The number of applications by foreigners (including permanent residents) seeking approval from the government to buy landed properties in Singapore rose 30 per cent in 2006 against the preceding year, according to Singapore Land Authority.
‘This was possibly due to the strong economy, a favourable property market and interest in Sentosa Cove,’ an SLA spokeswoman said.
Foreigners including PRs face restrictions in buying landed properties in Singapore and need prior approval from the authorities before they can purchase such properties. Foreigners have to be PRs before they can receive permission to buy landed homes on mainland Singapore; Sentosa Cove is the only location where foreigners who are not PRs are allowed to purchase landed property.
Apart from an applicant’s PR status, sanction to buy landed property depends on his qualifications and economic contributions to Singapore, SLA’s spokeswoman stressed.
SLA declined to say how many applications were made by foreigners/PRs to buy landed property, and how many were approved.
However, based on DTZ Debenham Tie Leung’s analysis of caveats captured by the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Realis database, foreigners including PRs bought 93 landed homes or 8.4 per cent of the total 1,108 landed homes transacted in Q1 2007, covering both primary and secondary markets, as well as completed and uncompleted properties.
These figures are higher than those for Q1 2006, when foreigners including PRs bought 43 landed homes, or 6.1 per cent of the total 706 landed homes that were transacted. During Q2 1996, at the height of the 1990s property bull run, PRs/foreigners purchased 31 landed homes, or 2.6 per cent of the total 1,188 landed homes that changed hands during the period.
DTZ’s analysis showed that for Q1 this year, PRs bought 86 landed homes while non-PR foreigners purchased seven such homes. The most popular landed homes among foreigners as a whole were terrace houses (45 units), followed by semi-detached (26 units) and detached houses (22 units).
Private apartments/condos - a class of properties where there are no restrictions on purchases by foreigners/PRs (unless they want to buy up an entire development) - made up the majority of private homes bought by foreigners in Q1 this year. In all, foreigners/PRs bought 2,008 non-landed private homes, accounting for 30.3 per cent of the total condos/apartments bought in the period.
In Q1 this year, foreigners/PRs bought 27.2 per cent of the overall 7,731 private homes (comprising both landed and non-landed homes) that changed hands. This share is almost double their 14.1 per cent share back in Q2 1996, when foreigners/PRs purchased 975 of the total 6,932 private residential properties transacted.
DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah said the growing foreign buying of landed homes in Singapore reflects that many foreigners/PRs are raising their families here.
‘They may find that condos are too small. Very often they buy landed homes in locations close to the foreign/international schools that their children attend, for instance, in Lorong Chuan, where the Australian International School is located, and in the West Coast near the Japanese School,’ she added.
‘Many of these foreigners and PRs say Singapore is a very ‘liveable’ place. If they believe in the future of Asia, they’d want to raise their families in Asia, and Singapore is a good location, from which they can get exposure to China and India because of our connectivity,’ she added.
Since 1973, foreigners (including PRs) have been prohibited from buying landed property without prior government approval. All would-be buyers must seek permission from the Land Dealings (Approval) Unit under the SLA. Typically, it takes about four weeks for approval to be granted, but in the upscale waterfront locale of Sentosa Cove, the time has been fast-tracked to less than 48 hours.
Whether on mainland Singapore or Sentosa Cove, foreigners including PRs can at any one time own only one landed home in Singapore and must occupy it themselves rather than rent it out.
However, being a PR does not automatically mean one’s application to buy landed property will be approved. For instance, if the PR does not have the recognised qualifications or expertise/working experience required by Singapore or has not made any investment in the type of industry/service sector being promoted in Singapore, the application may be turned down. Even PRs who have set up businesses promoted by Singapore may find their applications rejected if their company’s paid-up capital and turnover do not meet certain requirements.
Source: The Business Times, 14 July 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
SuperBowl Holdings yesterday said it will sell two properties in Balestier Road for $39.8 million.
SuperBowl Holdings yesterday said it will sell two properties in Balestier Road for $39.8 million.
They are slated to be developed into a 168-room hotel consisting of a 11-storey tower block on a two-storey podium with a basement car park and swimming pool.
The price was arrived at on a willing-buyer-willing-seller basis, SuperBowl said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange.
The company acquired the two properties last year for $17.8 million and their unaudited book value as at June 30 this year stood at $18.3 million.
‘Given the current property boom, the sale of these two properties is commercially beneficial and would result in a substantial gain for the group,’ said Teo Ho Beng, SuperBowl’s managing director.
‘The sale proceeds can be used for future working capital, investment purposes as well as for the acquisition of alternative sites. Bearing in mind our interest in developing our hospitality business, the resources would enable us to bid for other alternative sites that are suitable for hotel development.’
The transaction is expected to have a positive material impact on SuperBowl’s financial performance for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2007, the company said.
Assuming the sale had been completed at the beginning of the 2006 financial year, the group’s earnings per share would have increased to 11.45 cents, from 2.05 cents.
SuperBowl’s shares closed 2.5 cents up at 49.5 cents yesterday.
