Closing up the Circle Line starting in 2018

Advance preparatory works to make the Circle Line a complete loop, by joining HarbourFront station to Marina Bay station, have begun. Tenders for the civil works are expected to be awarded by the year end, and construction will begin in 2018Q1

The 4-km CCL6 line will close the loop for the CCL by connecting HarbourFront Station to Marina Bay Station. When the three CCL6 stations of Keppel, Cantonment and Prince Edward are completed in 2025, the CCL will have a total of 33 stations, including 12 interchange stations with other MRT lines.

Expanding the rail network to more areas such as the southern edge of the existing CBD, CCL6 will support direct east-west travel. Besides reaching new commuters, the extension will allow those travelling between the south-western and south-eastern ends of the line – such as from Pasir Panjang to Nicoll Highway – to have more direct and quicker access.

The stage is being set to build the three new stations that will complete the Circle Line. Keppel station will serve commuters at Keppel Distripark, while Cantonment station will be near Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and offer access to Spottiswoode Park Estate. The Prince Edward station will be near Palmer Road, where heritage landmarks are.

The extension will also serve part of the Greater Southern Waterfront, a massive mixed-used development that will commence once the Tanjong Pagar, Keppel and Brani port terminals are relocated to Tuas after their leases expire in 2027.

Preparatory works include relocating affected facilities at PSA Keppel Terminal for the construction of Keppel station, dismantling the platform canopy structures of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and the relocation of Shenton Way Bus Terminal for the construction of Prince Edward station.

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Former Queenstown cinema site sold for $78M

A PRIME commercial-zoned piece of vacant land – where the former Queenstown cinema and bowling centre once stood – has been sold for S$78 million. The price for the site, which has a balance lease term of 57 years, is understood to work out to about S$756 per square foot of potential gross floor area.

The site is at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Margaret Drive, located a stone’s throw from Queenstown MRT Station. The site comprises two lots of land adding up to 32,305 sq ft. The Queenstown Public Library – which opened 46 years ago and was granted conservation status in 2013- still stands near the site.

Crescendas Group is selling the property to a company controlled by property developer and investor Cheong Sim Lam, a member of the family that developed International Plaza in Anson Road in the 1970s.

Crescendas was previously granted written permission to redevelop the site into a seven-storey commercial building but that approval has since lapsed and the new owner will have to make a fresh application for the site’s redevelopment. Under the Urban Redevelompment Authority’s Master Plan 2014, the site is zoned for commercial use.

Based on the land price of around S$756 per square foot per plot ratio, a new commercial development on the site could breakeven at about S$1,800-1,900 psf, say market watchers. The buyer, Mr Cheong, has been in the news in recent years for his property investments in the Central Business District. He bought two adjacent office buildings at 137 and 139 Cecil Street around 2009 but sold them in 2015 and 2014 respectively.

Along Marine Parade Central, he is developing a four-storey commercial building named IMall, on the former Republic Theatre site.

All HDB industrial properties to JTC by 2018

By the first quarter of 2018, all 10,700 industrial units and 540 land leases under the Housing & Development Board (HDB) will be consolidated under JTC, a single agency offering one-stop access to a full range of Singapore’s public-sector industrial facilities.

The properties will be transferred from HDB’s portfolio to JTC’s at net book value.

Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang said this will better support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in their business growth.

The government will be able to undertake more comprehensive master-planning of industrial estates across Singapore; the move will also facilitate more efficient clustering of complementary activities and integration of activities along the value chain.

JTC wants to bring HDB tenants under its fold to offer them the same support that JTC tenants under the parentage of the Ministry of Trade and Industry enjoy, and to enhance their productivity and transform them into more competitive enterprises. (HDB falls under the Ministry of National Development.

One common problem HDB industrial tenants face lies in finding adjacent space into which to expand; many end up taking space in multiple venues, sometimes across the island. What JTC can offer SMEs is contiguous large floor plates in its own facilities.

It can also help SMEs plan ahead, by charting their growth trajectories and anticipating their future needs. JTC can provide, not just bigger spaces, but also land for expansion.

Guoxin Manufacturing is one example of an HDB tenant that is moving into a 1,180 sq m space at JTC Space @ Tampines North; this is twice the amount of space it used to occupy over five different units in Tuas and Ubi.

All HDB tenants and lessees affected by the consolidation will continue to be served by the same team of 160 HDB officers, who will be transferred to JTC. JTC also gave the assurance that the contracted terms and conditions of their tenancies and leases with HDB will remain.

 

Thomson-East Coast Line to start building in Q12016

According to LTA announcement yesterday, the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) will start construction in this quarter. About $948m of MRT contracts have been awarded for the stations and related tunnels at Tanjong Rhu, Katong Park and Marine Terrace. The construction is slated for completion in 2023. In November last year a contract was awarded to construct Marine Parade station and associated tunnels. The contracts for 5 more TEL stations are yet to be awarded.

