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SINGAPORE: Executive condominium (EC) developer MCC Land Singapore has rolled out a festive promotion in a bid to drive sales during the Lunar New Year period.
The developer told Channel NewsAsia that it is offering a small price discount for EC units at Forestville at Woodlands and Sea Horizon in Pasir Ris.
Forestville is developed by Hao Yuan Investment while Sea Horizon is jointly developed by Hao Yuan Investment and Sustained Land. Both developments are managed by MCC Land.
To attract more visitors to its showflats, MCC Land is offering a S$3,888 discount off the purchase price of EC units at Sea Horizon and Forestville.
This works out to a 0.5 per cent discount for a three-bedroom unit at Forestville, priced at around S$740,000.
Richard Nah, senior manager at MCC Land Singapore, said: "What we are doing here is just adding a little bit of festive cheer. In this day and age, we will try all ways and means. Already it is kind of difficult to encourage the visitors to come by, so every little bit helps."
The promotion started on January 10 and Mr Nah said it could be extended beyond the Lunar New Year period, depending on the response.
Sales activity has weakened since the government introduced a 30 per cent mortgage servicing ratio for EC loans from banks last December.
That has affected buyers' ability to secure a larger loan quantum.
MCC Land said this has slowed sales of larger and pricier EC units.
Among its two projects, Sea Horizon has 120 unsold four- and five-bedroom units while Forestville has 59.
The average selling price for units at Forestville is S$740 per square foot (psf) while it is S$810 psf for Sea Horizon.
Some analysts said it is uncommon for EC developers to run festive promotions. But with slower sales and new launches coming up in the second half of the year, they said these promotions will go some way to clear the unsold units.
Property agency PropNex said that over the past month, it has sold over 30 EC units, but just two are five-bedroom units which cost S$1.1 million and above.
PropNex is marketing four EC projects, including Waterwoods in Punggol, Skypark Residences in Sembawang, Sea Horizon and Forestville.

It said promotional activities will likely draw buyers, but it does not expect EC developers to start slashing prices for existing projects and new launches over the next few quarters.

Mohd Ismail, CEO of PropNex, said: "Those that are currently available in the market and those that are going to be launched in a couple of quarters, all these ECs are not subjected to resale levy, therefore the developers also know they have a strength that these are a limited stock.

"Mainly because of that, there is no reason for the developers to bring down the price significantly, because the demand for these properties will be strong as we are talking about a levy, savings for the consumers to the tune of S$40,000 to S$50,000."

Analysts expect EC buyers who are upgrading from a public housing flat to have to pay a resale levy from 2015.

The new requirement, announced last year, applies to EC land sales which are launched on or after 9 December 2013, including those where the tenders have not closed.

The levy will range from S$15,000 to S$50,000 depending on the flat type of the buyer’s first HDB property.


- CNA/ms