Separately, Landmark Tower, a 99-year leasehold residential site on Chin Swee Road, has been put up for collective sale with an indicative asking price of about $300 million.
The price works out to about $1,471 per square foot per plot ratio, including a $31 million charge to top up the site’s remaining tenure to 99 years - from 72 years at present.
No development charge is payable.
The 60,821 sq ft site has a 3.7 plot ratio giving the successful developer a total gross floor area of 225,038 sq ft to work with.
The site is ideal for redeveloping into a high-rise condominium with 150 apartment units of about 1,500 sq ft each, said Ho Eng Joo, executive director of investment sales at property firm Colliers International, which is conducting the public tender for the project.
‘The location of the site, which commands an unobstructed city panorama, a tranquil view of the Singapore River, as well as lush greenery of Pearl’s Hill City Park, will be a very popular site with developers,’ said Mr Ho.
Landmark Tower consists of 139 apartment and penthouse units.
If the price of $300 million is met, owners will be walking away with between $1.5-2 million for each unit, which will represent an en-bloc premium of over 100 per cent each, said Mr Ho.
The tender for the site will close on Aug 14 at 3pm.
Source: The Business Times, 14 July 2007
They are slated to be developed into a 168-room hotel consisting of a 11-storey tower block on a two-storey podium with a basement car park and swimming pool.
The price was arrived at on a willing-buyer-willing-seller basis, SuperBowl said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange.
The company acquired the two properties last year for $17.8 million and their unaudited book value as at June 30 this year stood at $18.3 million.
‘Given the current property boom, the sale of these two properties is commercially beneficial and would result in a substantial gain for the group,’ said Teo Ho Beng, SuperBowl’s managing director.
‘The sale proceeds can be used for future working capital, investment purposes as well as for the acquisition of alternative sites. Bearing in mind our interest in developing our hospitality business, the resources would enable us to bid for other alternative sites that are suitable for hotel development.’
The transaction is expected to have a positive material impact on SuperBowl’s financial performance for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2007, the company said.
Assuming the sale had been completed at the beginning of the 2006 financial year, the group’s earnings per share would have increased to 11.45 cents, from 2.05 cents.
SuperBowl’s shares closed 2.5 cents up at 49.5 cents yesterday.
Separately, Landmark Tower, a 99-year leasehold residential site on Chin Swee Road, has been put up for collective sale with an indicative asking price of about $300 million.
The price works out to about $1,471 per square foot per plot ratio, including a $31 million charge to top up the site’s remaining tenure to 99 years - from 72 years at present.
No development charge is payable.
The 60,821 sq ft site has a 3.7 plot ratio giving the successful developer a total gross floor area of 225,038 sq ft to work with.
The site is ideal for redeveloping into a high-rise condominium with 150 apartment units of about 1,500 sq ft each, said Ho Eng Joo, executive director of investment sales at property firm Colliers International, which is conducting the public tender for the project.
‘The location of the site, which commands an unobstructed city panorama, a tranquil view of the Singapore River, as well as lush greenery of Pearl’s Hill City Park, will be a very popular site with developers,’ said Mr Ho.
Landmark Tower consists of 139 apartment and penthouse units.
If the price of $300 million is met, owners will be walking away with between $1.5-2 million for each unit, which will represent an en-bloc premium of over 100 per cent each, said Mr Ho.
The tender for the site will close on Aug 14 at 3pm.
Source: The Business Times, 14 July 2007
They have not even been built yet, but apartments at popular new projects like The Sail @ Marina Bay are changing hands
at a rate not seen in almost a decade.
Sales of these uncompleted homes, known in the industry as sub-sales, almost doubled to 1,184 between April and last month for private non-landed homes, according to new figures released by property firm Savills Singapore yesterday.
Such transactions comprised 13.9 per cent of all private home sales in the June quarter - up from 6.3 per cent in the first three months of this year and the highest level in almost 10 years.
Sub-sales are often used to measure speculative activity in the private home market and as such are closely watched - now more than ever, as the Government tries to gauge how far it should go to calm the red-hot property market.
The latest figures show that more buyers are quickly reselling recently-bought homes, adding to the growing property frenzy.
But while the numbers are rising fast, property consultants are not too concerned yet.
‘It’s surprising that sub-sales have doubled in three months, but they still haven’t reached the same levels as in 1996, which triggered government intervention,’ said Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank.
At the height of the property boom in 1996, sub-sales reached 28.4 per cent of all home sales.
But Mr Mak warned: ‘If it keeps going at this rate, the authorities may step in.’
At projects such as the uncompleted Sail, sub-sales have been roaring along. There were 61 Sail units resold three times each in the last two years, according to investment bank JP Morgan.
Six more units changed hands four times, and one unit found new buyers five times.
Most of these sellers made big bucks, thanks to escalating prices - some units have tripled in price since their 2004 launch.
One buyer paid $750,000 for a unit in early 2005 and resold it for $1.8 million recently, said Savills.
But not all sub-sales turn profits.