Starting from 2019, the TEL will open in stages, with the entire 31-station, 43 km line expected to be fully operational by 2024.

Singapore Private Propertys fall 3.2% for second quarter

Singapore recorded the second-biggest year-on-year drop in private property prices in Asia for the second quarter, according to an index out yesterday.

It noted that apartment prices fell 3.2 per cent in the three months to June 30 over the same period a year earlier. China was the only Asian country to fare worse, with values there dropping 5.7 per cent in the same period.

Overall, Singapore had the eighth biggest price decline among 56 global residential markets tracked by the Knight Frank Global House Price Index. Ms Alice Tan, director and head of consultancy and research at Knight Frank, said yesterday: “Prospective buyers remain cautious against the backdrop of existing cooling measures and… anticipate further price correction.”

More falls in prices and rents are expected due to a range of factors, including more completed homes hitting the market, impending interest rate hikes and a faltering economy, both here and overseas, she added.

The Knight Frank Global House Price Index – which is compiled quarterly with official statistics where available and weighted by gross domestic product (GDP) – posted a marginal 0.1 per cent growth. It was the weakest growth rate since the final quarter of 2011.

Among the 56 housing markets tracked, 27 per cent recorded an annual decline in prices, said Knight Frank. “Lingering concerns over the euro zone economy, jitters in global stock markets and discussions of when, not if, a rate rise in the United States occurs are impinging on growth,” the property consultancy said in a statement.

Hong Kong topped the table with a 20.7 per cent year-on-year price growth, thanks to increasing liquidity and the flow of wealthy Chinese investors into its sector.

Dubai was at the bottom of the index, with prices weakening 12.2 per cent year-on-year due to weaker demand, a strong US dollar and ongoing cooling measures.

Knight Frank noted that the housing markets in China and the US – two countries which together account for about 33 per cent of global GDP – are on divergent paths.

Mainstream prices in China are down an average of 6.2 per cent from the start of last year, while those in the US are up 7.6 per cent.

http://www.straitstimes.com/business/spore-private-property-prices-fall-32-for-q2

Freehold shops for sale @ Paya Lebar Below $600K

Freehold Shop at Paya Lebar Regional Centre.
Face main road/entrance/bus-stop/water point.
Tenanted $1900 pm.

Call David for more details @ 94772121

http://www.sgbayhomes.com/19270612

Grandlink Square is a commercial property located in 511 Guillemard Road in district D14. This commercial space is primarily used for Mall Shop rental and sale. This Mall Shop space is 0.45 km away from Paya Lebar MRT Station/Interchange. The tenure of this commercial property is Freehold.

Amber Park Goes Enbloc in June

The residential collective sale market may be quiet but this is not deterring residents of Amber Park condominium in Katong.

They are putting it up for tender by going en bloc on June 7 with a reserve price of $743.9 million. This works out to a land cost of $1,225 per sq ft per plot ratio, given the 213,676 sq ft site with a plot ratio of about 2.8.

Assuming an average unit size of about 753.5 sq ft, the site could yield 794 units, far more than its current 200, he added.

Completed in 1986, it comprises 192 units of 1,744 sq ft each and eight two-storey penthouses of 3,789 sq ft each.

This is its third attempt at going en bloc. The first in 2009 was hampered by the global financial crisis; the second in 2011 came very close. While over 80 per cent of owners by share value were in favour, fewer than 80 per cent were in favour by strata area – 79.6 per cent, or one unit short, said Mr Lim Lian Seng, chairman of the collective sale committee.

Nearby, Amber Towers – the site of upcoming Amber Skye – was sold en bloc at $1,118 psf in 2011. It is smaller at 40,708 sq ft and, as of April 30, its developers have sold 10 of 109 units at an average of $2,020 psf.

Amber Park will be a less than five minutes’ walk to the future Amber MRT station on the line.

http://business.asiaone.com/news/amber-park-condo-goes-en-bloc-june#sthash.GpG1i51X.dpuf

PORTFOLIO of nine freehold shophouses and two 9,999-year leasehold strata shop units is up for sale #sgbayhomes

A PORTFOLIO of nine freehold shophouses and two 9,999-year leasehold strata shop units is up for sale to a single buyer.

The seller is The Bamboo Group, a six-year-old boutique property investment and development company specialising in repositioning shophouses.

With a total floor area of 31,774 square feet, the portfolio has an indicative price of S$77 million and is up for sale through an expression of interest (EOI) exercise being conducted by Cushman & Wakefield. The offer will close on May 21.

