Impact of the latest property measures

It’s all over the media – the government has just announced another round of cooling measures for the property market.

Summary of the new measures

Here’s a summary of the measures:

1) The holding period for Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) to be imposed has been increased from the current three years to four years.

2) Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) rates have been increased to 16 percent, 12 percent, 8 percent and 4 percent of selling price for residential properties which are bought on or after 14 January 2011, and are sold in the first, second, third and fourth year after purchase respectively.

(This is currently 3 percent, 2 percent and 1 percent for properties sold in the first, second, and third year after purchase respectively).

3) The LTV limit has been lowered to 50 percent on housing loans for property purchasers who are not individuals (e.g. companies).

4) The LTV limit has been lowered from 70 percent to 60 percent for purchasers who are individuals with one or more outstanding housing loans at the time of the new purchase.

These measures will take immediate effect on 14 January 2011.

My take on the likely impact of the measures

The increased Seller’s Stamp Duty is very harsh. To just breakeven if you’re selling within the first 3 years, your property price has to go up by at least 15-20 percent (taking into account transaction and interest costs). This basically means that most buyers are forced to hold for at least 3 (if not 4) years.

Also the SSD is a tax on your selling price regardless of whether you made money or not (unlike a capital gains tax). If property prices stay flat and you are forced to sell your house for whatever reason (loss of job, need liquidity etc) you will immediately make a loss of 4-16 percent (not including transaction and interest costs) on the total home price. Assuming you took a 60 percent loan, you could lose up to 40 percent of your capital due to the impact of leverage even if home prices stay flat.

I believe the net impact of these measures is that transaction volumes will fall significantly. Buying demand from investors and speculators will be heavily impacted, while even end users are likely to take a “wait and see” attitude in the hope that prices fall more.

But at this juncture I don’t think prices will fall significantly in the short to medium term. Home owners and developers still have strong balance sheet positions and are not likely to sell at a loss. We will need to have a recession and retrenchments before these two groups start to sweat.

Effective Lighting Techniques

Many of us cannot imagine what life would be like without lights. For starters we would not be able to have a productive life during the nights. Lighting helps to illuminate areas where we live and work so that we can be more productive.

However, many of us do not have adequate lighting in our own homes. As an example, we have ceiling lights in our rooms but we don't always have a desk lamp to help us when we are doing our work and this can have adverse effects on our eyes. So what types of lighting should we have in our homes?

There are so many types to choose from including chandeliers, halogen lights, ceiling lights, fluorescent bulbs, table lamps and outdoor lights just to name a few examples. They vary in function and price and it can sometimes be difficult to choose the best form of lighting for your home.

In this article, Property Guru will take a closer look at some cost saving lighting techniques that you can use for your home that will not compromise your standard of living.

Use compact fluorescent bulbs. These bulbs do not give the effect of luxury so avoid using them for your living areas. Instead, use them in your room as a desk lamp. The light they emit is good for those wanting to read at night. You also save on your energy bill because you achieve the same level of brightness with a 17-watt fluorescent light bulb as you can with a standard 60-watt bulb. It also lasts longer.

Install ceiling fans with lights. They will not only add light to your rooms but save money on your energy bill by up to 40 percent.

Invest in illuminated cabinets and mirror lighting for your bathrooms. It will save you space and you won't have to spend extra money buying individual lights.

Install a dimmer switch. This will help to change the mood of lighting in your room depending on what type of feel you're going for and it saves you money on your energy bill as well as doubling the life of your bulbs.

Use solar-powered outdoor lighting. Not only will it beautify your home at night, but it will bring added security to your property. Another bonus to using solar-powered lighting is you will save money on your energy bill.

Use high-efficiency bulbs for outdoor security lighting. You will save up to 80 percent on outdoor lighting costs by using higher efficiency incandescents or watt misers, compact fluorescents or mercury vapor bulbs.

