(w/GST) S$5.80 PRICE: Apr 2015 Apr - Mar Singapore Property Singapore Property International Property Highline Residences Understand Your Credit Report Credit Understand Your Property Market Trends 2015 MarketTrends Property Designer A Property ThatGoesAboveAndBeyond A Property Homes Crowdfunders Magazine Con t e n t s SINGAPORE PROPERTY ANALYSIS 4 Property Market Trends for 2015 6 SRX Residential Property Flash Report (Feb 2015) 9 SRX Residential Property Flash Report (Jan 2015) 11 SRX Residential Property Flash Report (Rental Market) PROPERTY SPOTLIGHT 12 SEA’s First Real Estate Crowdfunding Site CoAssets’ seals S$1 million investment – CoAssets FINANCE 13 Understanding Your Credit Report by Credit Bureau PROPERTY SHOWCASE 20 14 A property that goesAbove and Beyond – Highline Residences 16 A New Level of Inclusiveness – Sims Urban Oasis 18 The New Treasure in Jurong Lake District – Lakeville 20 The Gem of the East – Meridian 38 22 Crown At Robinson INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY ANALYSIS 52 Penang Real Estate Market – Henry Butcher Malaysia Sdn Bhd PROPERTY SHOWCASE 50 Bridging Possibilities In Phnom Penh – The Bridge 22 EVENT 62 Piscine SPLASH! Asia DESIGNER HOMES returns to Singapore and announces new show features 64 Adventure Home - Rezt & Relax Interior 70 Art Party - I-Bridge Design Pte Ltd 74 to Back Cover CROWDFUNDERS Magazine HOMEBUYERS: MCI(P)131/11/2014. ISSN 0129 - 8703 is published Bi-monthly available at bookstores & newstands at S$5.80 (w/GST). Publisher: PROPERTY MEDIA, 808 French Road #07-163 Kitchener Complex Singapore 200808. Tel: (65) 6294 4588 Fax: (65) 6294 5812. Email: [email protected]. (This issue of Homebuyers come with Crowdfunders magazine). All right reserved. No part of HomeBuyers, written or pictorial may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher ©2015 by PROPERTY MEDIA. Neither the publishers nor the advertisers can be held liable for any errors, inaccuracies and/or omissions in information, howsoever caused. The publisher shall not be liable for any actions taken based on the views expressed or information provided in this publication and should not be taken or construed as an offer of, or giviof, advice to buy or sell properties. Readers should always seek professional advice from the appropriate advisor or institutioand verify the required information from the original sources & the relevant authorities. “All images of property projects are by courtesy of the developers or their marketing agents. Images may be of artist impression.” Feature Writer: Shurin Hoe. Graphic Designer: Eric Yong For advertising enquiries, please contact Mr Paul Tan, Business Development Manager, at +65 9853 2966. For press release and contribution of articles please email to [email protected]. MARKET ANALYSIS SINGAPORE New sale or resale residential units? From this simple analysis, we can tell that resale units for RCR and OCR are In view that there will be excessive supply coming onto the market, some more value for money and those who are looking for deals should focus on Property Market buyers may be of the view the it could make more sense to get a unit directly those properties instead. For those who are looking to buy a unit in CCR, the from developers as they believe that they could be getting a better deal. difference between new and resale units is not too significant, hence it However, when we compare the median PSF prices for completed and suggests that there could be a possibility for homebuyers to find deals Trends for 2015 uncompleted units, they tell us a different story (see Figure 2 to Figure 4). directly from developers there. In terms of pricing, the new launch and resale median prices for CCR has the smallest difference of about S$71psf. However, the new and resale Conclusion By Getty Goh median prices for RCR and OCR have larger differences of about S$221psf In conclusion, as long as the cooling measures remain, I really do not expect and S$214psf. any significant change to the property market in the coming months, or even for the whole of 2015. Figure 2: PSF comparison between completed and uncompleted units in CCR (2014Q3) That said, I concede that I may have oversimplified some considerations in this article and this assessment is based on current market conditions. The 1,800.00 $1,500.84 situation could change overnight if the government starts to lift some of the 1,600.00 1,400.00 measures. Nonetheless, this article is meant to put some context to the 1,200.00 $1,429.83 lacklustre market performance that we have been seeing for the past few 1,000.00 months. Similar to what I mentioned last year, I have definitely misread the 800.00 property market before and this is one instance where I am hoping my 600.00 assessment is wrong. But looking at the current situation, it is hard to see any 400.00 silver lining so property owners should expect a bumpy road ahead. 