Included in the portfolio are five two-storey conservation shophouses along Tanjong Katong Road and three shophouses along South Buona Vista Road. The Tanjong Katong Road properties comprise No 362 (at the junction with Wilkinson Road) and four adjoining properties at No 332, 334, 336 and 338 (at the Branksome Road corner).

Along South Buona Vista Road, two adjoining properties, No 30 and No 32, are available along with No 38 a few doors away.

Under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Master Plan 2014, all these eight shophouse properties are zoned “residential with commercial at first storey” and have a 3.0 plot ratio (ratio of maximum gross floor area to land area).

The ground-level space in the shophouses is either leased to or approved for use as food and beverage/retail outlets.

The upper level contains furnished boutique residential studio units with tenancies of six months or longer.

Also part of the portfolio is a corner freehold two-storey shophouse at 101 Soo Chow Walk, off Upper Thomson Road and a stone’s throw from the future Upper Thomson MRT Station. Zoned for commercial use within a two-storey envelope control streetblock plan, the property has five shop lots on the ground floor and a single large shop lot on the upper floor. Negotiations are ongoing with potential tenants.

The final component of the portfolio for sale comprises two adjoining corner strata commercial units at 1 & 1B Figaro Street, at the junction with Jalan Tua Kong. The units have two separate titles with 9,999-year leasehold tenure. Both units are leased.

No new eateries in 7 areas including Kampong Glam and Upper Paya Lebar

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has banned more new restaurants from setting up shop in seven locations to prevent parking problems from worsening. The new locations add to the URA’s list of areas where no additional eateries are allowed. There are now 18 areas on the list which was first started in 2002.

We look at four things about the move to rein in problems faced by residents in areas with many popular food joints:

1. Which are the seven new areas which now come under the URA restriction?

– Changi Road: Jalan Eunos/Still Road to Jalan Kembangan/Frankel Avenue

– Upper Paya Lebar Road: Lorong Ah Soo to Paya Lebar Crescent

– Bukit Timah Road/Dunearn Road: Binjai Park (Jalan Jambu Mawar To Jalan Jambu Ayer); Bukit Timah Road (Wilby Road to Elm Avenue); Bukit Timah Road (Anamalai Avenue to Fourth Avenue)

– Sembawang Road: Mandai Road to Transit Road

– Kampong Glam: Bounded by Victoria Street, Jalan Sultan, Beach Road and Ophir Road

– Kampong Bahru Road/Spottiswoode Park Road: Blair Road to Everton Road; Everton Road to Neil Road

– Jalan Riang

2. Which are the areas which are already on the list?

– Balestier Road: Thomson Road to Moulmein Road

– East Coast Road: Joo Chiat Road to Still Road; Still Road to Telok Kurau Road; Lothian Terrace to Siglap Road

– Joo Chiat Road Area: Joo Chiat Road (Changi Road to East Coast Road); Joo Chiat Place (Joo Chiat Road to Still Road)

– MacPherson Road: Woodsville Interchange to Kallang Pudding Road

– Upper Serangoon Road: Tampines Road to Lim Ah Pin Road

– River Valley Road: Zion Road to Kellock Road

– Geylang Road: Lorong 1 Geylang to Paya Lebar Road

– Tanjong Katong Road: Dunman Road to Mountbatten Road

– Greenwood Avenue: Junction Of Greenwood Avenue And Hillcrest Road

– Sembawang Road: Jalan Mata Ayer to Yishun Avenue 5

– Serangoon Garden Way: Kensington Park Road To Maju Avenue; Chartwell Drive To Penshurst Place

3. What’s the impact of the URA restriction on some of the areas on the list?

Joo Chiat

In Joo Chiat, traffic woes led the URA to stop issuing dine-in licences in 2008 to new eateries – unless the premises was originally marked for such use. Road dividers were installed to stop illegal parking.

Read the story here: URA firm on dine-in ban in Joo Chiat

Serangoon Gardens

The middle-class housing estate is packed with restaurants, coffee shops and cafes, as well as the popular Chomp Chomp and Serangoon Garden hawker centres. Acting on residents’ complaints, the URA imposed a ban in February 2012: No more Serangoon Garden shophouses can be turned into food joints.

Read the story here: Restaurant ban to ease traffic at Serangoon Garden

Sembawang 

Some 24-hour eateries were asked to close earlier following complaints from residents about noise, littering and parking woes.

Read the story here: Restaurant appeals against restrictions on opening hours

4. What about popular areas which are not on the URA list? Any measures in place?

The URA and other relevant authorities have also taken steps to address noise and traffic concerns in areas which are not on its list.

In Tiong Bahru where eateries and cafes have sprung up in recent years, the URA and Housing Board have turned down some new applications to turn shop premises into eateries. Residents have complained about noise, traffic and fewer shopping options.

