Price is right for second home

Source : Sunday Times - 29 Mar 2009

Despite industry talk that it isn’t the wisest time to buy property right now, shipbuilding subcontractor Michael Chee, 52, brazenly went ahead with his search for a new pad.

He had only two criteria: It had to be easily accessible by public transport and it had to be cheap.

He said of his recent purchase, a three-bedroom unit in Northvale condominium located opposite the Choa Chu Kang MRT station: ‘If I had a car, the location wouldn’t have mattered to me, but I don’t have a driving licence so I prefer to live near an MRT station or a bus interchange.

‘I don’t want to waste so much time on travelling and waiting for feeder buses. Time is money too.’

He paid about $640,000 for the 1,350 sq ft apartment last month and plans to move in in June.

‘HDB prices are so high. If I buy an HDB flat near the MRT station, I will have to pay at least $450,000. I might as well pay a bit more and get to experience living in a condominium,’ he said.

The condominium unit is his first private property purchase.

The family now lives in a five-room HDB flat in Choa Chu Kang.

His eldest child, a 26-year-old, will continue to live there with her husband and one-year-old daughter while he, his wife, a 50-year-old housewife, their 23-year-old daughter and 20-year-old son will move to the condominium.

‘The search took only a few weeks because I was sure I wanted to buy an older condominium,’ said Mr Chee.

‘We went to see some new condominiums, but you have to make decisions based on drawings that may not be accurate and then you still have to wait a long time for it to be completed before you can move in.’

He paid half of the cost of the condominium up front from his savings and took a bank loan to finance the other half.

He said he has no plans to sell the HDB flat for now.

‘With the economy in this state, at least if something happens to my job, I still have the HDB flat to fall back on. I could at least sell or mortgage it if I need the cash for the condominium payment,’ he said.

On advice from others not to buy property now, he said: ‘Why should I listen to others? Buying a house is a personal thing. It is up to your needs. If you like the place, the owners are willing to sell, the price is okay and you can afford to buy it, then why not?’

New, cheaper private condos see brisk sales

Source : Sunday Times - 29 Mar 2009

Despite the recent slump in the property market, new private properties are still being snapped up in the market.

Last month’s sales of new private homes jumped to 1,323 units, harking back to the days of the property boom, said observers.

In January, only 108 units were sold.

The figure was largely propped up by two newly launched heartland condominiums - the 293-unit Alexis at Alexandra Road and the 517-unit Caspian in Jurong.

Prices started from $450,000 at Alexis and $340,000 at Caspian.

‘Developers probably realised after January’s dismal sales that they had to lower their prices, while buyers noticed these discounts and decided to buy,’ said PropNex’s corporate communications manager Adam Tan.

According to CBRE Research executive director Li Hiaw Ho, the majority of last month’s buyers were HDB upgraders who put buying on hold while home prices surged in 2006 and 2007.

He estimated that private home sales this month would come up to about 400 to 600 units, bringing the total number of units sold to 1,800 to 2,000 for the January to March quarter.

‘A few projects are still selling fairly well, but they are not as large-scale as the projects launched last month,’ said Mr Li, who predicted that sales figures are likely to hover around 500 to 700 units a month for the second quarter of the year.

Developments that are anticipated to do well this month include Waterfront Waves in Bedok, which was first launched last year but relaunched in the middle of March, and Mi Casa condominium in Choa Chu Kang, which analysts are expecting to be launched at the end of the month.

They have 457 and 405 units respectively.

The rate of new launches this month is likely to be similar to last month’s, said Dr Chua Yang Liang, the head of research and consultancy at Jones Lang LaSalle Singapore.

‘This is backed by housing developers’ confidence in the latent demand by genuine homebuyers, encouraging them to release more,’ he said.

However, the islandwide take-up rate this month could dip as the market has been rather temperamental, especially in light of the volatile global stock market performance, he said.

So when is the right time to buy?

‘Many people ask that question but they should really be asking themselves where they want to buy, what they are buying it for, and what are their risk profiles,’ said PropNex’s Mr Tan.

‘Don’t buy blindly just because the price is good. As some of these places have two or three years till their completion, one should also consider the property’s surroundings, such as existing or future infrastructure. Go into this investment with about five to 10 years in mind.’