Newbie
Just talked to DBS banker and the package he offered was 3 year lock-in at 3M/12M SIBOR + 1.3%. With redemption (partial and full) penalty too.Originally Posted by East Coast Boy
FYI, DBS Bank is offering
3 yr fixed rates package..1st Yr 1.9%, 2nd Yr 1.9% & 3rd 1.9%
No mentioned of 1.9% fixed over 3 years leh.. U got lobang?
Newbie
Does anybody know the remaining lease life of the land that Casa Merah sits on.
I know 99 years is not from TOP but counted from the day developer bought it from government.
Thanks
Junior
Casa Merah near to which school? Actually Simei quite a lot of primary schools within 1-2km, all not top schools though. If you are talking about hard-to-get-in primary school, the best is probably Red Swastika. Is it within 1km of Casa Merah?One consideration is schools in the area. Simei not much to choose. And also didn't want to consider resale condo as a first choice. Likely to result in costlier renovation and also dunno the history of the unit.
Honestly I watched the market slip past while waiting for my current place to be sold. My flat was on the market for nearly 3 months before it was sold. During that time, the price of Casa Merah increased from $640 psf to $670psf.
Newbie
Primary schools within 1-2km of Casa Merah are Red Swastika, Bedok Green, Yu Neng, Temasek, FengShan, St Anthony's Canossian, Changkat and Qiaonan.
Junior
You might want to check whether Red Swastika is within 1km .. seems like border line case when I check in http://www.elite.com.sg. Temasek is another so called "top" school but outside 1km. Are you planning to become volunteer soon to fight for your child's entrance into TOP schools?
Newbie
Dunno yet. Settle one thing at a time lor..You might want to check whether Red Swastika is within 1km .. seems like border line case when I check in http://www.elite.com.sg. Temasek is another so called "top" school but outside 1km. Are you planning to become volunteer soon to fight for your child's entrance into TOP schools?
Senior
tanah merah = Bukit timah of the east ?You might want to check whether Red Swastika is within 1km .. seems like border line case when I check in http://www.elite.com.sg. Temasek is another so called "top" school but outside 1km. Are you planning to become volunteer soon to fight for your child's entrance into TOP schools?
Junior
Not exactly lah bcos top oso got top of the top (like Nanyang Primary and St Hilda in Tampines). Another good one in the east is MahaBodhi in sucker location of Ubi Avenue 1, virtually no competition if you live within 1km.
Be warned that top schools are rated all based on PSLE result only (= stress level). Think twice before sending your children there. More on http://www.kiasuparents.com.sg
Newbie
I agree. Anyway i grew up in the east and prefer eastern schools. So decided to move closer lor.. I used to take bus from Tampines thru Bedok to Katong, so I know almost all the school around that stretch.
Newbie
Quick update. Both Citibank and HSBC are able to meet my purchase price.
Most prob will take Citibank loan.
I guess also an indication that mass market condo prices are going upwards.
Junior
It depends on how much u are borrowing, 80%? I guess they bet that in worst situation, 690psf x 80% = 552psf they still can recover their loan if anything happens ... pure risk calculation only
Newbie
Condo price going up? We must not forget that unemployment rate is still increasing. No double stock indexes are going up but many are wondering if it is just a short term rebounce
Junior
It could be, who knows what will happen? After the famous property bubble burst in 1997 due to Asian currency crisis, the property market staged a quick recovery in year 1999/2000 only to be killed off by NASDAQ crash at 4Q 2000 and SARS in early 2003. Situations were made worse in 2003/2004 with oversupplies of HDB flats which takes a few years to clear. But you can also argue if there is no NASDAQ bubble or SARS then it would be totally different. We are now at the bottom of the US housing/financial bubble, if nothing happens in the next 3 years, economy will boom again right?
Newbie
MARKET turning points are very hard to spot. A recent example was the March 9 market bottom. Then, the world seemed a bleak place: we were in for a prolonged depression; banks were going to fail; many companies were going bankrupt and millions were going to lose their jobs and stay unemployed for years. That period also coincided with a spate of bad news from the Chinese companies listed in Singapore - the so-called S-chips. The cash wasn’t in the banks. The founders were losing control over their companies because they’d pledged their shares to financial institutions. Profit was overstated, and the companies’ status as going concerns was in question. One by one, the S-chips were getting suspended.
Under the never-ending onslaught of bad news, many investors threw in the towel and cashed out. By February, cash sitting on the sidelines was at its highest in more than 10 years. Government statistics showed that the amount of deposits of non-bank customers with domestic banking units and deposits with finance companies was equivalent to 99 per cent of the aggregate market value of all the stocks listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). The previous peak was in 2002, when the cash/market cap ratio was 91 per cent.