Read the story here: Govt keeps lid on eateries in Tiong Bahru

In Yio Chu Kang Road, some restaurants were ordered to close after they failed to do enough to address complaints from residents despite being granted a grace period to fix the problem.

– See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/no-new-eateries-allowed-7-areas-4-things-know-about-the-#xtor=CS1-10

Resale volumes of condos plunge in Q2 ’14

In yet another sign of a stalemate between buyers and sellers, resale volumes of private condominiums have fallen to levels last seen during the Global Financial Crisis, with the bloodbath of declines seen splattered islandwide.

While sellers with strong holding power seemed unwilling to let go of their units at much-lower prices, District 18 in the east and District 27 in the north appear to have held up well in resale volumes for the second quarter.

District 18, which comprises Tampines and Pasir Ris, saw resale volumes inch up 5.6 per cent in the second quarter this year to 57 transactions compared to the year-ago period before the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) kicked in on June 29, 2013.

Resale volumes of private condos in District 27, which covers Yishun and Sembawang, were flat at 18 transactions in the second quarter, compared to the same quarter last year.

Their resilience came against a plunge in resale volumes islandwide.

Total resales of private condos stood at 1,314 units in the second quarter, accounting for 31.9 per cent of all private non-landed residential transactions. This is moderately higher than the 29.9 per cent in the same quarter last year but lower than the 40.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

District 7 comprising Middle Road and Golden Mile and District 19 covering Serangoon Garden, Hougang and Punggol saw the biggest falls in resale volumes across districts. Transactions in District 7 fell to two units in the second quarter from 12 in the second quarter last year while that in District 19 plummeted to 57 units from 164.

The comparisons of resale volumes before and after TDSR are based only on caveats lodged, which typically represent some 80 per cent of the market. This illustration excludes new sales as they are driven mainly by new launches that may not have taken place in certain districts. The heterogeneity of property units also prevent direct comparisons on price movements over time without controlling for quality differences through constructing an index, a weighted scheme or tracking repeat sales.

Nicholas Mak, executive director of SLP International, noted that much of the resales caveats were for family-size units. “The marketing activities of new projects in that district could have attracted buyers, who may have later decided to buy resale properties as they were cheaper in per square foot (psf) terms.”

New launches in District 18 included City Developments’ Coco Palms in Pasir Ris, which has moved over 560 units at a median price of S$1,020 psf since its launch in May. MCC Land managed to sell more than 100 units at The Santorini in Tampines since its launch in April at a median S$1,113 psf, according to URA’s developer sales data. In comparison, median prices of resale units in District 18 stood at S$897 psf in the second quarter.

The lack of new launches in certain districts could also have the converse effect on the resale market – as seen in Districts 19 and 12 (Balestier, Toa Payoh, Serangoon), Mr Mak added.

R’ST Research director Ong Kah Seng noted that buying interest for homes in Pasir Ris is supported by well-tested leasing demand, especially from the Changi Business Park. The decentralisation of the banks’ non-core back-office operations to the business park and increased foreign professionals in the technology sector have also expanded the potential tenant pool in the eastern part of Singapore, he noted.

At the other end of Singapore, District 22 (Jurong) also registered a marginal 4.3 per cent year-on-year drop in resale transactions of private condos in the second quarter, possibly finding some support from renewed interest in the area given URA’s masterplan to transform Jurong Lake District, consultants observed.

All transactions (new sales, resales and subsales) involving private condos have slumped 40.7 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter to 4,118 – similar to the levels last seen during the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis.

Based on the URA property price index for non-landed homes, prices of private condos transacted in the second quarter have fallen to levels last seen in the fourth quarter of 2012. Prices in the Core Central Region (CCR) fell by a larger magnitude to a level similar to that in the fourth quarter of 2010.

OrangeTee head of research and consultancy Christine Li noted that the drop in foreign purchases due to the additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) has hurt the CCR market segment, as foreign buyers make up a significant portion of this segment.

“Secondly, the implementation of loan restrictions such as loan-to-value limits and the TDSR framework have hurt properties with high quantums,” she added. “As such, CCR properties have not held up as well as RCR (Rest of Central Region) and OCR (Outside Central Region). This trend is likely to persist until current cooling measures are tweaked.”

But given the exuberant run-up in property prices since the second half of 2009, sellers who sold their units recently are unlikely to have suffered a loss, though they could be making less profits than if they had sold their units last year, consultants noted.

A random sampling by SLP International on resale transactions in the second quarter showed that most of the sellers did not incur losses in the resale market because a majority of them bought their units more than three years ago when the prices were cheaper and they did not have to pay the seller’s stamp duty for properties that they have held for more than four years.

http://www.btinvest.com.sg/dailyfree/resale-volumes-private-condos-plunge-20141007/