At Icon in Tanjong Pagar, one seller made more than $314,000 in three months, while another resold his unit at a $348,000 loss after two months.
Savills, whose estimates were taken from the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s caveat database ahead of official Government figures due on July 27, pointed out that more sub-sales do not necessarily imply more speculation.
‘These sellers may not have bought their units with the intention to speculate,’ said Mr Ku Swee Yong, Savills’ director of marketing and business development.
‘But prices have risen so quickly that they are tempted to cash in.’
Indeed, projects in the prime districts - where home prices have shot up the fastest - made up the bulk of the sub-sales in April to June, said Savills.
More than half the sub-sales in the period took place in Districts 1 to 4 and 9 to 11, which cover Orchard, River Valley, Bukit Timah, Newton, Shenton Way, Marina Bay and Tanjong Pagar.
Sub-sales accounted for about one in five of all home sales in these areas. But some districts saw higher figures of up to 80 per cent.
In District 2, where Icon is located, four out of every five sales were sub-sales. In District 1, where The Sail is, the figure was 64 per cent.
The proportion of sub-sales was a lower 25 per cent in District 9 and only 11 per cent in District 10.
The Sail and Icon topped the sub-sale list in the quarter, with 81 and 71 deals, respectively. Sky@Eleven in Thomson Road was third with 51, while City Square Residences and Citylights in the Jalan Besar area saw 40 deals each.
With most of these projects due to be completed soon, Mr Ku added that the spike in sub-sales could backed by genuine buying demand from displaced collective sale sellers.
This may be a balm to the Government, which has periodically referred to low levels of sub-sales as a sign that rising property prices are fuelled by genuine home demand.
Last year, there were just 989 sub-sale deals, accounting for a mere 4.1 per cent of total private home sales.
Source: The Straits Times, 14 July 2007
Sales of these uncompleted homes, known in the industry as sub-sales, almost doubled to 1,184 between April and last month for private non-landed homes, according to new figures released by property firm Savills Singapore yesterday.
Such transactions comprised 13.9 per cent of all private home sales in the June quarter - up from 6.3 per cent in the first three months of this year and the highest level in almost 10 years.
Sub-sales are often used to measure speculative activity in the private home market and as such are closely watched - now more than ever, as the Government tries to gauge how far it should go to calm the red-hot property market.
The latest figures show that more buyers are quickly reselling recently-bought homes, adding to the growing property frenzy.
But while the numbers are rising fast, property consultants are not too concerned yet.
‘It’s surprising that sub-sales have doubled in three months, but they still haven’t reached the same levels as in 1996, which triggered government intervention,’ said Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank.
At the height of the property boom in 1996, sub-sales reached 28.4 per cent of all home sales.
But Mr Mak warned: ‘If it keeps going at this rate, the authorities may step in.’
At projects such as the uncompleted Sail, sub-sales have been roaring along. There were 61 Sail units resold three times each in the last two years, according to investment bank JP Morgan.
Six more units changed hands four times, and one unit found new buyers five times.
Most of these sellers made big bucks, thanks to escalating prices - some units have tripled in price since their 2004 launch.
One buyer paid $750,000 for a unit in early 2005 and resold it for $1.8 million recently, said Savills.
But not all sub-sales turn profits.
At Icon in Tanjong Pagar, one seller made more than $314,000 in three months, while another resold his unit at a $348,000 loss after two months.
Savills, whose estimates were taken from the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s caveat database ahead of official Government figures due on July 27, pointed out that more sub-sales do not necessarily imply more speculation.
‘These sellers may not have bought their units with the intention to speculate,’ said Mr Ku Swee Yong, Savills’ director of marketing and business development.
‘But prices have risen so quickly that they are tempted to cash in.’
Indeed, projects in the prime districts - where home prices have shot up the fastest - made up the bulk of the sub-sales in April to June, said Savills.
More than half the sub-sales in the period took place in Districts 1 to 4 and 9 to 11, which cover Orchard, River Valley, Bukit Timah, Newton, Shenton Way, Marina Bay and Tanjong Pagar.
Sub-sales accounted for about one in five of all home sales in these areas. But some districts saw higher figures of up to 80 per cent.
In District 2, where Icon is located, four out of every five sales were sub-sales. In District 1, where The Sail is, the figure was 64 per cent.
The proportion of sub-sales was a lower 25 per cent in District 9 and only 11 per cent in District 10.
The Sail and Icon topped the sub-sale list in the quarter, with 81 and 71 deals, respectively. Sky@Eleven in Thomson Road was third with 51, while City Square Residences and Citylights in the Jalan Besar area saw 40 deals each.
With most of these projects due to be completed soon, Mr Ku added that the spike in sub-sales could backed by genuine buying demand from displaced collective sale sellers.
This may be a balm to the Government, which has periodically referred to low levels of sub-sales as a sign that rising property prices are fuelled by genuine home demand.
Last year, there were just 989 sub-sale deals, accounting for a mere 4.1 per cent of total private home sales.
Source: The Straits Times, 14 July 2007
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