History has shown that such a high level of cash holdings portends strong upside in the equities market. The rebound did eventually come - almost out of the blue - and took many by surprise. The recovery - fuelled by sightings of ‘green shoots’ in the economy - has lasted eight weeks and equity prices have gained more than 40 per cent. But through it all, many analysts and fund managers still doubt the sustainability of the recovery.
So what do we make of the projections of most property consultants that private residential property will slump by 25-35 per cent this year? The forecasts suggest more downside for the rest of the year given that prices fell ‘only’ 14.1 per cent in the first quarter. But like the pundits in the stock market, there is a possibility that these consultants too will miss the market turning point. For one, the stock market leads the property market by 4-8 months. If the stock market remains buoyant, then there is a probability that the property market too will stabilise. And, as noted earlier, there is a lot of cash waiting to get into the market.
Already, there are signs that US real estate - the source of the current global financial crisis - is recovering. According to The New York Times, Sacramento (among the first US cities to fall victim to the real estate collapse) has seen investors and first-time buyers out in force competing for bargain-price foreclosures. Sales are up 45 per cent from last year, and the vast backlog of inventory has diminished. Progress is also visible in other hard-hit areas.
If so, one shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss the hope that the US property slump, just like the stockmarket slump, may end sooner than the doomsters think.
Source : Business Times - 7 May 2009
Newbie
What I meant that for Mass Market condos, there is a steady demand from HDB upgraders which are holding the price up. I would say that boutique condos and luxury condo are pretty badly hit.
For people with relatively stable jobs and risk adverse (ie. they do not invest much in shares), this is a good time for them to move up the ladder. And I think there's quite a substantial number of these people.
Junior
Look at the result of what a strong stock market can create (www.casa-merah.com ... last week was 600-700psf)
Price Updates
The current average asking prices are $680psf to $730psf. Give us a call for recommendations on some of our best-priced units.
Newbie
Actually is true, spoken to a agent friend who said that casa merah owners are increasing their asking price because of recent stock rally. He said he cannot comment on whether it will further increase or drop in price as it very better depends on the stock performance.
An average 3 room unit is going for around 840K to 900K. I find that price is abit high given that it was brought at sub-sales and many benefits offer by developers are not availiable.
He said that there any since units for sale but it depends if you like the units
Newbie
Anyone can increase his asking price. You can also ask for 10-20% more for your current dwelling unit, but will it sell? To see whether Casa Merah is in bull or bear trending, I would look at actual transactions- the transacted prices, and the no. of transactions.
If sellers and their agents indeed believe that prices are going up, I would urge all of them to sell later. Why sell now if they are so sure their units can fetch even more in just a few months?
(Agents are scre wed anyway, because no matter what they do, there are simply not enough transactions to keep all of them afloat.)
Newbie
Actually kind of agree with you. We will have to wait to see the actual transaction. Also, buyers will have 1 more choice as the condo in-front of casa merah is launching soon. Let wait.....
Newbie
I guess it all depends on the buyer's intention. If he can wait 2-3 yrs, then wait for the new project by TID. If buyers want a unit now for own stay, I think they can start shopping now. Even if price does drop, there may not be choice units left.
Newbie
what is the project in front of casa ?
So becon or something like that ?
Any details available ?
ex-Mcfarlene fan
the plot of land the developer purchase isn't cheap, so be prepared to be disappointed if you are looking for prices cheaper than casa merah.
Junior
If I am TID, I will have all 2 bedrooms at 80sqm each, each one selling >700psf. Sure sold out in weeks.
Newbie
Think its covered in 1 of the posts..
Condo with 293 units, 14 storey towers. The plot of land is actually quite small, so I don't think it will have full condo facilities. Rumours is that the asking px is >$700 psf. That's why the price of Casa Merah shot up.
Think its call Balcon East or something.
Senior
choa chu kang area more than 700psf?that is the price of city fringe...
Newbie
Its cheaper than Casa Merah.
Casa Merah = 3428.29 PSM (SGD21 million for 61,255 GFA)
TID land = 3037.75 PSM (SGD 84 million for 27,652 GFA)
Newbie
left out a zero
ex-Mcfarlene fan
this is the article that mention abt the breakeven price...
Fri, Sep 12, 2008
The Straits Times
function openEmailWindow(emailToFriendForm) { var emailToFriendPageURL = emailToFriendForm.emailToFriendPageURL.value; emailToFriendForm.action = emailToFriendPageURL; emailToFriendForm.target="_blank"; emailToFriendForm.submit(); } Tanah Merah residential site attracts 7 bids
A tender for a choice residential development site right next to Tanah Merah MRT station has attracted a healthy seven bids - proving that even in a subdued market, location is king.
