Issue 202

Copyright 2011-2014 www.Propwise.sg. All Rights Reserved.

CONTENTS
p2

FROM THE

EDITOR

6 Changes in the URA Property Price

Welcome to the 202th edition of the

Singapore Property Weekly.

Index and Why They Matter

Hope you like it!

p6

Singapore Property News This Week

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Resale Property Transactions

Mr. Propwise

(March 18 March 24 )

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 202

6 Changes in the URA Property Price Index and Why They Matter
By Property Soul (Guest Contributor)
If you have a good memory, you may recall
that I have wrote to The Straits Times Forum
in December last year with a letter titled
Public deserves reliable, consistent data. In
the URAs reply, they mentioned they were
working towards making improvements to the
property market data and would release the
net prices of individual units sold by
developers on their website in the first half of
2015.
On April Fools Day, the URA finally
announced the improved the computation
methodology of their PPI (Property Price
Index) to better reflect price changes
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 202

in private residential market. This is first
reflected in the release of the flash estimate
for the 1st Quarter 2015.
6 changes in the new PPI
According to URAs press release on 1 April
2015, the long-awaited PPI revision (their last
revision was in 2000) covers six major
changes:

1. Property Attributes
Besides location, tenure, property type and
completion status, the PPI will now take into
consideration the property attributes (e.g.
size, age) and micro-location (e.g. proximity
to the MRT station).

Regression Method instead of the previous

Stratification Method.
3. Weighted Average

The usual 12-quarter moving average weights

now become 5-quarter fixed weights.
4. Base Year
The base period has been changed from
4Q1998 to 1Q2009.
5. Data Source
Apart from caveats lodged and new units sold
by developers, data sources now include
stamp duty transactions from the Inland
Revenue Authority of Singapore.

2. Tracking Methodology

6. Price Indices

To account for differences in housing

characteristics, from now on, the PPI is
calculated based on the Stratified Hedonic

URA will show price trends on a broad rather

than micro or localized level. From 1st
Quarter 2015, only the following property

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 202

price indices will be published:

1. More comprehensive coverage and

higher representation

- Residential Properties
- Landed Residential Properties

- Non-Landed Residential Properties

- Non-Landed Residential Properties in Core
Central Region, Rest of Central Region and
Outside Central Region

If one compares these PPIs with the previous

indices, sub-categories like completion status
(completed vs uncompleted) and property
type (Apartment, Condominium, Detached,
Semi-detached and Terrace) have not been
mentioned. The picture will be clearer when
the full set of 1Q2015 price indices are out in
4 weeks time.
Implications behind the changes
What are the implications
improvement of URAs PPI?
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for

the

In the past, only data from the Singapore

Land Authority was accounted for, even
though lodging caveats with SLA is on a
voluntary basis. Furthermore, survey data on
new units sold for uncompleted projects rely
on honest contributions by property
developers.
Since buyers of all properties have to pay
buyer stamp duty, it should theoretically be
possible to capture all private housing
transactions. The expanded data collection
source to cover stamp duty payments is
definitely more comprehensive.
2. More meaningful comparisons among
projects
Property prices of various projects, though in
the same district,
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 202

can differ significantly depending on their
actual location, age of the property, etc. With
the addition of more property attributes like
micro-location and size or age of the
transacted unit, the public is able to make
more meaningful comparisons of the pricing
data.
3. Increased difficulty to compare with
past data
With the base period 4Q1998 shifted to
1Q2009, and 12-quarter moving average
weights changed to 5-quarter fixed weights,
the PPI now puts more emphasis on price
comparisons for the last few years rather than
over the past decades.

apple comparisons with the old set of PPI

data.
Whats next?

URAs written reply to my letter dated Dec 23,

2014had promised the release of the net
prices of individual units sold by developers in
the first half of next year. The public is looking
forward to see the actual transacted prices of
units bought directly from developers, less all
the stamp duty absorption, subsidies, rebates
and incentives offered.
By guest contributor Property Soul, a
successful property investor, blogger, and
author of the No B.S. Guide to Property
Investment.