Have a motion sensor for outdoor security lighting. When there is nobody present outside, the light stays off but when it detects motion which can come from an intruder or a family member, then it switches on.

We all have a tendency to leave the lights on in our rooms. This is a bad habit and we should learn to switch off lights when we are not using a room. This is a simple tip you can try that will save you close to 20 percent on your monthly energy bill.

Make hay while the sun shines. On a sunny day, you can save on electricity bills by opening the windows to let natural light through. Indirect exposure to sunlight is also healthy for your skin.

Clap on! Clap off! There are remote controlled lights that switch on at the clap of your hands. They are called cordless lights and they emit light only when you need them to.

New expressway to affect several properties

The government will acquire several properties along Admiralty Road West and Toa Payoh Rise to make way for the construction of the 15.9 km North-South Expressway (NSE).

Some of the affected properties are industrial estates owned by the Housing Development Board (HDB) and Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) in places like Woodlands and Sin Ming, Marymount Terrace and the living quarters of the Good Shepherd nuns and a nursing home at Marymount Convent. The government will also acquire part of the fences, boundary walls and grass verges at the Seletaris in Sembawang, Nuovo, Bullion Park and Castle Green in Yio Chu Kang.

Yesterday, government officials visited around 25 terrace houses in Marymount Terrace to serve land acquisition notices. Affected homeowners will have until January 2013 to leave their homes.

Values of properties northward from Toa Payoh will see a two to three percent increase, due to the improved accessibility to the city that the expressway will afford, said Mr. Nicholas Mak, Head of Research at SLP International, who spoke to The Straits Times. However, the values of properties up to 20 metres and until the 11th level from the viaduct could drop by five percent due to dust, noise and passing cars.

The government will acquire 38 full plots and 33 partial lots, amounting to a total land area of approximately 5.6 hectares, larger than the 4.8 hectares of land acquired for the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE).

Woodlands Waterfront Phase One opens

Singapore’s latest recreational destination in the north – Woodlands Waterfront – was officially opened yesterday.

Organized by Nee Soon Central, Nee Soon East SMCs and Sembawang GRC, the opening was held in conjunction with a sports carnival and a community walk attended by over 2,500 visitors.

Woodlands Waterfront project was part of the URA’s Parks and Waterbodies Plan to improve the country’s water bodies and green spaces.

The project forms part of a network of parks, as well as park connectors within the area, and will be linked to the newly completed Admiralty Park and the park connector along Admiralty Road West and Woodlands Centre Road.

Phase One of the two-phase project features an interactive playground, a 200m waterfront promenade connected to a 400m refurbished jetty and a newly completed event plaza.

Phase Two, on the other hand, is expected to be completed by end-2010. It will provide a 1.3-km long waterfront promenade with lookout points and fitness stations.

Aiming for better developments to cater to the community's needs, Woodlands Waterfront was designed according to the feedbacks received by URA from local residents.

“The Woodlands Waterfront is part of URA's plan to continually enhance the living environment by capitalising on natural assets to improve the quality of life,” said Cheong Koon Hean, chief executive of URA.

He added that “it will bring the scenic northern coastline closer to people and offer more choices, particularly for residents in the north.”

Singapore – most liveable city in Asia

Rising six places in a worldwide ranking of cities with the most outstanding quality of living, Singapore had surpassed cities like San Francisco and Honolulu in the US and Paris in France. Ranking in the 26th place, Singapore also exceeded all its Asian neighbour countries, thus making it the top performer of the region in the Worldwide Quality of Living Survey, the latest survey which the human resource consultancy Mercer conducted.

Like the star atop of Christmas tree, the Republic of Singapore also ranked 1 in the Mercer’s list of cities with the world’s best infrastructure. It proved to be superior in many areas, including water supply and electricity, mail and telephone services, traffic congestion, public transport and a wide array of international flights from the local airports.