TID placed the highest bid - $84 million, or $282 per sq ft (psf) of potential gross floor area, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said yesterday.
The firm is a partnership between the Hong Leong Group and Japan's leading real estate company Mitsui Fudosan.
Its bid is 12 per cent above the second highest bid - from Sim Lian Land - at $75 million or about $252 psf of potential gross floor area.
Boon Keng Development was third at $61.88 million or about $208 psf of potential gross floor area.
Other bids were much lower, with First Changi Development coming in last at $44.63 million.
The seven bids were a strong showing. "It's a positive shot in the arm for the property market where sentiment is concerned," said Knight Frank's head of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak.
He said the 99-year leasehold Tanah Merah Kechil Avenue site generated healthy interest as it is next to an MRT station.
"In light of the current cautious sentiment in the residential market, the amount of interest that this site has generated provides evidence that land parcels in good locations with immediate accessibility to transport links are still sought after by developers," said CBRE Research director Leonard Tay.
TID's bid is lower than the $318.50 psf per plot ratio price achieved for the nearby Casa Merah site back in 2006.
Property consultants said the breakeven cost of a condo at the Tanah Merah site should be at $700 psf to $750 psf, based on the top bid. This means that TID, if awarded the site, would be able to sell condo units at between $800 psf and $850 psf, they say.
Newbie
Yes this is the one.
If the cost of land for TID is lower than Casa Merah and they can sell at 800-850 psf. This means the margins are pretty good or the quality will be better than Casa Merah.
Found a good link with some good info
https://www.ura.gov.sg/sales/residen...acantsites.xls
You can see also the year land was awarded and calculate how many years to go on the 99 lease. 2009-2006= about 96 more yrs to go for Casa
Newbie
Goldman Sachs is now projecting a 5 per cent gain in Singapore private home prices next year, reversing its previous forecast of a 10 per cent fall in 2010. It has also upgraded City Developments, which it terms ‘the Singapore residential bellwether’, to a ‘buy’ rating from ’sell’ previously.
‘The recent pick-up of transaction volumes in the primary residential market is a harbinger of price stabilisation being just around the corner, in our view,’ the US bank said in a report dated May 12.
It expects the residential property sector to stabilise by end-2009, ahead of the office and retail sectors, which it sees stabilising around the end of next year.
Goldman Sachs sees the average luxury residential capital value sliding some 38 per cent for the whole of 2009, on top of last year’s 36 per cent drop, and the average islandwide 99-year leasehold residential capital value easing 13 per cent in 2009, similar to the 12 per cent fall last year. Much of these price declines have already taken place year to date, and Goldman Sachs sees price stability setting in by year-end.
The 5 per cent residential price increase projection for 2010 will be supported by expected healthy, above-consensus take-up activity that will gradually draw down on supply.
‘Firmness witnessed in the mass end of the segment is gradually filtering up to the mid-end segments, though investors are still harbouring concerns over sustainability of demand. What may not be so apparent is the relative wealth of HDB owners,’ said the report.
‘We expect the pick-up in transaction volumes witnessed over the past three months to continue, driven by HDB upgrader demand in the mass end of the market as affordability has improved,’ it added.
‘While we acknowledge that there are still overhangs (eg deferred payment scheme defaults) weighing down on the broader sector, we think the risk/reward trade-off in the Singapore residential market is currently favourable,’ the report said.
With residential cycles tending to be shorter than commercial ones, Goldman Sachs expects commercial property to underperform when recovery takes place eventually. It also continues to be relatively more cautious about the retail and office segments given the challenges that are likely to affect businesses and consumers over the near term.
‘Unlike in residential, where (sales) take-up has been healthy, leasing and transaction activity in the commercial space continues to be weak,’ the report noted.
‘On the basis that a residential property recovery is in the works, we turn more constructive on the Singapore developers as we see the residential sector leading the property sector recovery. We think property investors (Reits) mainly exposed to commercial real estate will see trends deteriorating into 2010 and are likely to underperform when the eventual recovery does take place.’
In addition to upgrading CDL to ‘buy’, Goldman Sachs has upgraded Wing Tai to ‘neutral’ from ’sell’ and reiterated its ‘conviction buy’ for CapitaLand for their exposure to the Singapore residential sector. For CapitaLand, it said that maiden profits from The Seafront and Orchard Residences condos expected this year should help shelter the stock from potential writedowns.
Goldman downgraded CapitaCommercial Trust to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ and Suntec Reit to ’sell’ from ‘buy’. It kept its ’sell’ rating for Keppel Land, which has substantial exposure to the Singapore office market.
Source : Business Times – 13 May 2009
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