Condos: Buy now or wait?

Condos: Buy now or wait?

Home buyers keen to upgrade from a Housing Board flat to a private condominium will have plenty of choice this year. That is going by data compiled by real estate services company CB Richard Ellis.

A total of 82 projects are currently ready to be put up for sale throughout this year, said CBRE, an international company with a research team in Singapore.

From the coastal areas of Pasir Panjang and Punggol to the residential zones of Simei and Sixth Avenue, there is a private apartment development waiting to be launched in almost every corner of the island.

Most are in the non-landed condominium category, aimed at Housing Board upgraders and young family starters.

CBRE’s list defined the projects on the list as those that are ‘launch-ready’. By this, it means projects that have all the necessary permits from the authorities so they can be marketed, although construction work may not have started.

Already, four have been launched - including the latest, Mi Casa condominium at Choa Chu Kang, whose units went on sale this weekend. A further two are expected to be launched within the next two months.

With private property prices falling when HDB resale flat prices are still holding fairly steady, it is music to the ears of those who want to upgrade but have not been able to amid high prices and not so many mass-market launches in recent years.

Writer Ng Hui Hui, 28, who is looking for a private apartment but finds prices a bit high now, feels the high number of launches will increase her chances of finding one at the right price.

‘I’m more hopeful because the number of launches offers a lot of choices. There’s more for me to consider,’ she said.

HDB upgraders have flexed their muscle at condo launches so far this year, buying many units at The Caspian beside Lakeside MRT station, Double Bay Residences in Simei and The Quartz in Buangkok, for example.

Mr Joseph Tan, CBRE’s executive director, residential, notes: ‘If there are a number of HDB upgraders who are ready to enter the market, the sales momentum can be sustained.’

Over at the 18-storey The Mercury in Shanghai Road launched three weeks ago, all 67 units - priced from over $700,000 for a 635 sq ft apartment - were snapped up.

Mr Victor Soh, director of the developer, Fortune Shanghai Road, said: ‘There was no delay in launching the project despite the bad market - we launched it when the project was ready. There were quite a number of people waiting for us to launch.

‘All our units have already been sold and we’re ready to start construction.’

While house-proud Singaporeans will enjoy poring over the launch-ready list, imagining their dream home, most projects may not actually go up for sale soon, as developers wait and see how the economy goes.

Only 10 out of the 82 could name a date or period, but even they said their dates are subject to change.

Still, judging by the small amount of dates given, the hold-out may not go beyond this year or the early part of the next, as the furthest indicated date a developer gave was the first half of next year.

Such delays also mean prices will not plummet too sharply, said a spokesman for listed developer City Developments.

He said: ‘This has helped to balance current demand and supply by mitigating the supply of new apartments entering the market.’

The tough economic times are weighing on some developers, with Ms Chua Chor Hoon, a senior research director for global real estate adviser DTZ, saying: ‘Some have been responding to the slow market by deferring projects that are due for completion to later years.’

A spokesman for residential project Verdure - a planned 75-unit, freehold development in Holland Road - said: ‘The market is so bad, we can’t launch it.’

Another, representing the exclusive 26-unit The Verv @ River Valley, said it was putting off its launch, explaining: ‘Blame it on the economy.’

Both spokesmen declined to be named.

The experience of upcoming mid-market, 24-unit Evergreen View at Geylang Lorong 36 echoes this.

Mr Thomas Sim, associate manager of real estate firm PropNex Realty, which is the selling agent, said: ‘We’ve only had the soft launch last month so far because the show unit is only slated for completion in May, and also partly because the market is poor now. As it is, the reaction from the soft launch wasn’t very good.’

A key part of marketing a condo is to build a show flat to entice prospective buyers. Another reason some projects are being delayed is that developers are reviewing their plans in order to reconfigure units to a smaller size, say industry players. The smaller sizes make the units more affordable.

Knowing about the list of 82 ‘launch-ready’ projects is good news for the likes of home-hunter John Yeo, 38.

The sales manager says: ‘This means I have time and don’t have to rush. I can take my time to choose. But of course, price and location must also be right.’

Source : Straits Times - 11 April 2009

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Red shirts leave Thais red-faced

Red shirts leave Thais red-faced

Abhisit pressured as failed summit puts political divisions in the media spotlight

By Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand Correspondent

The red shirts, supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, forcing their way through a shattered glass door at one of the venues of the 14th Asean Summit in Pattaya yesterday.

Bangkok - Thailand’s embarrassment - and economic damage - when the royal-yellow clad People’s Alliance for Democracy shut down Bangkok’s international airports last November, was repeated yesterday under the full glare of the world’s media as the Asean summit fell apart.

‘Today’s fiasco makes the status quo untenable. Prime Minister Abhisit will either have to budge and negotiate, or tighten (his grip) and do something about the red shirts who are running amok.’
PROFESSOR THITINAN PONGSUDHIRAK, of Chulalongkorn University

Pattaya, which will probably suffer substantial lost tourism revenue over the current holiday period, provided a sample of how ugly Thailand’s deep political conflict can be. And many believe worse could be in store.

