$645K HDB's priciest flats go on sale

http://www.straitstimes.com/Prime%2B...ry_283131.html

Sep 27, 2008 Saturday

$645K HDB's priciest flats go on sale

Pinnacle@Duxton units are among 992 released for sale yesterday

By Fiona Chan, Property Reporter

http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIM...y-pinnacle.jpg
The seven blocks of Pinnacle@Duxton dominates the Tanjong Pagar skylin. Forty-four units cost more than $600, 000. -- ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW

FOR sale: the most expensive flats ever released by the HDB.

They are the remaining 111 five-room units at the iconic 50-storey Pinnacle@Duxton in Tanjong Pagar, which is due to be completed this year.

Prices start at $545,000 and go up to an eye-popping $645,800 for a 49th storey unit, making them Singapore's costliest new flats by a long shot. Forty-four cost more than $600,000.

The current record for a new HDB flat is held by a five-room unit at Toa Payoh, which was released for sale in February at $531,500. This excludes the premium flats built by private developers under the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS).

Pinnacle@Duxton also has 317 four-room units still unsold, which were made available at prices ranging from $457,000 to $555,000. These units are left over from when the development was launched in 2004. The flats were then priced between $289,200 and $439,400 and met with overwhelming response.

But not all the units were eventually sold, and some were returned to HDB after the buyers withdrew from their planned purchases.

The remaining flats were among 992 new flats released for sale yesterday under HDB's latest balloting exercise, which also included surplus units from the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) in Ang Mo Kio, Jurong West, Kallang/ Whampoa and Queenstown.

While the prices for the Pinnacle@Duxton flats seem steep, the HDB said they were still lower than the prices of resale flats in the area.

'Despite their pricing, units at the Pinnacle@Duxton are especially attractive as they are priced below the market prices of similar flats in the resale market,' a spokesman said.

'Their high prices are supported by recent open market resale prices of comparable flat types in the vicinity, for example at Cantonment Close, Tanjong Pagar and Jalan Membina. Overall resale prices in these areas have gone up in recent years.'

HDB provided figures showing that prices for five-room flats in Jalan Membina recently hit $670,000 for a unit above the 20th floor. The average price of a five-room flat sold in Jalan Membina and Cantonment Close over the last three months was $624,000.

Still, whether buyers will respond well to these prices remains to be seen.

Housewife Lily Lee, who is in her 30s, said the prices for the Pinnacle@Duxton units were 'very high'.

'I wouldn't pay $600,000 for a five-room flat, I don't think any HDB flat is worth that value,' she said.

But Mr Zhao Bing Yao, 29, thought the price seemed 'reasonable in this market'.

'My friend just spent about $400,000 for a four-room flat in Clementi that is 30 years old, so I think it's okay to pay up to $600,000 for a brand-new five-room flat near town,' said the director of an IT company.

Mr Mohamed Ismail, the chief executive of property agency PropNex, said that HDB 'has no alternative but to price at market norms'.

'If they price too low, it will have an impact on resale prices in the area,' he said, adding that private homes in Tanjong Pagar cost mostly above $1,000 psf.

Still, he noted that the target group of buyers for the Pinnacle@Duxton flats will be 'very small', given the $8,000 monthly household income ceiling. Buyers of the five-room flats would be paying almost $3,000 in monthly mortgage instalments, he said.

For 'young couples and those who are not ready to pay the higher prices for flats in Pinnacle@Duxton', HDB suggested applying for the other types of flats released in yesterday's balloting exercise.

These include 285 flats in Jurong West along Corporation Drive, with three- room flats starting at $142,000, four- room flats starting at $213,000, and five- room flats starting at $270,000.

There are also four- and five-room flats in the Kallang/Whampoa area next to Kallang MRT, and 128 studio apartments in Ang Mo Kio that elderly buyers can opt for.

As at 5pm yesterday, 1,271 applications had been received for the 992 flats.

