Property Types In Singapore
Residential property in Singapore can be classified into three distinct categories which are housing and development board units, private apartments and landed property. The majority of the Singapore population lives in the housing and development board units which are within housing estates. The remaining Singaporeans live in live in the private apartments or landed property. Emigrants have ownership restrictions on the private apartments and landed property as per government policies while Singapore residents can own and live in any three of these properties.
The government has classified private apartments as condominium or as an apartment. The difference between apartments and condominiums is that the apartments are smaller and have comparatively less facilities while the condominium is larger and is more spacious with lot of facilities. Generally a condominium would have many facilities like a gym, a swimming pool, a tennis court, a squash court, a barbeque centre and a playground for children. They would also have special car parking facilities within them. The security guards are appointed for security of the entire area around the condominium. The tenure of the private apartments is freehold, ninety nine year leasehold or nine hundred and ninety nine year leasehold.
Landed property includes a terraced house, detached house, semi detached house, shop house and a bungalow. Landed property is called so because the title of the property is tied with the land. Landed properties are generally freehold but there are also properties which are either ninety nine year leasehold or nine hundred and ninety nine year leasehold. Since land is limited in Singapore these landed properties can be really expensive. Big plots of land near the centre of the city can fetch real good value.
HDB units are flats which are constructed and maintained by the housing and development board. The government subsidizes the purchase and finance of these units. HDB apartments are generally build within large housing estates which are self contained. These housing estates have almost all the facilities that might be required by the resident. They have hotels and restaurants for food, supermarkets for daily needs, schools, colleges and libraries for students and parks and playgrounds for recreation. The housing estates have maximum facilities in the neighbourhood.
Executive condominiums can be said to be an apartment which is better than the HDB units but less luxurious than the private condominiums. These are located within the housing estates and there are certain policies that you should be aware of before considering these types of houses. These apartments are also government subsidized and to get them you need you fulfil certain criterion.
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Mindy Yong
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RB Capital Hotels Gets Clemenceau Ave Hotel Site »« HDB Announces Flexibility For New Polices On Case To Case Basis
HDB Announces Flexibility For New Polices On Case To Case Basis
Government measures of Aug 30 anti-speculation to control the ever rising prices of real estate have posed certain problems for the deals before the announcement. Mainly the applicants who opted for the purchase of HDB units in resale have to face the difficulties. Another class which has been affected is the one who applied for the bank loans before the announcement of new rules.
Now the Housing Development Board has shown some flexibility to review all such applications which are affected by the new rules. Applicants will be required to produce the evidence that they have applied for the resale or purchase of resale HDB units before Aug30. Accordingly bank loans will also be reviewed in the light of recent announcement by the board. HDB sources have confirmed that after the enforcement of the new rules fifty percent of calls have increased from the routine. People are curious as to how the new rules are going to affect their business and deals which were made prior to Aug30. HDB officials have said that the applications to redress such anomalies will be considered on case to case basis. Only genuine case will be allowed to be implemented according to rules prior to Aug30 announcement.
According to government’s Aug30 anti-speculation measures state that the buyers with at least one property already held will be required to pay the extra cash in advance for the purchase of next property. This will inhibit the practice of purchasing too many properties with less cash investment by the buyers. Only the original and strong purchasers are likely to remain relevant in this context. Previously only five percent of the unit value was required to be paid in cash for the purchase. This has now been doubled to ten percent. Similarly the banks used to provide the loan of up to eighty percent of the unit value and the same has now been reduced to seventy percent only.
Another step taken by the HDB is the increase in the minimum period to five years for eligibility to resale or purchases other property for the non-subsidized flats purchasers. HDB has announced that the non-subsidized unit owner will not be allowed to have two units that is public or private. The board has already announced penalty of $ 5000 or six months imprisonment or both for the defaulters. Even the cases detected after the completion of the allotment procedures will be asked to vacate the units forcefully.
This ruling has been made compulsory for compliance on the inland as well as on the properties held abroad. Market players have expressed their concerns over the ruling regarding overseas properties. Because no worthwhile mechanism exists to verify the properties abroad and there are the chances that few applicants might still take to chance and succeed in deceiving the rules. Another concern is the equal application of the rule for the subsidized and non-subsidized units. However board has clarified that the owners of non-subsidized units will be eligible for the purchase of other property only after the period of 5 years.
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Mindy Yong
( +65 ) 91002985
Mindy@MindyYong.com
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Property Types In Singapore »« HDB Announces Penalty For Defaulters To New Rules
HDB Announces Penalty For Defaulters To New Rules
Government has taken very stringent measures to control the speculation practices in in the real estate business so as the prices are affordable to all and the investment in the business remains secured with no prejudice to the national economy. Besides other measures, The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has now announced the penalty for the non-compliers of the policies already announced. The penalty includes $5000 or imprisonment for six months or even both can be awarded to the culprits.
