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No bids for Punggol EC site
Tue, Nov 11, 2008
AsiaOne
No bid was received for an executive condominium housing site in Punggol Field/Punggol Road at a sale launched by HDB on September 17, 2008.
The site, with a land area of 22,497.3 sq m and a maximum allowable gross floor area (GFA) of 67,491.9 sq m, has a lease term of 99 years.
The tender closed at 12 noon today.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...05299,00.html?
Published November 12, 2008
Punggol EC site fails to draw any bid
By UMA SHANKARI
NO bid was received for an executive condominium housing site - despite its being attractively located in Punggol - by the time the tender closed yesterday.
The 99-year leasehold site at the junction of Punggol Field and Punggol Road was launched for sale by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) on Sept 17.
Property analysts had said then that they expect lukewarm response from developers despite its location near Punggol MRT Station and the future Punggol Town Centre.
Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank, predicted fewer than five bids.
When the tender closed at noon yesterday, there wasn't a single taker.
'The lack of interest in the site reflects the cautious sentiment in the market,' said Eugene Lim, assistant vice-president of property firm ERA.
There is also now a problem in deciding how to price executive condominium (EC) flats, he said.
EC flats are thought to be a cut above HDB's Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) apartments. With the DBSS scheme, developers have flexibility in designing and pricing the flats - but the homes are still public HDB flats in nature.
EC flats, on the other hand, are just a step away from private apartments as they come with condo-like facilities and land rights.
With DBSS flats now mostly going for $500,000-$750,000 each and mass market private homes selling for just a bit more than that, it is hard to find a pricing range for EC flats where they will be attractive to homebuyers, Mr Lim said. 'EC flats target the same market as the DBSS flats - first-time homeowners and HDB upgraders.'
The 242,159 sq ft site is the fourth EC site the government put on the market this year.
Unlike the private residential property market, the HDB market is still going strong.
HDB's resale price index rose 4.2 per cent in the third quarter. This means that in the first nine months of 2008, HDB resale prices climbed 12.4 per cent. The number of transactions also rose in Q3 to 8,110, from 7,760 in Q2.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/St...ry_301293.html
November 12, 2008 Wednesday
No takers for Punggol EC site
By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent
IN THE latest sign of a weakening property market, a tender for an executive condominium (EC) site in Punggol closed yesterday with no bids received.
Property consultants attributed the dearth of interest in the entry-level condo site to still-high construction costs and a lacklustre property market which is expected to trend lower.
This is the fourth EC site the Government has put on the market this year and the only one it kept for confirmed sale for the rest of this year.
Due to the poorer outlook for Singapore's economy and property market, the Government recently transferred all remaining confirmed sites for sale - apart from the Punggol EC site - onto a 'reserve list' where sites are put up for sale only if there is interest.
The 242,159 sq ft Punggol site can accommodate a development of about 16 storeys housing about 600 units.
It is a 99-year leasehold site at the junction of Punggol Field and Punggol Road and near the Punggol MRT station.
While property consultants consider the location to be fairly attractive, they also say the market is not.
They said that high construction costs are probably a key factor deterring developers from bidding.
'Right now, construction costs have not come down yet so developers will still have to build at high construction costs. As a result, they do not have a lot of price flexibility,' said Knight Frank's director of research and consultancy, Mr Nicholas Mak.
'They will end up with a case where some resale 99-year leasehold condo units cost the same or less than EC units,' he said.
'With construction costs still high, the numbers are just not attractive. If you're going into a market that is trending down, there's no point taking this risk,' Savills Singapore's director of marketing and business development Ku Swee Yong said of developers.
Besides, not all developers can get attractive financing terms in today's market. The weaker ones have trouble raising any funds at all, he said.
Mr Ku also thinks the demand for an EC in Punggol may not be strong. 'The market is not big in Punggol as many had bought in 2000 when prices were quite high so they haven't made a profit yet.'
Applicants for EC homes are subject to a household income ceiling of $10,000.
Upgrading may not be a top priority for residents in Punggol as it is a fairly new town, he added.
According to the Housing Board, the fate of the site will be known by next month, when the National Development Ministry puts out its land sales list for the first half of next year.