Any fresh HDB curbs will affect new buyers only: Khaw Boon Wan

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday gave the assurance that any fresh curbs that would be introduced to make public housing more affordable - including disallowing the reselling of HDB flats on the open market - would apply only to new buyers, not existing flat owners.

The clarification came after earlier mention of such possible curbs last week unnerved the market and drove property stocks down, as many buyers of private homes are HDB upgraders. Keppel Land, Wing Tai Holdings and City Developments have fallen 2-3.8 per cent while CapitaLand has lost 4.8 per cent.

Two-room HDB flats may not appeal to many singles

Going by the numbers alone, the next launch of two-room Housing Board flats in July could be massively over-subscribed as a result of the recent move to allow singles to buy the units.

Eight in 10 working singles - some 150,000 Singaporeans - are now eligible to buy the smaller flats, which make up only a small fraction of the units launched each year.

But property watchers and singles themselves also say many of those eligible may give the flats a wide berth because of their small sizes and far-flung locations.

Property Agencies spooked by talk of changes to public housing system

HDB Owners Beware! Sell your houses in the resale market now when you still can! Ask me how! **

Alarm and uncertainty are permeating property agencies after National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan floated three suggestions on how he might reboot the public housing system.

While some fear that the changes could cause redundancies in the industry, others worry that they might produce the opposite of the desired result.

On Sunday, Mr Khaw said reverting to the pre-1971 system of allowing flats to be sold back only to the Housing Board, with minimal capital gains, could be one way of bringing down the prices of new flats. He has pledged to reduce these by some 30 per cent.

Singles BTO scheme to benefit 8 in 10

More than 80 per cent of singles above the age of 35 are eligible to buy new Build-to-Order (BTO) flats, said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan, even as he revealed that the government might look at raising the income cap.

This follows Mr Khaw's announcement on Friday that first-timer singles earning $5,000 or less will be able to buy new two-room flats in non-mature estates directly from the Housing & Development Board (HDB) with effect from the July BTO exercise. The first BTO exercise for singles will be in Sengkang.

Big drop in HDB resale deals as new cooling measures bite

The number of Housing Board resale flats changing hands dropped drastically last month - a sign that the new cooling measures announced at the start of the year are beginning to kick in.

There were around 750 resale deals last month, the lowest activity in any month since the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) started tracking prices in 2007. This is less than half the 1,740 transactions in February last year.

Urban Vista in Tanah Merah, Bartley Ridge at Mount Vernon set for launch

With more launches expected later this month - including Urban Vista next to Tanah Merah MRT Station, Bartley Ridge and Kingsford.Hillview Peak - developers can be expected to post strong housing sales for March, analysts say.

Urban Vista in Tanah Merah could go on the market as early as next week, if developers World Class Land and Fragrance Group secure all regulatory approvals. Market watchers expect the 582-unit condo to be priced around $1,300-1,400 psf on average.

Expectations are also running high that Hong Leong Group could roll out Bartley Ridge - an 868-unit condo near Bartley MRT Station - by month-end. Analysts reckon that the average price could be around $1,300 psf.

Also targeted for release around month-end is a condo of about 500 units named Kingsford.Hillview Peak, next to The Hillier.

Developers sold 2,013 private homes (excluding executive condos) in January.

Source: Business Times –6 March 2013

Suburban apartment rents on the rise

Suburban apartments in the east and north-east part of the island were the star performers on the rental front in the fourth quarter last year.

Median monthly rents rose 2.9 per cent to $3.13 per sq ft (psf) in the three months to Dec 31.

Apartments in western areas such as Jurong managed rental increases of 2 per cent to $2.96 psf while suburbs in the north such as Woodlands saw a 1 per cent dip to $2.72 psf.

Home prices 'not at acceptable level yet'

Property prices in Singapore still have "some ways to go" before they reach an acceptable level relative to incomes, according to Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

"We're still in a wrong part of the cycle," he told Bloomberg TV in an interview on Thursday.

Mr Tharman, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said the adjustment process would "happen through a combination of income improvement, as well as prices certainly not going up further".

Non-landed resale prices on the rise in Jan

Resale prices of completed private apartments and condos fared slightly better in January compared to December, according to the latest figures from the National University of Singapore.

The university's January flash estimate for the Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) suggested that prices of small units (up to 506 sq ft) islandwide was the star performer for the month, rising 2.6 per cent, reversing a dip of 0.7 per cent in December.

First Government Land Sales sites on tender since cooling measures

The first Government Land Sales (GLS) sites since the last round of property cooling measures have been put up for sale. And analysts are casting a keen eye on the tender.

The two 99-year leasehold residential sites at Kim Tian Road and Sengkang West Way were released yesterday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Housing and Development Board (HDB) under the Confirmed List of the GLS programme for the first half of the year. They could yield about 1,100 homes.