According to the policy announced by the board, buyers of HDB flats will not be able to hold other properties whether private or public. This equal treatment plan will be applicable hereafter. The announcement of penalty will help the board to enforce the cooling measures announced by the government.
The important part of the announcement is that the buyers of HDB flats will not only be allowed to own any private or public property inland but will have to certify that the property owned by them abroad is also disposed after the purchase of non-subsidized unit within the period announced by the board. However such buyers will be able to buy private lands after completion of the five years period. In that case they will be required to declare their intent for purchase of private property in the application.
To enforce the rule the board has devised very comprehensive policy. According to this policy if the wrong statement of the buyers is detected before the finalization of sale process the application will be turned down. Such defaulters will be liable to punishment of $5000 or six months imprisonment or both can be awarded. In case of the sale process completion the board retains the right to regain the sold property forcefully. The board has also announced that exception to the policy can be made. For this each case will be dealt separately. Only those cases can be accorded exception to the rule which fall within the defined exception parameters.
The announcement is being viewed critically by the market stakeholders. It is felt that the domestic owners will have to make the choice as per the rule. It will be very convenient to find out such duplication of inland ownership; however the board has not yet devised any such fool proof system to verify the details of property abroad. The abroad properties may not necessarily be owned for the commercial purposes by certain owners. Even the market players are of the view that a certain percentage will still go for the false statements in defiance to the rules. The board will have to very meticulously and carefully view the applications to detect the culprits and award punishments according to the law.
Buyers’ sentiments have found to be mix blended due to equal treatment for the subsidized and non-subsidized unit applicants. Double owned properties once sold are going to have effects on the market dynamics as well. More units are likely to be made available for sale in the market which may cause further lowering of real estate rates inland.
Buy Sell Rent invest In Singapore Property Real Estate
Mindy Yong
( +65 ) 91002985
Mindy@MindyYong.com
www.hotvictory.com
www.property-elite.com
HDB Announces Flexibility For New Polices On Case To Case Basis »« Luxury Properties Gain Reasonable Prices
Luxury Properties Gain Reasonable Prices
Government initiatives to cool the property prices have yielded some impact on the medium priced property, yet the developers and analysts are still not sure of what end results these measures are going to have on the overall real estate business. Effects of these cooling measures are also being viewed on the luxury end price projects.
Real estate business dynamics include the investment by the domestic as well as foreign investors and consumers. Especially the involvement of foreign investment, the prices if not gone down, are likely to remain still high for the high end price projects. This very fact has been demonstrated at Wing Tai’s resort styled Belle Vue Residencies in Oxely Walk. For this project, a total of 167 high priced residential were announced at very reasonable prices. Out of these, 109 condos have been sold immediately.
The prices of these sold units have remained reasonable despite the cooling measures. Average prices have ranged between $2000- $2700 per square foot. The units are almost complete and will be available for occupation to the buyers shortly.
Wing Tai’s officials have stated that the peak prices of high end prices units have still not been achieved. There are hopes that the future developments are going to gain even higher prices in times to come. The expected prices for future are expected to remain as high as $2300 to $2800 per square foot. The officials further stated that the project prices still are very relevant in the regional context. Given the credit of economic conditions and living criterions in Singapore, these are comparable to real estate prices in Beijing and Hong Kong.
Though the cooling measures taken by the government are stated to have been announced in time as the prices for the medium and low price housing projects seem to be towards higher side thereby marginalizing the local developers and buyers alike. Yet the high end price luxury housing projects will still gain the maximum in future.
Wing Tai’s luxury housing project has been a success story. 52% of the sold units have been purchased directly by the foreigners to include Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian buyers. Due to this very fact the officials are very optimistic that the remaining units will even get more prices in near future. The strategy adopted by the firm seems to be very effective and is likely to ward off certain apprehensions of low prices amid the cooling measures announced by the government. This project was announced a year back. Japanese architect have designed the development of this unique luxury high end price units. Another significant aspect of these luxury units is the different sizes of three bedroom and four bedroom units from 1600 square foot to 200 square foot respectively.
The cooling measures though have certain effects for the domestic consumer units yet that has not even been ascertained. Now the bidders are placing bids towards the lower side in future projects. That might facilitate the middle class buyers but in case of foreign investment the prices are still likely to remain high for the luxury units.
Buy Sell Rent invest In Singapore Property Real Estate
Mindy Yong
( +65 ) 91002985
Mindy@MindyYong.com
www.hotvictory.com
www.property-elite.com
HDB Announces Penalty For Defaulters To New Rules »« Overview Of Singapore Property
