Singapore Home sales up, but pace slowing

Singapore Home sales up, but pace slowing 

Prices slip in July though sales up for 3rd straight month; high-end hard hit 

By Fiona Chan, Property Reporter 

NEW home sales rose last month for the third month in a row, but the pace of growth braked sharply and the prices of sold homes slipped.
Developers sold 897 new private homes in July, 12 per cent more than in June and the highest number since last August, according to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday.

Close to nine out of every 10 homes sold last month were suburban units that cost $1,000 per sq ft (psf) or less. No homes were sold above $4,000 psf for the second consecutive month.

This trend is likely to continue, property consultants said, as persistent caution in the high-end market is causing developers to delay expensive launches.

Even then, developers continued to launch more units across the board than they were able to sell last month, adding to the inventory of unsold homes, observed Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank.

Consultants also predicted that the pattern of rising sales will be reversed this month.

Launches and transactions will probably fall thanks to the perceived unlucky ‘Hungry Ghost’ period, while market sentiment is expected to remain negative amid more dismal global economic news coming out of the United States and Europe.

Already, last month’s sales growth was a far cry from the 77 per cent jump in sales between May and June, consultants said.

Last month’s figures were boosted by sales from four large-scale suburban projects that together accounted for almost two-thirds of the whole month’s deals. Livia in Pasir Ris saw 301 apartments taken up, at a median price of $671 psf. Of these, four crossed the $750 psf mark, but the rest were well within the $500 to $750 psf range.

Clover by the Park in Bishan sold 100 units at a median price of $753 psf, down slightly from the median $765 psf it had fetched in June.

And Kovan Residences in Kovan Road sold 87 units at a median price of $882 psf - just below its $887 psf in June - while Beacon Heights in St Michael’s Road sold 61 units at a median price of $865 psf.

In the mid-tier segment, Parc Sophia in Dhoby Ghaut was the best performer, selling 25 units at a median price of $1,503 psf.

CapitaLand’s Wharf Residences near Robertson Quay sold 23 units at a median price of $1,506.

Generally, prices have come under pressure from the gloom in the market and are starting to dip, consultants said.

The lowest transacted price in the suburban region fell 23 per cent last month from June, while the lowest price in the central region fell 7 per cent, noted Dr Chua Yang Liang, Jones Lang LaSalle’s head of South-east Asia research.

He said buyers of suburban projects are probably comfortable with paying $650 to $850 psf right now, while those looking for well-located city-fringe homes have budgets of $850 to $1,000 psf.

Sales were dismal in the high-end segment, with only eight units - less than 1 per cent of total sales - transacted above $3,000 psf. At the height of the property fever in July last year, 217 units fetched more than $3,000 psf, accounting for more than 15 per cent of the total units sold then.

But there are still some buyers willing to pay a premium for prime projects, said Mr Li Hiaw Ho, executive director of CB Richard Ellis Research.

He noted that five units were sold at The Hamilton Scotts in Scotts Road, for between $3,000 and $3,676 psf.

 
Source : Straits Times - 16 Aug 2008

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Global funds may return to Asia, emerging markets amid sub-prime fallout

Global funds may return to Asia, emerging markets amid sub-prime fallout

By Pamela Almeda,

A Goldman Sachs analyst
   
  
SINGAPORE : A year into the US sub-prime crisis and Asia and other emerging markets are still seeing the effects of investment outflows.

When credit markets dried up, many investment funds that had put their money in Asia started pulling out of the region to meet margin calls. But experts said Asia and emerging economies may still benefit from the investments that will return eventually.

Goh Mui Hong, president & CEO of ST Asset Management, said: “Companies in US and Europe could have fallen to very cheap or reasonable levels.

“(Companies) in emerging countries could take advantage of this opportunity to buy into technologies which they do not have in their home country, or to buy into a larger market share of the global economies.”

So, ironically, investments are going into the very areas suffering from the sub-prime crisis.

A recent report by the International Monetary Fund estimated that the US mortgage crisis may cost up to US$500 billion.

About US$400 billion have been written off so far, leading observers to suggest that the worst is over, although Europe and other areas may still see more write-downs to come.

The optimists, though, are looking beyond the crisis to Asia and other emerging markets, given their potential to maintain a relatively respectable economic growth rate.

They said this could result in investment funds returning to the region in a big way - especially with huge financial resources needed in infrastructure, new energy sources and mergers & acquisitions.

For investors looking for bargains, ST Asset Management believes there are buying opportunities in financially sound companies, whose stock prices have fallen to attractive levels.

“I would advise investors to focus on companies that are cash rich (but) not relying on leverage, companies that could change their way of production and companies that could raise their prices of products,” said Goh.

