URA seeks new way to report property prices

Govt working with developers on fuller property sales figures

Posted: 21 May 2007 2339 hrs


SINGAPORE : The government will work with the Real Estate Developers Association to give more details of sales figures for new residential property launches.

This is to prevent buyers from getting a distorted picture of the property market.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said the level of sub-sales in the first three months of this year was still a low 6.3 percent of total private home sales - compared to 28 percent in 1996 when property speculation was rampant.

But he warned that recent media reports of developers hitting record sale prices for projects could mislead homebuyers.

Mr Mah said, "While some of these high-priced transactions do take place, I am concerned that such reports may not paint the full picture and as a result mislead home purchasers. For example, such record prices could be for a few choice units with special attributes and not be representative of the transacted prices for most of the units in the project.

"I have therefore asked URA to work with REDAS to see how we can give a fuller picture of the range of transacted prices for all newly-launched private residential projects." - CNA/ms

May 22, 2007

Property buyers can expect more price data

Govt wants range of prices for new developments given, not just record-setting ones

By Arthur Poon


THE Government is looking to improve the transparency of the Singapore property market, following the recent hype over prices at new property launches.

Concerned that property buyers are making their decisions based on incomplete information, it now wants to work with developers to provide more price data.

Record sale prices have been recorded by one development after another in recent months.

Just yesterday, for instance, a unit at the Parkview Eclat condominium in Grange Road topped the $4,000 per sq foot barrier.

Reports that cite record sale prices for new developments may not tell the whole story, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan told Parliament yesterday.

He said: 'While some of these high price transactions do take place, I'm concerned that such reports may not paint the full picture.'

These record prices could be for a few choice units with special attributes. They may, therefore, not be representative of the prices achieved by most of the units in the projects, Mr Mah said.

To provide more transparency, the Government will get the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to work with the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (Redas) to give a fuller picture of the range of prices for all newly-launched private residential projects.

'This will further improve the transparency and efficiency of the Singapore property market, and help buyers and sellers make more informed decisions,' said Mr Mah.

Most property developers tend to highlight the top-end transacted prices of their projects, which have been hitting one record high after another. Not all make the average sale prices of their developments available.

Market observers say this could lead some buyers to make decisions based on incomplete information.

Mr Mah did not provide details of how the URA and Redas will address this issue. Redas told The Straits Times yesterday that it is waiting for more details from the URA.

Mr Mah also gave Parliament an update on the number of sub-sales of private properties, in response to a question from Hong Kah GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad.

A sub-sale is when an owner resells a unit before the project has been finished. Sub-sales are often used as an indicator of speculative activity in the market.

Mr Mah said there were 581 sub-sale transactions in the first quarter - just 6.3 per cent of all private transactions in the period.

Most of them - 63 per cent - were in the core central region of districts 9, 10 and 11 and the Sentosa area, with 27 per cent in the rest of the central region and the remainder from outside this zone.

'The higher level of sub-sale activity in the core central region...was due partly to the strong foreign interest in this segment of the property market,' said Mr Mah.

'It is in line with the robust growth of our economy and reflects the confidence of foreigners and investors in the growth prospects here.'

Sub-sale activity is one of many indicators the Government monitors to ensure the residential property is healthy and growing in a sustainable manner, he added.

Mr Mah said that the Government will continue to closely monitor the property market and ensure it is as transparent as possible.

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Developers to provide monthly property sales data for new launches

By Daryl Loo, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 23 May 2007 0038 hrs


SINGAPORE: The Urban Redevelopment Authority has requested that developers provide a fuller set of property sales data every month, starting from June.

In a letter to developers, the URA said it would like to have prices of all new units sold in private launches each month including the discounts given.

The move is part of government efforts to promote transparency in the property market, according to the URA.

On Monday, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan had warned in Parliament that recent reports of developers hitting record sale prices for projects could mislead home buyers.

Analysts said the additional information could help home buyers make better decisions.

Nicholas Mak, Consultancy and Research Director of Knight Frank, said: "Information is very important, especially the transparency of information in a market where prices are changing very rapidly. And home buyers are very hungry and eager for such information. If the home buyers were to receive the wrong set of information, they may base their very expensive decisions on such unreliable information."

The URA said with the data, it would work out average prices of units sold for each project and the number of units sold in certain price ranges, and release these publicly through its website. - CNA/de

Published May 23, 2007

URA seeks new way to report property prices

By ARTHUR SIM


(SINGAPORE) Changes are in the air in the way that property developers report their sale prices.

Sources said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has written to developers asking them to report, on a monthly basis, the prices of all private residential projects sold. And this change could be required as early as end-June.

Where discounts have been provided to buyers, URA also wants the reported prices to reflect the discounts.

It is understood that developers have asked URA to clarify if this reporting procedure is mandatory, that is, if it is required by law.

When contacted, URA said: 'As we are working out the details with the developers, we are unable to provide further details at this point.'

But URA did say that it intends to release the information to the public in an aggregated form, such as the number of units sold within certain price ranges, and the average prices of units sold in uncompleted private residential projects.

Reiterating National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan's comments in Parliament on Monday, URA said the release of such information is expected to improve the transparency of the private housing market.

Sources revealed that URA is concerned that only 25 per cent of buyers of newly launched private residential projects lodge caveats at the option exercise stage, which is up to three weeks after booking the unit. In contrast, significant numbers of caveats are lodged only after the signing of the sales and purchase agreement, which is around two to three months after the option is issued by the developer.

Recently, URA's quarterly property data for Q1 revealed that 91 units or 27 per cent of One Shenton were not sold even though the developer had reported that the development was close to being fully sold within two days of the launch in January.

Also, according to data from the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers' REALink system, only 106 caveats for One Shenton have been lodged to date.

Apart from discouraging developers from releasing over-optimistic sales figures before deals are confirmed, URA also appears to be signalling that average prices - and not benchmark prices - are a better reflection of price trends.

Eddie Chow, senior executive at Hong Kong-based Chyau Fwu Development - which also reported on Monday that its 35-unit Parkview Eclat had set a new benchmark of $4,200 psf - said that the system here is 'already quite transparent'. Nonetheless, Mr Chow welcomed the news of the impending changes.

Saying that Chyau Fwu does take steps to discourage property speculation, Mr Chow said that the company does not 'inflate' prices so as to give big discounts. 'Our discounts are modest at between one and 3 per cent,' he said.

Thio Gim Hock, executive director of Lippo Realty, also welcomed the impending new measures. 'When you are selling a good product, you have nothing to hide,' he said. He added that the company's recently launched 231-unit Trillium in the River Valley area only saw three to four options returned.

David Lawrence, chief executive of Wheelock Properties, said that there are some developers who try to 'ramp up prices' by emphasising benchmark prices but conceded that this practice occurs in many markets around the world.

He also had no qualms about giving URA more sales information to improve transparency and to stop the practice of 'talking up the market'. 'At the moment, friends could be the ones buying. We just don't know.'

The new measures could, of course, affect property prices if buyers become more cautious, but even here, Mr Lawrence was sanguine. 'It won't effect real prices,' he said.

Other property measures could also be on the way. Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, said: 'There is room for some tightening of the en bloc sales procedures.'

It is understood that the Ministry of Law is currently evaluating feedback on this.