According to Asia Pacific global mobility leader of Mercer Ms. Cathy Loose, even though it is frequently assumed, infrastructure in the country “has a significant effect on the quality of living experienced by expatriates”. The developments of Sentosa Cove and Marina Bay as new waterfront district areas seem to have boosted the position of Singapore in the standings.

Mr. Derrick Kon, Mercer’s Singapore global mobility leader, said “Singapore already has excellent housing, but now its new ocean-front and seafront living options have allowed the ranking to move even higher”. He also said that the “excellent selection of appliances and furniture” for residents and the “high-quality houses and apartments” available for rent truly aided Singapore to lift its quality of life. Mr. Kon said that the other element that helped improve Singapore’s higher position in ranks is the presence of “many good schools” in the city.

“Singapore has always had a lot of good schools and international schools, but now there are also more private schools offering university degrees”, said Mr. Kon. “If expatriates come here with their children, this is one area they would be looking at, and in Singapore they would have a lot of options, with international programmes and university programmes”.

According to Mr. Mark Ellwood, the managing director of Robert Walters (another human resource consultancy), the strong position of Singapore in the quality of life rankings could hold the country in a good position as the present financial breakdown continues.

With companies seeking to reduce prices, most individuals are localising their expat compensation packages and decreasing the number of international assignments wherever possible. This means the “hardship” benefits or allowances, which are mainly offered to expats who need to reside in cities with lower quality of life, will not be given out.

“There is perhaps less of an argument these days that Singapore is a hardship posting, so you don't have to give many expat benefits in terms of additional bells and whistles”, Mr. Ellwood said.

More Singaporeans are now buying resale waterfront and city homes in the country

More Singaporeans are now buying resale waterfront and city homes in the country.

According to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), the secondary sales of homes in the major inner city districts like Marina Bay and Sentosa reached S$750.8 million last year.

This is higher than the average secondary sales levels between 2005 and 2008 at about S$738 million.

The resale transactions in the major inner city and Sentosa districts increased by 15-percent compared with the new sales in those areas last year.

New homes were sold for about S$652 million.

The vigorous resale volume and transaction values demonstrate ongoing and continued demand for homes in the new major areas, CBRE said.

According to Mr. Joseph Tan, Executive Director for Residential of CBRE, the major pull was the convenience and living within the city. He also added that the limited number of new project launches in the inner city district is an additional draw.

In 2009, the major inner city and the Sentosa area sold 286 units of non-landed homes compared with the 482 units sold in the resale market.

The most popular expansion was Caribbean@Keppel Bay, which sold 200 units, followed by The Sail@Marina Bay, which sold 128 units, according to CBRE.

The resale demand reached 246 units or about half of last year’s volume in the first five months of 2010.
CBRE believes that developers could convert and redevelop older office blocks to high-end residential uses, such as the Starhub Centre and 76 Shenton Way, because of the continuing demand for residential units.

Some 1.3 million sq ft of offices are estimated to be converted to residential use, up to 2013.

New Launches & Projects

New Launches & Projects - News

Tanjong Pagar - Singapore's next waterfront city

Feb 2, 2010 - PropertyGuru.com.sg

Singapore’s next waterfront city has been identified - Tanjong Pagar. This news was announced even though the iconic Marina Bay has not yet been completed.

The area is currently home to cranes and rows of containers which are waiting to be loaded into the ships at one of the busiest ports in the world.

But by 2027, when the land lease of the port operator PSA Corporation expires, the waterfront space will become home to several skyscrapers such as hotels, residential apartments and commercial buildings.

The Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) said Tanjong Pagar will be transformed into a new waterfront city that will cater to the expansion of Singapore’s business district and will boast amenities like hotels, apartments, and tourism and lifestyle facilities.

“This area is very attractive, it is just at the fringe of the city, the size is comparable to another Marina Bay and it can offer immense opportunities to support future growth,” said Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State for National Development.

Due to its proximity to several universities, to Sentosa and to the CBD area, Tanjong Pagar “will give us lots of elements to work on and we're quite excited about the potential,” said Grace Fu.