Singapore Property News This Week #216

Residential

June HDB resale prices up by 0.1%

From May to June this year, HDB resale prices have increased by 0.1% according to flash estimates by SRX Property. Resale prices of four-room flats increased by 0.3%, while resale prices of five-room flats increased by 0.5%. Executive resale flats also saw a price increase by 0.7%. However, resale prices of three-room flats fell by 0.2%. Nonetheless, on the whole, HDB resale prices have fallen by 4.4% in June this year, down from the same period of time last year. According to Eugene Lim from ERA Realty, the lowering of the mortgage servicing ratio and the increase in supply of Build-To-Order flats may have stabilised public housing prices.

(Source: Business Times)

The Brownstone EC opens for applications

E-applications for The Brownstone executive condominium (EC) at Sembawang has opened. According to the Business Times, the indicative price of two-bedroom units range from $599,000 to $680,000; while the indicative price of a five-bedroom penthouse ranges from $1.318 million to $1.38 million. Located near to the upcoming Canberra MRT station, the unit sizes of the project range from 732 sq ft for a two-bedder to 1,711 sq ft for a five-room penthouse unit. Designed as a luxury EC, the project is said to be built using high-productivity and government-touted prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction method. It will compromise of 8 blocks and will have a junior skating rink for children.

(Source: Business Times)

Prime home rents fall by 4.9% year-on-year

According to Knight Frank, Singapore was ranked the third-worst performer in terms of its residential leasing market in Q1 due to a 4.9% fall year-on-year in prime residential rents in March 2015. Alice Tan from Knight Frank said that the leasing market for high-end properties have been weak due to a lower labour supply. Not only so, Tan believes that the overall rentals is slated to decline with an estimated 3% to 5% year-on-year fall in rentals of high-end residential properties by Q4 of this year. While the prime rents worldwide have been increasing by an average of 3.5% per annum a year ago, the number of cities that recorded flat or positive growth has remained the same. The study by Knight Frank suggested that slow growth could be due to the slowdown in emerging markets such as Dubai.

(Source: Business Times)

Bicycle-sharing facility to be launched at Riverbank@Fernvale

The nation’s first bicycle-sharing facility for residents of Riverbank@Fernvale will be launched by UOL Group Limited, as it will be supplying 50 bicycles to be shared by residents of the condominium. Slated to be completed in 2017, residents of the condominium will have bicycles to commute to Sengkang MRT station, Kupang LRT station or Jalan Kayu. Other developers such as Koh Brothers and Heeton Homes will also be providing bicycle-friendly facilities for upcoming executive condominium projects.

(Source: Business Times)

Commercial

Average monthly gross rent for retail space at Orchard falls by 5%

According to a report by Colliers International, the average monthly gross rent for retail space in Orchard Road has fallen by 5% in 2015. Monthly rent for retail space at Orchard has fallen from $35.83 psf in Q1 to $35.25 psf at the end of June. This 1.6% drop is likely to be due to competition from new malls in the suburban regional centres. The current rental for retail space in Orchard Road is about 3.9% higher than in the regional centres, according to the Business Times. Chia Siew Chuin from Colliers said that more upmarket brands have been relocating to decentralised areas such as the Jurong East. Low tourist numbers may have also impacted the retail rent of sites at Orchard, added the Business Times.

(Source: Business Times)

836 industrial leasing deals completed in May

The total number of leasing deals including warehouses, factories and business parks has increased from 651 in March to 836 in May this year. For prime factory space, the average monthly gross rent fell by 0.4% for ground level space and by 1% for upper-level space from Q1 to Q2. For prime warehouse spaces, the average monthly gross rents for ground level space remained at $2.49 psf. However, gross rents for upper-level space eased by 1% to $1.92 psf. On the other hand, gross rents at business parks remained at $4.17 in Q2.

(Source: Business Times)

Property investments rose by 56.7% to 5.7 billion in Q2

According to the Business Times, property investments for big ticket transactions of at least $10 million have risen 56.7% to $5.7 billion in Q2 this year from the previous quarter. A couple of large transactions in the commercial property segment have contributed to the surge in investments. On the whole, investment sales in H1 this year have reached $9.3 billion, said Savills Singapore. Galven Tan from CBRE said that a widening gap between buyers’ and sellers’ expectation may pose a challenge to sealing transactions. Particularly, market experts believe that the outlook for the office sector is on the decline. This is because major tenants have been moving out of the CBD, and strata office sales have cooled. The total debt servicing ratio framework is also expected to slow sales of strata commercial and industrial units, said the Business Times.

(Source: Business Times)