But do not expect Asia alone to gobble up the new investments. Experts believe the economic wealth is likely to be spread into other emerging countries, such as those in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Russia. - CNA /ls
Source : Channel NewsAsia - 15 Aug 2008

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At Last! Singapore

At Last! Singapore

S’pore assured of at least a silver after 48-year wait

By Marc Lim, Sports Correspondent

Heroine Feng Tianwei hugging coach Liu Guodong after she defeated South Korea’s Park Mi Young, giving Singapore the victory. — PHOTO: XINHUA

BEIJING: At precisely 6.10 pm yesterday, a slice of Singapore sports history was made.
A 48-year wait for an Olympic Games medal finally came to an end, thanks to the grit and tenacity of table tennis player Feng Tianwei.

PM LEE: GO FOR GOLD!
‘I am very happy that our women table tennis team has made it into the finals. I am sure all Singaporeans are just as thrilled. We are all looking forward to the match on Sunday night, and will be cheering for Jiawei, Tianwei and Yuegu. You have already done Singapore proud. Do your very best on Sunday, and bring home a gold medal for Singapore!’
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, congratulating the team last night

‘Now reporters won’t have to ask me the same question every four years.’
Tan Howe Liang, 75, weightlifting silver medallist at the 1960 Rome Games, who has been asked every four years: How does it feel to be Singapore’s only Olympic medal winner?
But not before she kept the whole of Singapore on tenterhooks in a match that went to the wire.

The 21-year-old held match point, leading 10-9 with Singapore and South Korea tied 2-2 in the women’s team table tennis semi-finals.

This point would decide a place in the final and assurance of at least a silver medal.

A whole nation’s hopes and dreams hung on how well she would respond to Korean Park Mi Young’s serve.

As it turned out, Park sent her serve long, Feng won the game, and Singapore clinched its spot in Sunday’s final against China.

‘She gave me a present,’ said Feng, of the unexpectedly swift ending. ‘I definitely did not expect that.’

Nor did any among the 4,000 crowd in the Peking University Gymnasium, given the three-hour,40-minute epic, the longest table tennis duel at the Beijing Olympics so far.

But in a match that saw fortunes swing back and forth thrillingly, in a match that saw Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu beat a Korean duo previously undefeated by Singapore, anything was possible.

The moment victory arrived, how Singapore roared.

Cheers rose from about 100 Singapore fans at the venue, including President SR Nathan and Minister of Defence and Singapore National Olympic Council president Teo Chee Hean.

In Singapore, people watching the action at home, in offices and coffeeshops were simply ecstatic after the nail-biting rollercoaster ride.

On the Singapore bench, emotions flowed.

Coach Liu Guodong leapt from his seat, cleared the barricade like a world-class hurdler and hugged his heroine, Feng.

Team captain Li Jiawei wept, as she did at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Then, it was because she had missed out on a medal in the women’s singles event, as Singapore’s Jing Junhong had four years earlier in Sydney.

Yesterday, Li said: ‘I have never cried after any victory before. But I cried because we led this team to victory and we have fulfilled Singapore’s expectations of a medal.’

Yesterday, Li failed to deliver in the singles but scored in the doubles with Wang.

After watching Feng take the first game against Dang Ye Seo 11-5, 11-5, 11-2, to give Singapore an early lead, Li fell 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 9-11 to Kim Kyung Ah, the same woman who beat her in the Athens bronze-medal playoff.

But she bounced back quickly from defeat to partner Wang and defeat Kim and Park 11-7, 11-6, 11-9.

Then Wang lost 8-11, 12-14, 9-11 to Dang, and the score was an even 2-2.

It was all up to Feng now, and how she shone.

Previously Singapore’s weakest against defensive players such as Park, she proved the strongest.

‘I had to be patient and wait for an opportunity to attack,’ Feng said of her approach to the final match which she won 11-7, 12-10, 3-11, 11-9.

‘Everyone was nervous and remaining calm during the battle proved an advantage to me.’

In the stands, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Community Development, Youth and Sports) Teo Ser Luck summed up the feelings of many Singaporeans.

He said: ‘We had great fighting spirit - this is truly the Singaporean spirit.

‘I was not even born when Tan Howe Liang won our only Olympic medal in 1960. Now, I am here and we are all so lucky to be here, to be a part of this magical moment.’

At home in Singapore, 75-year-old weightlifter Tan watched the match and was pleased with the outcome.

‘It’s about time we won something,’ he said. ‘It’s been so long already.’

Source : Straits Times - 15 Aug 2008

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Singapore MRT rides surge to a high

Singapore MRT rides surge to a high

Monthly total hits 44m in a sign that drivers are leaving cars at home

By Yeo Ghim Lay

EFFORTS to get drivers to ditch their cars for public transport appear to be working.
Commuters took 3.6 million more train trips on SMRT trains last month, pushing the month’s total number to a record 44.9 million.

The previous high was logged in May, with 41.9 million trips.

SMRT put the increase in ridership down to the Government’s push for a greater use of public transport in order to keep traffic gridlock at bay.