Politically, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is under pressure to come up with decisive measures to address the deep divisions in Thailand.

The conflict has pitted the largely rural masses, frustrated at the sabotage of their electoral choices since late 2006, against what Mr Jakrapob Penkair - a key leader of the red shirt movement called the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship - calls Thailand’s ‘aristocracy’, which has called the shots in the country for generations.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who is in charge of security, is also under pressure.

Asked at a press conference yesterday afternoon whether he would take responsibility for the security failure and resign, he turned red in the face and said he still had things to do.

Former finance minister Thanong Bidaya wrote on the daily The Nation’s website yesterday: ‘The damage to Thailand is incalculable. The damage to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is also irreparable.’

Chulalongkorn University professor of political science Thitinan Pongsudhirak told The Sunday Times: ‘Today’s fiasco makes the status quo untenable.

‘Prime Minister Abhisit will either have to budge and negotiate, or tighten (his grip) and do something about the red shirts who are running amok.’

Certainly after the events in Pattaya, both sides in the conflict will become more radical.

Since the red shirts have been painted as an anti- monarchy movement, ‘we could see a right wing backlash similar to 1976′, said Prof Thitinan. ‘We will see either suppression and a backlash, or signs of dialogue.’

In 1976, some three years of instability caused by the communists challenging the establishment, culminated in a bloody massacre of students by right-wing militias.

Mr Abhisit could compromise and agree to new elections.

But even an election will only buy time.

It will not address festering issues such as the nature of the Constitution, the status of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the over 100 banned politicians from his erstwhile Thai Rak Thai party, and the role of the King’s Privy Council.

Source : Straits Times - 12 April 2009

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Chaos in Pattaya

Chaos in Pattaya

Asean summit scrapped after red shirts clash with blue shirts

By Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand Correspondent

Pro-government supporters wearing blue - and armed with sticks, rods and homemade bombs - clashed with anti-government red shirts near the venue of Asean summit yesterday.

Pattaya - An Asean summit with its regional partners was scrapped yesterday as red shirt Thai anti-government protesters stormed past security cordons and swarmed into the convention centre.
Leaders from many nations had to be evacuated by helicopter to nearby U-Tapao military airbase. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono landed at

U-Tapao yesterday but had to leave almost as soon as he arrived.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd never made it out of his plane. It turned back home only two hours into the seven-hour flight. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong returned home last night, after a flight from U-Tapao.

Appearing grim-faced at a press conference after the summit disintegrated, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva apologised to the other leaders.

He had earlier declared a state of emergency in Pattaya and surrounding Chonburi province, but later lifted it.

Mr Abhisit is under immense pressure to show he can manage Thailand’s deep political conflict. Yesterday’s debacle put him in a tenuous position.

The red shirt demonstrators want his resignation. Asked by a reporter if he would resign, Mr Abhisit first ignored the question and then answered: ‘No, I will restore law and order.’

The protesters declared victory, however, after walking away from the complex about an hour after they broke in.

‘We have won. We have stopped them from holding a summit,’ said protest leader Jakrapob Penkair. ‘But we have not achieved our goal yet. We will continue to protest in Bangkok until Abhisit resigns.’

The drama began with morning skirmishes in the streets leading to the hilltop Royal Cliff resort venue, prompting cancellations of some ministerial meetings.

Pro-government thugs in blue, armed with sticks and rods,

homemade bombs and some guns, faced off with armed red shirts.

An army officer estimated the red shirts’ numbers at 5,000 all told, in different locations. The number at the summit venue was around 2,000. Their leaders claimed a red shirt had been killed by a blue shirt gunman and demanded that the police find him.

Shortly before 1pm, many more arrived and in a sudden surge, overwhelmed soldiers. Within minutes, they shattered the windows of the lobby, swarming into the hotel.

Next door, red shirts also tried to enter the meeting venue but were driven back by Thai security officers with weapons drawn.

Nine leaders from South-east Asia were in the Royal Cliff resort at the time, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat.

The abrupt cancellation scuttled a chance for the leaders of 16 nations, including China, Japan and South Korea, to discuss ways to combat the global slump that has battered Asia’s economies.

North Korea’s recent rocket launch was also on the agenda at the gathering, which today was to to have included Australia, New Zealand and India for the full-fledged East Asia Summit.

Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said yesterday he hoped the summit could be rescheduled within the next few months.

Mr Abhisit said yesterday the leaders were ‘very understanding’ about the cancellation.

Leaders such as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, who was scheduled to attend the summit today, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made known their hopes for a return to calm and stability in Thailand.

The Singapore Government last night expressed its understanding of Bangkok’s decision to postpone the summit.

‘Singapore knows that the Thai Government has put in maximum effort to host successful summits, but in the end it decided to ensure the safety of the delegates ahead of other considerations,’ the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. ‘We support and understand the decision and hope that these summits will be reconvened as soon as possible.’

Source : Straits Times - 12 April 2009

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com