Rising interest in lifts for landed homes

Source : Sunday Times - 5 Apr 2009

Advertising director Janet Tan’s standard of living just got a lift - literally.

The new terrace house in Sembawang that the 47-year-old bought has a lift. Located in the dining hall on the first floor, it makes it easy for her to access the other levels of her four-storey home.

She paid $1.3 million for the 99-year leasehold property.

Her home is in a development of 14 houses. That project is one of five in Sembawang - all with lifts - by developer Fragrance Homes.

All together, there are 65 such homes priced between $1.3 million and $1.5 million. Seventeen houses in two of the projects launched last November were sold out within two months.

Over in Tanjong Katong, another builder, Wenul Development, is also touting homes with lifts. Five of the 10 properties, priced between $3.4 million and $3.8 million, have found buyers since last November.

‘Our customers, who are usually in their 50s, find the lift very convenient to move from the basement to their rooms on the third floor,’ said Mr Calvin Tan, 30, managing director of Wenul.

‘As for the young crowd, they think it’s cool to have a lift.’

Certainly, the interest in home lifts has given lift companies, well, a lift.

Mr Ganesh Annamalai, managing director of Schindler Lifts, said he has noticed a growing number of inquiries from customers. He did not want to reveal sales figures.

Hitachi Asia said it has supplied lifts to developers of about 20 projects, including those in Sentosa, since 2006.

‘Since 2006, some developers have included home lifts as an option,’ said Mr Siew Yat Hung, senior sales manager at Hitachi Asia.

Schindler, Hitachi Asia and Otis are the lift suppliers to Fragrance’s projects in Sembawang.

Developers told The Sunday Times that the cost of installing a lift is about $100,000. The home owner has to pay $20 to the Building and Construction Authority for a licence each year and an annual maintenance fee of about $2,000.

Not that Ms Tan is overly bothered about having to pay such fees.

‘When I’m old and cannot climb the stairs, the lift becomes an advantage,’ said Ms Tan, who lives there with her husband and their two children. They share the house with her brother, his wife and their two daughters.