The public transport operator, in comparing ridership on trains between June and July, noted that July had one day more and more weekdays as well; it was also when most people returned to work after their June vacations.

The surge in ridership on the East-West and North-South lines coincided with a jump in the cost of driving.

July was when five new Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries went up in the city, charging up to $2 to pass under them from 6pm to 8pm on weekdays; two of the five sited along the Singapore River also began collecting road tolls on Saturdays between 12.30pm and 8pm.

Driving through existing Central Business District gantries also became more expensive from July 7.

ERP charges were not the only thing hitting motorists in their pockets: Petrol prices too, played a part in pushing some to take the train.

Dental surgeon Michael Lim, 45, for example, who frequently goes to town in the evenings from his Bedok clinic, no longer drives to Raffles Place or Orchard to keep his appointments.

Four times a week since late June, he has been leaving his car at the Raffles City Shopping Centre and taking a train to his destination.

He said: ‘It doesn’t make sense to drive there anymore. I’d have to pay for ERP everywhere, and looking for a parking lot in Orchard takes time too.’

Parking at the Raffles City carpark on weekday evenings costs him a flat $2.50.

‘Besides, all the walking up and down escalators at the MRT stations is good exercise for me,’ he quipped.

Another driver who is driving less now is Ms Foo Jye Huah, 33. She started taking the North-East line to her workplace near Clarke Quay from her Farrer Park home this month.

Said the manager: ‘The train may be packed during peak hours, but it is bearable because my ride takes only 10 minutes.’

Previously, she found herself paying $3 to pass under two gantries to get to work. Her train ride now costs only 81 cents each way. She reckons she has saved over $100 in ERP and carpark charges and petrol in just two weeks.

With more people getting on the trains, SMRT will from Monday begin handing out breakfast discount flyers to the early birds who exit selected downtown MRT stations between 7am and 7.30am.

This is an attempt to encourage people to make their trips earlier, before the trains become really crowded during the morning peak hour. They carry up to 800 commuters each between 7am and 7.30am in the city, and pack in 1,400 from 7.30am to 9.30am.

The nine stations where breakfast discount flyers will be distributed are Orchard, Somerset, Dhoby Ghaut, City Hall, Raffles Place, Lavender, Bugis, Tanjong Pagar and Outram Park.

With these flyers, commuters can buy beverages and breakfast foods more cheaply at participating merchants like Spinelli’s and Toast Box between 7am and 8.30am on weekdays.

The discounts are on top of the current 10-cent savings commuters get for boarding trains outside the city and alighting in the city before 7.30am.

SMRT’s director of transport planning Chew Hooi Lian said: ‘We want to raise awareness of this current scheme and reward commuters with delicious breakfast offers when they choose to travel earlier before the peak hour kicks in.’

The breakfast discounts will end on Oct 31, but the 10 cents off the fare will continue for early-bird commuters.

Source : Straits Times - 15 Aug 2008

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Singapore HDB resale net services open to abuse

Singapore HDB resale net services open to abuse

HOUSING agents under the accreditation scheme are allowed use of HDB resale application via net services. Only agents with Common Examination for Housing Agents (CEHA) are allowed to enjoy the resale net service. However, there are too many loopholes.
Currently, even agents without CEHA use the system by keying in the names of CEHA agents. Under the accreditation scheme endorsed by HDB three years ago, all agents must pass CEHA by the end of this year. However in April, the accreditation body reduced CEHA requirements to a multiple-choice exam with 50 per cent pass standard known as Common Examination for Salespersons (CES). Does HDB endorse the CES, a scaled-down course so agents can be accredited?

How will this multiple-choice exam help HDB’s requirement for resale net services? Is HDB rescinding on the standard from CEHA-qualified agents?

In the first place, the resale net system helps HDB with the enormous amount of paperwork as agencies undertake to key in data. Even consumers registering the resale application can do so via the Internet.

In an unregulated industry, many real estate agencies and private training companies take advantage by conducting courses in the CES and charging up to $600 (plus another $200 for the exam) to prepare agents for the multiple-choice exam. Three years ago when the accreditation scheme was introduced, agents had to pay close to $1,000 for Pre-CEHA for those without three O levels in order to take the CEHA exam. Today for the CES, there is no entry barrier until the year end. Anyone with no formal education can attend the multiple-choice exam and score 50 per cent to be accredited.

Under the new requirement with effect from next year, two O levels is the standard stipulated by the accreditation body for anyone to sit for the CES. Can HDB confirm that it verifies the CES for use of the resale net?

Why drop the standard from CEHA to a 50 per cent multiple-choice exam? How does a 50 per cent-pass CES course and exam ensure HDB regulations on resale net and consumer protection?

I hope HDB will clarify the matter soonest before more rogue agents are accredited.

Steven Lau

Source : Straits Times - 15 Aug 2008

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