All property’s in boomtown

All property’s in boomtown
Sky-High prices at luxury launches such as Sky @ Eleven, One Shenton and One North Residences over the past three months have lifted the private property market to a quarterly gain of 4.6 per cent, according to flash estimates from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).The property price index rose from 130.2 points in the previous quarter to 136.2 points in the first quarter of this year, the highest increase in seven years.

The latest record gain has led some property analysts to revise their growth projections for the year from 8 per cent, to between 10 and 18 per cent. Last year, private-property prices rose 10.2 per cent.

Chief executive Mohd Ismail of real estate firm Propnex said: “With the development of the integrated resorts and strong foreign investor interest, I believe the momentum in the property market will continue at least for the next two to three years.”

While the gains were led by condominiums in the core central region - such as St Thomas Suites, One Shenton and Orchard Turn - which had an average quarterly price increase of 5.6 per cent, mass-market property prices in the rest of Singapore grew at a healthy pace.

Prices of condos in non-prime areas of central Singapore rose 2.9 per cent in the first quarter, following a prior 2.2 per cent rise. Non-landed private residential property prices rose 2.6 per cent, compared with 1.5 per cent the previous quarter.

Ms Tay Huey Ying, Colliers International director for research and consultancy, expects next quarter’s price gains in areas outside the core central region to breach 3 per cent, while the core central region - comprising the Downtown core, Sentosa and districts 9, 10 and 11 - could stabilise in the region of 6 per cent.

Other areas that have seen a significant rise in prices include the Meyer and Amber roads region, and Buona Vista, where new projects are now priced at 50 per cent more than what they would have fetched a year ago, said CB Richard Ellis executive director Li Hiaw Ho.

Colliers’ Ms Tay said: “Final numbers of the price growth will be higher than these flash estimates, as transactions that took place in the later part of the quarter would not have been taken into account yet.”

These include transactions for Orchard Turn Residences, Botanika, One North Residences and The Trillium.

Meanwhile, prices of Housing and Development Board flats picked up, too, rising 1.2 per cent over the last quarter. This follows a mere 0.8 per cent rise in the final quarter of last year, that was preceded by three straight quarters of falling prices.

Knight Frank director of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak said: “The public housing market will also see a price increase but at a more moderate pace. The question is, will HDB upgraders be priced out of the private-property market with the rising prices?”

Source: Today, 03 April 2007

Over 80% of One North Residences sold in 3 days

All but 70 units of the 405-unit One North Residences have been snapped up in just three days at private previews.
It is the first condominium to be marketed at the $15 billion 200ha research hub one-north at Buona Vista.
Units were sold at prices ranging from about $550,000 to $2.4 million. The highest transaction was done yesterday at over $1,000 per sq ft (psf), market watchers said.
On average, prices are now hovering around $885 psf, up from $850 psf on Tuesday.
Most of the buyers - possibly around 80 to 90 per cent - are Singaporeans, market watchers said.
As of last night, around 70 units were unsold, most of them one-bedroom units, now priced at about $950 psf.
The soft launch of One North Residences was planned for tomorrow. Sales started on Tuesday with a staff preview, when directors, staff and other buyers picked up 60 units and prices were raised by 2 to 5 per cent, said market sources.
These buyers included those on an elite list, such as senior civil servants and prominent businessmen.
Wednesday was reserved for the bulk purchasers, including funds interested in buying several units at one ago.
Invited home buyers packed the show-flat yesterday, picking up many more units of the 99-year leasehold condo.
All the nine penthouses ranging from 1,970 sq ft to 3,251 sq ft, as well as all the two-bedroom units have been sold.
The condo will be developed by a joint venture between UOL Group, Low Keng Huat and privately-held Kheng Leong.
While its apartments come in a wide range of sizes, most of them are the one- and two-bedroom apartments, ranging from 592 sq ft to 1,259 sq ft.
There are also 85 single-level and duplex small-office, home-office units, which range from 517 sq ft to 1,281 sq ft, and 20 shops.
Market watchers say some home buyers bought to speculate, while others bought into the area’s prospect as a thriving research hub.
The condo is marketed by Knight Frank and Savills Singapore.
Next up at one-north is the 368-unit One Rochester, which developer United Engineers expects to release for sale in mid-April.
The condo is part of a mixed development that includes a block of about 300 hotel rooms and service apartments, and a retail podium with about 100,000 sq ft of space.
The hotel rooms, service apartments and shops are only for lease.
Source: The Straits Times, 09 March 2007