January 2015

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PROPERTY
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January15
DEBORAH LAW
Executive Director,
Expat Realtor
Hot Properties
W hat does 2015 hold for the Singapore
real estate market? While property prices
have generally held firm, the numbers of
transactions for both residential and commercial
properties have fallen significantly, and government
cooling measures will continue to dampen property
prices in the residential markets in 2015. The curbs
will continue to turn investors away for a while
longer as Singapore drops from fifth to ninth place
in their global rankings.
Will 2015 see changes in how we approach en-
bloc purchases? In the past couple of decades,
easy fortunes have been made with developers
snapping up en-bloc properties at much higher
prices than individual sellers could have achieved.
Government cooling measures and restrictive
lending policies, together with little change in plot
ratios from one master plan to another, have made
them an unattractive option for developers in 2014.
The commercial sector will offer more appeal for
deals than will the residential sector in 2015, with
more office supply coming onto the market and an
expected increase in rentals.
For residential sales, unless there is some
tweaking of the cooling measures or sellers lower
their expectations, the market will continue sluggish
in 2015; some analysts predict a price drop of up to
20 percent. The sentiment is that the government
is not in a rush to start any tweaking yet.
Singapore ranks high as a place to live, work
and play, conducive for businesses and other
opportunities, thus keeping the fundamentals for
investing in property strong. Interest rates remain
low, so now is the time to land a bargain deal and
hold onto it through the current property cycle to
ensure a good buy.
Rentals will continue to be depressed for 2015
as supply beats demand, with lower numbers of
foreigners coming into Singapore, lower rental
budgets and a mass of new-builds coming on to
the market. Landlords would be wise to renegotiate
on renewal and hold on to their tenants.
Situated in the Begonia Road district of Yio Chu Kang, this well-presented house
provides plenty of space and a good-sized garden with room for a pool. The open-
plan kitchen and dining area leads out to a back garden with a large patio. There
is one bedroom (with bathroom) on the ground level; upstairs are two enormous
bedrooms, and the third level is a huge attic room. The master bedroom boasts a
large study or office area, a walk-in wardrobe and an attached bathroom.
The house is centrally loc ted with easy access to the PIE and CTE expressways.
French, Australian and American international schools are nearby, Changi Airport
is 15 minutes away, and it’s 20 minutes to the CBD. Nearby Greenwich Village
Cold Storage supermarket, shops and restaurants.
Dreamy
Detached
$6.2K RENT
Size: 4,000 sq. ft built; 4,750
sq. ft land
Bedrooms: 4
Type: Semi-detached
District: 20