RESIDENTIAL MARKET Resale market for Tanglin Halt hotting up Housing Board flats in Tanglin Halt are hitting the resale market and starting to fetch premiums after Junes announcement that the estate will be redeveloped. At least two units have been sold since then, with more than 30 listed on property websites. Such flats are attractive because their owners will eventually be offered brand new units at five sites in the nearby Dawson estate in Queenstown under the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers). In prime locations such as Queenstown, resale units are pricey and Build-To-Order projects scarce, so the Sers exercise is a good chance to secure a flat there, said agents. Most of the 3,480 units across the 31 blocks in Tanglin Halt Road and Commonwealth Drive are two- and three-room flats. The replacements range from two- to five-roomers, with larger units popular with families, said agents. To give owners time to consider their options, there was a month-long freeze on resale applications. This ended on July 27, and applications can be submitted up till Aug 31 next year. In anticipation of demand, property agents have been leaving fliers in letter boxes and going door to door in Tanglin Halt. The attraction of a Sers flat was clear in the case of a Tanglin Halt three-roomer which was sold last week. A flat had been marketing it since February, with an asking price of $310,000 to $315,000. There were no takers initially. But interest rose after the Sers announcement, and the flat went for $355,000, about $35,000 above its valuation. Some Tanglin Halt owners might want to sell so they can upgrade to private property. Another reason is that the replacement units are expensive, said agents and flat owners. Even though they are subsidised, estimated prices for three-room replacement units at Dawson range from $284,000 to $386,000, according to the HDB. Actually, a resale flat somewhere else might even be cheaper, noted a flat owner who wanted to be known only as Mr Teh. In the second quarter this year, the median price of a three-room flat was $357,000 in Queenstown, and as low as $311,000 in Yishun. Mr Teh, a 34-year-old who works in sales, is open to the idea of selling his three-roomer in Tanglin Halt. But he has not decided whether to do so yet as the prime location of the replacement flats is still a draw. You cannot find another place as good as this, he said. The drawback of selling, of course, is missing out on a prized new flat in Dawson. This is why transport driver Ngeow Chee Hoe, 41, does not plan to sell his three-roomer: The new flats will be of high value. For many older residents, there is a simpler reason for not selling: being able to stay in a familiar, convenient place. Said retiree Arif Supaat, 74: This place is easy for me to get around: There are the buses, the MRT, its near the mosque. Retiree Helen Lee, 70, agreed, adding: If you move somewhere else, you wont know the neighbourhood any more. Source: The Straits Times – 26 August 2014 COMMERCIAL MARKET 2 Jln Besar properties on the market Two adjoining properties along Sam Leong Road, off Jalan Besar, are up for sale. The first building, currently vacant, is a three-storey freehold commercial building with a site area of approximately 2,726 square feet (253.3 square metres) and a gross floor area of approximately 7,887 sqft. It has an internal lift that services all floors, as well as a mechanised carpark for four carpark lots located at its rear. The second building, currently tenanted, is a four-storey residential with commercial spaces at the first storey. It has a site area of approximately 1,335 sqft and a gross floor area of approximately 4,324 sqft. The total indicative price for the properties is about S$17.5 million, or around S$1,433 per sqft. Although they prefer to market and eventually sell the two properties together, they are not completely against selling the assets separately. The assets were previously owned by a prominent local family-owned company who reportedly purchased the properties for investment. The buildings are within a short walking distance to Farrer Park MRT Station; they are also close to landmarks such as City Square Mall, Mustafa Centre, Serangoon Plaza, Parkroyal on Kitchener Road and Trio, an upcoming commercial development. Although the properties sit on sites within the Jalan Besar conservation area, the two assets are not for conservation, providing an opportunity for interested parties to consider a redevelopment option. Source: Business Times – 26 August 2014 INDUSTRIAL MARKET Seven industrial units in Bukit Merah put up for sale A tender exercise has opened for seven industrial units at Kewalram House in the Bukit Merah Industrial Estate. The tender will close at 2.30 pm on Sept 25. Bidders may tender for any or all of the units. The offering comprises two units of 3,100 square feet and 4,300 square feet on the ground floor that can be used for warehouse or factory space, and five units on the third floor that range from 2,100 sq ft to 2,400 sq ft. The total floor area of the units is 18,800 sq ft. There are just over 45 years left on the tenure of the 99-year leasehold properties. Six of the units are currently tenanted, with a gross yield of about 5 per cent. The vendors are hoping for offers of more than S$10 million for all seven units, or north of S$620 per square foot for the ground floor units and S$480 per square foot for the third floor units. The five-storey Kewalram House was built in the 1980s with 63 units on a site zoned for Business 1, or for clean and light industry. The gross floor area of the building relative to the site area is still within the maximum plot ratio of 2.5. There could be potential for future en bloc opportunity as the gross floor area (GFA) of the building has not exceeded the maximum GFA allowed under the Master Plan 2014. The units for sale represent around 9.6 per cent of the total share value and 9.3 per cent of the total strata area in the development. The long remaining tenure is also being stressed. Ms Yong noted that most industrial land parcels being offered by the government are now capped at 30 years, about 15 years less than the remaining tenure on the Kewalram units. Source: Business Times – 26 August 2014
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 11:15:41 +0000
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