Kismis View launched for en bloc sale for S$102m - SRX

KISMIS View, a collective sale site in Lorong Kismis in the Upper Bukit Timah area, has just been launched for sale by tender by JLL, for a minimum price of S$102 million.

JLL, the sole marketing agent, said on Wednesday that about 90 per cent of the owners consented to the collective sale.

Built in the early 1980s, Kismis View comprises 43 units in two four-storey and seven-storey apartment blocks. It is a 99-year leasehold site with a balance lease term of about 64 years.

Under the 2014 Master Plan, the 90,863 square foot site is zoned "Residential" with a gross plot ratio of 1.4.

JLL said the site may be redeveloped into a low-rise apartment development of up to five storeys, with a total gross floor area of about 139,929 sq ft including a 10 per cent bonus balcony area.

The maximum number allowed would be 168 units based on the minimum average size control of 70 square metres.

At the minimum price and with an estimated differential premium of about S$23 million (subject to verification and confirmation with the relevant authorities on the development baseline), Kismis View's land cost reflects about S$983 per sq ft per plot ratio, JLL said.

"This compared favourably with some nearby land sales such as the Government Land Sale site at Toh Tuck Road earlier this year; the predominantly residential mixed-use Goh & Goh Building site; and the most recent Mayfair Gardens."

Tan Hong Boon, regional director at JLL, said: "With a very manageable dollar quantum, sizeable potential upgraders from the nearby HDB estates as well as investor demand from the mature private housing owners in this Upper Bukit Timah locality, Kismis View is a desirable site of choice for developers."

The tender for Kismis View will close on Wednesday, Jan 17, 2018, at 2.30 pm.

The Business Times 

Source: SRX (23 Nov 2017)

Investors drawn again to real estate rebound - SRX

SINGAPORE'S property market has improved drastically in its investment prospect rankings, going from near the bottom of the table in 2017 to third place in 2018.

This follows a huge resurgence in investor sentiment this year, particularly in the office and residential sectors - two markets that are said to have bottomed out, although a survey of 600 real estate professionals reveals some sceptics who think the "bottoming" may be premature.

The Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2018 report, a real estate forecast published by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC, noted that office rents in Singapore have firmed earlier than expected, while the completion of CapitaLand Commercial Trust's mega S$2.09 billion acquisition of Asia Square Tower 2 from BlackRock has galvanised the local market and set a new benchmark for valuations.

The residential sector is also showing signs of recovery with rising transactions and a slight uptick in pricing for the first time in four years. Sales of developer sites have also surged amid tightening supply as developers seek to replenish their land banks.

"The rebound seems likely to be sustainable, given several years of pent-up consumer demand. The Chinese developers have also been active in buying land, pushing up land auction prices for residential sites significantly through 2017," the report noted.

The residential market rebound could have been helped by a partial lifting of government cooling measures, which relaxed the conditions of the seller's stamp duty in March this year. This does little to help investment funds, however, because extra costs in the form of other applicable stamp duties are still a drag on returns.

The report is based on the opinions of more than 600 real estate professionals, including investors, developers, property company representatives, lenders, brokers and consultants.

There were some respondents, however, who see talk of a bottoming in Singapore's office property market as premature. According to one fund manager interviewed, business confidence is still low, supply abounds, and tenants are not really expanding.

"It's challenging to bring foreign workers in because the government has responded to local concerns to protect jobs, and at the same time a lot of the European banks are downsizing, which hits demand for space. I don't want to be negative, but we're not seeing a big pipeline of deals that interest us," the fund manager said.

Colin Galloway, ULI consultant and principal author of the report, said it is "sentiment basically" that has moved Singapore from second- last in a list of 22 investment destinations to third place. Investors want to get in early on the upturn cycle, and are okay even if future performance shows that the market has not yet reached its trough and it continues sideways for a while.

"Investors won't look at the cities that are at the top (of the investment prospects table); they look at the cities that are at the bottom because they are looking for that rebound from when blood is on the streets. The potential profits are greater if you can catch it at the bottom.