200.00 – 2004Q12004Q32005Q12005Q32006Q12006Q32007Q12007Q32008Q12008Q32009Q12009Q32010Q12010Q32011Q12011Q32012Q12012Q32013Q12013Q32014Q12014Q3 Median Price of Completed Non-Landed Residential Properties in Core Central Region Median Price of Uncompleted Non-Landed Residential Properties in Rest of Central Region Time flies and January has already passed by in a blink. With 2015 upon us, it What about those who are looking for a place to stay and do not have the Source: URA Realis & Ascendant Assets. is timely for us to take stock to see how 2014 did, and at the same time, flexibility to wait? For homebuyers, here are some pointers you may want to forecast how this year would be like. look out for… Figure 3: PSF comparison between completed and uncompleted units in RCR (2014Q3) In Jan 2014, we shared why we thought 2014 could be a turbulent for the property market (https://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/property-blog/4- Have units in prime locations become more aordable? $1,090.52 reasons-why-2014-could-turbulent-stakeholders-singapore-002122856.html). Several weeks ago, some property developers cautioned that the cooling 1,200.00 To recap, the bearish outlook for 2014 was due to the following reasons: (1) measures were adversely affecting the Singapore market and even 1,000.00 more residential units being completed and coming online, (2) more resale forecasted an impending fire sale if the market malaise was to continue. 800.00 units entering into the market as units affected by the Seller Stamp Duty (SSD) Naturally, some homebuyers may be wondering if it is timely to venture into $869.14 600.00 clear the 4 years mark, (3) the pool of potential buyers has shrunk significantly. the prime districts and buy a unit directly from developers. To answer that Looking back, the assessment from our research team has not been too far question, let us first compare the median prices of properties in the different 400.00 off. The index dropped from the peak of 216.3 in 2013Q3 to 207.9 in 2014Q3, parts of Singapore. 200.00 which translates to a drop of about 4%. – Based on Figure 1, it can be seen that median PSF prices for non-landed residential units for Core Central Region (CCR), Rest of Central Region (RCR) 2004Q12004Q32005Q12005Q32006Q12006Q32007Q12007Q32008Q12008Q32009Q12009Q32010Q12010Q32011Q12011Q32012Q12012Q32013Q12013Q32014Q12014Q3 What should you do in 2015? and Outside Central Region (OCR) are S$1,457, S$967 and S$923 respectively. Median Price of Completed Non-Landed Residential Properties in Rest of Central Region So the question on everyone’s mind right now is what is going to happen to While prices in CCR have dropped, as a whole, it is still much higher than RCR Median Price of Uncompleted Non-Landed Residential Properties in Rest of Central Region the real estate market in 2015? Is it a good time to enter or should you wait? and OCR. This means that, although prices in prime areas have fallen, those And if you enter into the market, where and what should you buy? who are thinking of getting a home there must be prepared to still pay a substantial amount. Source: URA Realis & Ascendant Assets. Let us tackle the first question – what is going to happen to the real estate Figure 4: PSF comparison between completed and uncompleted units in market in 2015? 2014 has been a lacklustre year and unless the government Figure 1: Comparison of Median PSF Prices in Singapore from 2004Q1 to 2014Q3 QCR (2014Q3) removes any lending measures, it is envisaged that 2015 will be no different. Some investors are of the view that a market recovery could be on the way $1,457.16 as the market downturn, which happened during the Global Financial Crisis 1,600.00 1,200.00 $1,000.07 in 2008, only lasted for 12 months. However, what they fail to realise is that 1,400.00 1,000.00 the market conditions then were very different and the current malaise is 1,200.00 800.00 done intentionally to rein in the inflated property market. Historically, market $967.01 $792.47 1,000.00 downtrends have lasted between 10 and 15 quarters. As we are only halfway 600.00 800.00 $922.86 through, investors and stakeholders must be mentally prepared for the quiet 400.00 600.00 market to persist for at least another 6 to 12 months. For those who are 200.00 interested to have the historical URA private property index since 1975, you 400.00 – can download the data here for free. Mr Getty Goh has a Masters in Real Estate from the National University of 2004Q12004Q32005Q12005Q32006Q12006Q32007Q12007Q32008Q12008Q32009Q12009Q32010Q12010Q32011Q12011Q32012Q12012Q32013Q12013Q32014Q12014Q3 2004Q12004Q32005Q12005Q32006Q12006Q32007Q12007Q32008Q12008Q32009Q12009Q32010Q12010Q32011Q12011Q32012Q12012Q32013Q12013Q32014Q12014Q3 Singapore (NUS) and he is the CEO of CoAssets.com, South East Asia’s rst In view of the dull market outlook, property investors may want to sit out of Median Price of Non-Landed Residential Properties in Core Central Region Median Price of Completed Non-Landed Residential Properties in Outside Central Region crowdfunding website.