[email protected]


On the market

# Pinnacle@Duxton, Tanjong Pagar Units: 428 (317 four-room, 111 five-room)

Prices: $457,000 to $645,800

# Ang Mo Kio Units: 128 studio apartments

Prices: $80,000 to $115,000

# Kallang/Whampoa Units: 103 (39 four-room, 64 five-room)

Prices: $364,000 to $554,000

# Queenstown Units: 48 five-room flats

Prices: $481,000 to $539,000

# Jurong West Units: 285 (91 three-room, 164 four-room, 30 five-room)

Prices: $142,000 to $306,000


NOT WORTH PAYING FOR

'I wouldn't pay $600,000 for a five-room flat, I don't think any HDB flat is worth that value.'
Housewife Lily Lee, who is in her 30s and looking for a new flat

PRICES REASONABLE

'My friend just spent about $400,000 for a four-room flat in Clementi that is 30 years old, so I think it's okay to pay up to $600,000 for a brand-new five-room flat near town.'
Mr Zhao Bing Yao, 29, director of an IT company

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/278263.asp

Weekend, September 27, 2008

Pinnacle flats on offer


FOR those waiting to snap up a public flat in the iconic 50-storey integrated housing development, the good news: Some 428 four- and five-room units at The Pinnacle@Duxton are among 992 available under the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) latest balloting exercise launched on Friday.

The much-hyped flats in the Cantonment Road area are among some of the most expensive new units — with a four-room S1-type priced between $457,000 and $555,000, while the bigger S2 units cost between $545,000 and $646,000.

Even so, the board pointed out, these new flats which come with the HDB discount are priced lower than what resale units in the area have recently sold for. Resale HDB prices have been climbing, showing a4.4-per-cent growth in the second quarter.

The Pinnacle@Duxton is based on an award-winning design, and boasts special features such as skybridges and sky gardens at the 26th and 50th storeys. Apartments will be provided with a varied combination of balconies, bay windows and planter boxes, to suit the preferences of flat buyers.

The balloting exercise also includes surplus units from Selective En bloc Redevelopment Schemes in Ang Mo Kio, Kallang/Whampoa, Queenstown and Jurong West.

There are 128 studio units, priced between $80,000 and $115,000, for sale in Ang Mo Kio, while Jurong West has 285 three-, four- and five-room flats, starting at $142,000. Kallang/Whampoa has 39 four-room and64 five-room units, while there are 48 five-room flats in Queenstown.

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BFor...ry_284108.html

Sep 30, 2008 Tuesday

Shouldn't new HDB flats be priced less than market rate?


I REFER to last Saturday's article, '$645K: HDB's priciest flats go on sale'.

I was shocked that HDB has priced its new stock of flats in Tanjong Pagar at $545,000 to $645,000. I am not surprised the higher-end flats have relatively few takers due to steep pricing. As it is, HDB has priced its new flats according to surrounding resale market prices and built in a discount before launching them to the public.

I wonder if this is a fair comparison as the property market rides through the up-and-

down cycle and if a new buyer buys now, he runs a high risk of buying at the high end of the market trend and may lose on his investment when the market goes down. This often happens to HDB resale or private property buyers who buy high in an uptrend market but lose heavily when the market goes south. It will be tragic if a buyer of a new HDB flat also goes through this financial heartache with his first ever housing unit.

There is generally not much premium earned on buying brand-new HDB flats now. One wonders if it is more prudent to buy a resale unit with the $30,000 rebate given as a sweetener, rather than buy a brand-new unit at such a high price.

Gone are the days when new HDB flats were much cheaper than in the current market. I bought my first new executive flat about 15 years ago at $143,000. I paid less than $500 a month for a mortgage loan. I later sold it a few times over when the property market was booming five years after I bought it. That was my first new HDB flat experience as I could buy only private or resale flats after that.

As the property market matures, I wonder if HDB has lost its mission to allow Singaporeans to own affordable housing with cheap loans. With new flats priced so high, home owners not only have to pay exorbitant loans but also worry that their flat valuation may drop if the market turns sour. Buying a new flat becomes more of a risky investment than providing a roof over one's family.

HDB also needs to price its new flats better by considering factors other than surrounding resale valuation. To prevent home buyers immediately selling their flats after the five year lock-in period to make a profit, HDB can tie home owners to a longer lock-in period of eight to 10 years, enabling it to price flats cheaper. Many Singaporeans stay in their flats after more than 10 years, some for sentimental reasons, while others do not want to lock themselves into another big mortgage loan when they buy another property.

Gilbert Goh