"If you get in early, then a lot of people don't mind too much if they have to hold the assets for a couple of years while the market turns around. That's not a big deal for them... if they lose two years simply because the market is slow to turn," said Mr Galloway.

The Business Times

Source: SRX (22 Nov 2017)

Resale volume for private homes jumps 18.7% - SRX

Resale transactions went into overdrive last month, with numbers rocketing past the level recorded in September.

The activity is a stark sign that life is roaring back into the market, although things are still far from the glory days of 2010 and 2014.

There were 1,461 non-landed private residential units resold in October, up 18.7 per cent on the 1,231 shifted in the previous month, according to SRX Property estimates. The year-on-year result is even more impressive, with October's volume up 122 per cent from the 658 units resold in the same month last year, although it was 28.7 per cent below the peak of 2,050 units in April 2010.

SRX Property said private non-landed resales for the first 10 months of the year are 46 per cent higher than for the whole of 2016. It predicts the volume for this whole year will be around 12,600 units - up 65 per cent from last year's 7,633 units.

Mr Wong Xian Yang, OrangeTee's head of research and consultancy, expects resale volumes of private homes to continue growing on the back of increased demand.

He suggests that the record resale prices for city-fringe non-landed private homes could have been fuelled by the surge in land prices for both collective-sale sites as well as Government Land Sale sites.

"Those selling private apartments and condos units in the rest of central region (RCR) in the resale market are holding firm or raising their asking prices, as higher land prices tend to augur well for future property prices," he said.

Resale prices for condo units and private apartments in the city fringe or RCR reached a new high last month, going by SRX Property flash estimates. On a month-on-month basis, its resale price index for non-landed private homes posted a 1.5 per cent gain last month. The price index for the suburbs, or outside central region (OCR), climbed at an even faster pace of 1.7 per cent.

In the prime core central region (CCR), prices inched up 0.3 per cent. As a result, SRX Property's overall resale price index for private apartments and condo units rose 1.3 per cent last month over September. This followed a 0.1 per cent month-on-month rise in the overall index in September.

On a year-on-year basis, the RCR price index outshone the other two regions with a 7.5 per cent gain. This was followed by a 6.4 per cent increase for the CCR and a 5.5 per cent increase for the OCR.

The Straits Times

Source: SRX (15 Nov 2017)

SRX: HDB resale prices slip 0.3% in October but volume rises 5.9%

HDB resale prices dipped by 0.3 per cent in October from a month ago, the same decline seen in September, but sales volume recovered to post a 5.9 per cent increase, SRX Property flash estimates showed on Thursday (Nov 9).



From a year ago, resale prices in October were 1.9 per cent lower, and 12.5 per cent below the peak in April 2013.

Month on month, the resale prices of HDB 3-room and 5-room flats rose by 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively, while 4-room remained the same and executive flats dropped by 0.9 per cent.

Resale prices in mature estates reversed September's rise with an 0.8 per cent drop in October, while non-mature estates edged up by 0.1 per cent.

Based on SRX Property estimates of HDB resale transactions, about 1,781 HDB resale flats were sold in October, a 5.9 per cent increase from 1,681 units in the previous month. This was a swing from the 14 per cent month-on-month fall in sales seen in September.

Year on year, resale volume has increased by 5.0 per cent compared to the 1,696 units resold in October 2016.

But sales are down by 51.2 per cent compared to the peak of 3,649 units in May 2010.

Bukit Timah posted the highest median Transaction Over X-Value (TOX) in March. TOX measures whether buyers are overpaying or underpaying SRX Property's computer-generated market value.

For HDB towns having more than 10 resale transactions in October, Bukit Timah reported the highest median TOX of S$53,000 followed by Bukit Merah with S$5,500. This means that majority of the buyers in these towns purchased units above SRX's computer-generated market value.

Bishan posted the most negative median TOX of S$22,000, followed by Marine Parade at S$9,000.


Source: SRX (09 Nov 2017)