, or five years if they had bought the flats with a subsidy or government grant. Mr Tay dismissed the notion that people might buy flats solely for investment. ‘They buy it because they need a place to stay, they want to raise a family and things like that,’ he said.

2 state properties up for tender as offices THE former premises of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore as well as that of River Valley Primary School are now up for tender as office space.

The two state properties are part of a slate of six picked for office use last month, as the Government moves to cater to the needs of financial institutions and other businesses.

The former CAAS office in Upper Changi Road North comprises a two-storey building with 1,027 sq m of built-up space. It can be leased for an initial term of three years, renewable up to 2012.

The former premises of River Valley Primary in River Valley Road have three blocks, a canteen and a sub-station, with 4,390 sq m of built-up space. It can be leased for an initial term of three years, renewable up to 2013. The tenders for both premises will close on March 30.

The Singapore Land Authority, which is conducting the tender, estimated that it would be letting out a total of 43,000 sq m of office space in the first half of this year. It said yesterday that it would assess the response to these two properties before deciding if more such space should be released in the latter half of the year.

Source : Straits Times - 8 Mar 2007

Construction of new HDB estate at Dawson area expected to begin in 3 to 4 years

OPEN your windows to sky gardens in the next block.

And imagine streams in gardens along void decks.

These are no longer just the stuff of dreams for Housing Board (HDB) flat-dwellers.

They will become reality. And the first to enjoy them will be residents of the Dawson area in Queenstown.

Minister of State (National Development) Grace Fu said yesterday that construction of the estate is expected to start within three to four years.

It will be built on plots of vacant land cleared following the demolition of rental flats in the 1980s and the Selective Enbloc Redevelopment Scheme since the 1990s.

Bounded by Margaret Drive and Alexandra Canal, the estate will include underground carparks, childcare centres in void decks and gymnasium areas.

No other details are available yet, but an HDB spokesman said that an exhibition of the plans will be held later this year.

This concept of ‘housing in a park’ - mirroring the national vision of Singapore as a ‘city in a garden’ - is part of a $1 billion programme to make over old estates into ‘new-generation public housing’.

Said Ms Fu: ‘With some of our flats reaching 40 to 50 years old over the coming years, it is timely for us to carry out total redevelopment of some of our HDB heartlands.’

These will also include environmentally friendly features such as centralised chutes to facilitate recycling. Integrated covered linkways will also make for a barrier-free environment.

Ms Fu said the features will not compromise the ministry’s commitment to affordable public housing.

She added that the new estates will encourage community participation.

Dawson residents are hopeful about what the new- generation estates mean for them.

Said store coordinator Mohan K. Velayupham, 45, who lives in Strathmore Avenue: ‘The prices of these flats will probably be higher and we may not be able to afford them.

‘But our next generation will have the chance to live in them. Also, it will probably boost the valuation of our flats as more people will want to move into our area.’

Source : Sunday Times - 4 Mar 2007

A SECOND batch of two-room flats derived from breaking up bigger units has been put up for sale, along with about 1,000 bigger flats, in HDB’s latest balloting exercise.

The 84 two-room flats in Sengkang, converted from unsold executive flats there, cost between $59,000 and $76,000 each.

The return of these smaller units, following more than 20 years during which HDB focused on building and selling bigger flats, is part of the effort to put housing within reach of the less well-off.

Families wanting to buy these units must not earn more than $2,000 a month.

To come up with these two-room flats, 84 executive flats in Anchorvale Link were each carved into two units - a two-room one and a three-room one. They are expected to be ready by the middle of this year.

The first batch of 100 such converted flats was offered in Jurong West last August. More than 200 people applied for them.

The latest balloting exercise announced yesterday also unveiled three-, four- and five-room units for sale in Bedok, Bukit Merah and Clementi.

Priced between $167,000 and $411,000, they are surplus flats from recent Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme exercises, in which old flats are torn down to make way for new ones in the neighbourhood.

Households eyeing these flats cannot earn more than $8,000 a month. The three-room units, however, have a qualifying income ceiling of $3,000.

Low-income households buying homes for the first time can also apply for a housing grant of up to $20,000.

Applications are open until March 19. Shortlisted applicants can expect to book their flats in June or July.

Source : Straits Times - 28 Feb 2007

Trend appears to be island-wide and for all apartment sizes, but resale prices stay flat

Rents for HDB flats have surged in the past 12 months, driven by spillover demand as rents for private housing have climbed.

