Higher prices for Pinnacle reflect strong demand: MM

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http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...20740,00.html?

Published December 14, 2009

Higher prices for Pinnacle reflect strong demand: MM

Young couples will get govt aid in fulfilling dream of home ownership

By JOYCE HOOI


THE higher prices for The Pinnacle@Duxton during its second launch were a function of strong demand for the units, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday.

'Even though prices of the flats at the second launch in 2008 were higher, the demand for the flats was still very strong. The higher prices reflect the demand for the flats; they reflect the market demand,' said Mr Lee during his speech at the key handover ceremony for The Pinnacle@Duxton.

The 50-storey Pinnacle@Duxton was first launched in May 2004. Some of the remaining units were re-launched in September 2008.

Then, 111 five-room flats were put up for sale at $545,000 to $645,800. Even then, there were 372 applicants.

When the project was first launched in 2004, in a lukewarm property market, four-room flats started at $289,200 while five-room flats were offered for up to $439,400.

Mr Lee also emphasised the importance of pricing Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats differently to reflect their true values.

'We cannot price a new flat in Punggol or Tanjong Pagar the same because when they are re-sold, we know there will be a tremendous difference in price,' he said.

'From the 1980s, we moved towards a market-based system. By liberalising the resale market and allowing HDB prices to move in tandem with the economy, we unlocked the value of HDB flats to allow citizens to share in the fruits of the nation's growth. Home ownership of a HDB flat is a store of value that can be monetised when need be.'

Even so, Mr Lee warned against flipping HDB flats for a quick profit.

'The rules on minimum occupation and requirement for family nucleus are to discourage speculative purchases. We expect flats will continue to appreciate as long as we develop and grow our economy.'

In response to the possibility of young couples lamenting rising property prices, Mr Lee said: 'Well, they have got to decide if the country is going to go up or go down. If the country is going to go down, then the economy will go down and their incomes will be down - unemployment will go up and property values will come down.

'If they have confidence in Singapore, in working with the government, then it must go up as it has gone up every year since 1959 or since 1965.'

Mr Lee also made it clear that young couples will receive government assistance in fulfilling their dream of home ownership.

'Young couples will receive sufficient help from the government to own their first flats. HDB will continue to build affordable homes of good quality, so that each generation of Singaporeans will continue to have a stake in the nation.'

The Pinnacle@Duxton development, which is the island's tallest public housing development, features 12 sky bridges that link all seven of the blocks.

The sky bridges will be accessible from Jan 1.

The 26th storey sky bridge will be exclusive to residents who will also have access to the 50th storey sky bridge.

The public will have to pay $5 by EZ-Link or Cepas-compliant cards to access the 50th-storey sky bridge.

The development also includes amenities such as a food court, childcare centre, basketball court and an 800-metre jogging track.

In total, The Pinnacle@Duxton houses 1,848 flats.

Construction has since been completed, with the exception of some minor site works, such as landscaping.

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http://www.straitstimes.com/PrimeNew...ry_466355.html

Dec 14, 2009

Two families returning to Duxton

By Zakir Hussain


ONE of the first homes of Mr Venketroyalu Deenathayalu's parents was a two-room flat they rented in Duxton Plain in 1968.

He was to follow in their footsteps about 35 years later when he rented a flat in the same area after his marriage.

Today, the 38-year-old project manager is the proud owner of a four-room HDB flat in the same neighbourhood, living in Singapore's tallest and most distinctive public housing project: the Pinnacle@Duxton.

He was among seven first-time homeowners who received the keys to their flats from Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, their MP, yesterday.

However, the HDB said Mr Venketroyalu's family and another - the Tay siblings - are believed to be the only Pinnacle@Duxton flat owners to have previously lived in the two rental blocks that once occupied the same plot.

The project is the pride and joy of the Housing Board, which holds it up as a model of how the HDB has strived to improve the quality and design of its homes since it was set up 49 years ago.

The old rental blocks, launched in 1963, had 334 flats but the Pinnacle has 1,848 four and five-room flats, built for an affluent, home-owning population.

Within minutes of taking the first peek at his new home on the 24th floor, Mr Venketroyalu and his family were welcoming MM Lee into their flat.

Mr Venketroyalu's 63-year-old mother, Mrs Susilabai Deenathayalu, said: 'It's an honour to see my old MP after 40 years.'

She and her husband's rental home in Duxton was a two-room flat on the eighth floor, with a view of the city.

When her son married in 2002, he and his wife, housewife Venkatesan Hema, now 33, stayed at the flat.

But they all had to leave the following year, as the area was earmarked for redevelopment.

Yesterday, as Mr Venketroyalu's six-year-old daughter, Tejaswini, excitedly checked out each room, he said: 'Many of our friends and relatives have already asked when they can come and have a look.'

Equally thrilled are the Tays, on the 18th storey of a nearby block.

Freelance tutor Tay Poh Choo, 35, and her brother, engineer Tay Peck Seng, 41, lived in Duxton for 20 years, with their parents and three siblings, after moving from Jalan Membina in 1984.

Over the years, their three siblings married and moved out and their parents died, while the pair were relocated before the flats were demolished.

Ms Tay cited the Pinnacle's central location, its proximity to Chinatown, an array of 24-hour food outlets and a host of childhood memories as factors that pulled her back to the neighbourhood.

The Pinnacle's seven blocks are linked by skybridges on the 26th and 50th floors. There is an 800m jogging track on the 26th floor and a huge sky garden on the roof, with views of the harbour and much of Singapore.

Only residents can use the track, but the top floor will be open to the public, for a $5 fee. Only 200 can go up each day.

Madam Venkatesan, who used to be captivated by the city view from her old flat, noted wistfully that her new home faces the other direction.

'But there's always the view from the corridor,' she added.

And, of course, the skybridges.