Rental For HDB Flats

Figures compiled by property agency ERA for BT show that public housing resale prices have stayed flat.

But on the rental side it’s a different story. Increases range from 8.3 per cent for an executive flat at Jurong East to as much as 44.4 per cent for a four-room flat at Tampines.

The trend seems to be island-wide - and for all apartment sizes. Rent for a three-room flat at Toa Payoh, for instance, has climbed 33 per cent to $1,200 a month, from $900 a year earlier. Similarly, the rent for an executive flat at Pasir Ris is now $1,300, versus $1,000 in Q1 last year.

ERA is not the only agency to report the trend. Dennis Wee Properties says HDB rents have climbed 10-15 per cent in the past year. And the rise has been greater for flats close to amenities or services, such as nearness to an MRT station or town centre.

The rise is not limited to towns closer to the central district, such as Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio. Rents in outlying areas such as Pasir Ris and Woodlands have also gone up.

Market watchers say this is because renters of HDB flats are less likely to care about distance to the Central Business District and Orchard Road. Instead they look for good transport connections - often placing a high value on a nearby MRT station.

Agents attribute the increase in HDB rents to a filtering-down of rent rises in the private market.

‘Actually, this is a new trend,’ said ERA assistant vice-president Eugene Lim. ‘For a very long time the HDB rental market has been very stable. But now, with rents for private property increasing, those with a smaller budget might look at HDB flats instead, when in the past they might have rented condo apartments.’

Dennis Wee Properties director Chris Koh also said the climb in HDB rents is recent. They went up 5-10 per cent in the first six months of 2006 and the rate of increase picked up to 10-15 per cent in the second half of the year, he said. ‘The gap has widened between HDB rents and private property rents, making HDB rents look more attractive by comparison. Because of the increased demand, prices are going up. It’s basic demand and supply.’

According to Savills Singapore, rents for private homes have climbed 18.5 per cent in the past year. And rents for mass market homes alone - a segment that HDB flats could substitute for - have risen 19.5 per cent. The rise in HDB rents is despite more whole flats being available for sub-letting.

Data from HDB show that as of January this year, 12,700 flats were approved for whole sub-letting, versus 10,700 a year earlier.

The rent increase means demand has grown even more than supply, said ERA’s Mr Lim. He attributes this mainly to an increase in the number of expatriates with lower housing allowances or employed on local terms.

‘There is a new kind of expat today - with a lower budget,’ he said. ‘They often come here on local terms, which means rent is included in their basic salary. These expats are trying to maximise their salary.’

But expat HDB renters are not typical, Mr Lim said. ‘They could be Malaysians coming here to work or even students who are here to study, looking for HDB flats near their campuses.’

Dennis Wee’s Mr Koh cites a couple of examples - two IT professionals and three nurses from the Philippines getting together to rent flats.

But although HDB rents have risen, resale flat values are expected only to edge up this year. This is because the two markets are very different, notes Mr Lim. Rented HDB units cater mainly to foreigners, while HDB flat buyers are Singaporean.

The HDB resale price index released last month shows prices rose just 2 per cent in full-year 2006. And the number of resale flats transacted fell below 30,000 for the first time in a decade.

Source : Business Times - 27 Feb 2007

Combined balloting/walk-in scheme to begin in April

The Housing and Development Board will replace its walk-in selection (WIS) system for unsold flats with a combined balloting/walk-in sales system, starting in April.

Under the new system, HDB will group its stock of unsold four-room and bigger flats into three sectors.

Sector A takes in towns and estates in the north and west zones, sector B is the north-east zone and Sector C covers mature residential areas.

Unsold flats in each sector will be launched for sale once every two months on the 10th day of even months.

The first exercise - for flats in Sector A - starts in April. This will be followed by sector B on June 11 (because June 10 is a Sunday) and sector C on Aug 10. Then it is back to Sector A on Oct 10.

A detailed list of flats and prices will be available on HDB InfoWEB and at HDB Hub. Would-be buyers can submit applications to HDB during the initial one-week application period.

A computer ballot will determine the order of selection. All applicants will be given an appointment to book a flat, subject to availability, when their turn is due.

Applicants who apply after the initial one-week period will be given appointments after the last balloted position. And after all appointments have been processed, remaining flats will be available for booking on a walk-in basis.

HDB said that at the end of the fifth month, unsold flats will be withdrawn so they can be relaunched a month later.

To facilitate the switch to the new system, flats currently available for sale under WIS will be withdrawn by March 15.

Source : Business Times - 27 Feb 2007