With the changes in tracking methodology, it

is now increasingly difficult to make apple-to-

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 202

Singapore Property This Week

Residential
GCB median price increase by 35% from
2010 to 2014
According to ERA Realty, the median psf
price of good class bungalows (GCB)
increased by 35 percent from $1,107 psf to
$1,490 psf from 2010 to 2014. However, the
annual number of GCB transactions fell from
80 to 15 units. ERA said that GCB sellers are
generally not affected by market changes as
they are not under pressure to sell their
houses. Henry Lim from ERA added that this
has caused sellers to hold their properties
until prices reach their expectations. As such,
the supply of GCBs fell by 10 percent in the
last year. Yet, William Wong from RealStar
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Premier Group said that he predicts home

prices will fall by another 2 to 3 percent by the
end of this year.
(Source: Business Times)
Febs condo prices fell by 0.3% month-onmonth
According to the National University of
Singapore Institute of Real Estate Studies,
the prices of completed private non-landed
homes have fallen by 0.3 percent in February
from January. This is a 5 percent drop in the
NUS Singapore Residential Price Index from
the same period in 2014. In February, the
sub-index for the central region fell by 0.7
month-on-month; while the sub-index for
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 202

small units of up to 506 sq ft fell by 0.2
percent month-on-month during the same
period. Eugene Lim from ERA Realty believes
that there will be a 5 to 8 percent drop in
prices for the whole of this year. Ku Swee
Yong from Century21 added that developers
may have to cut prices in order to attract
buyers.
(Source: Business Times)
Private residential property price index
revised by URA
URA has revised its private residential
property price index (PPI) to include sales
data from stamp duty submissions to the tax
authority. The new PPI will cover all private
home transactions. According to the Business
Times, this new methodology will improve the
sensitivity of the index to market changes.
This methodology is also similar to that used
by HDB for the HDB resale price index. Under
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the new method, transacted units are

grouped based on property types before price
change over time is computed. Fixed index
weights are assigned to these groups. Market
experts believe that the new method will allow
them to price properties better.
(Source: Business Times)
URA: Private home prices fall by 1.1%
quarter-on-quarter
The revised PPI showed that there was a 1.1
percent quarter-on-quarter fall in prices in Q1
this year from Q4 2014. This is the 6th
consecutive quarter that prices have fallen.
Landed properties experienced a 1.1 percent
fall in prices in Q1 this year while non-landed
properties also experienced a 1.1 percent fall
in the same time period. The fall in prices was
more substantial in the Rest of Central
Region for non-landed residential properties
according to flash estimates according
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 202

to flash estimates by URA as prices fell 1.8
percent quarter-on-quarter for in Q1 this year.
Non-landed homes in the Outside of Central
Region experienced a 0.9 percent fall while
those in the Core Central Region saw a 0.6
percent fall in the same time period. Ong Teck
Hui from JLL believes that prices may fall by
1 to 2 percent each quarter in 2015. Sellers
who are pressured into selling may cut prices
even further, Ong added. Eugene Lim from
ERA Realty agrees with Ong and predicted
that there will be a 5 to 8 percent fall in prices
for the whole year.

7 quarters has fallen by a total of 9.2 percent.

Nonetheless, the fall in the price index in Q1
this year is the smallest in the last 1.5 years,
said Mak. However, Mak believes that the fall
in prices will continue unless cooling
measures are lifted. Not only so, the increase
in BTO and Sale of Balance Flat supplies has
negatively impacted the resale market. Mak
predicts that HDB resale prices will fall by 4 to
6 percent this year, and Ismail Gafoor from
PropNex estimates that the HDB resale
volumes will range from 19,000 to 20,000
units this year.

(Source: Business Times)

(Source: Business Times)

Q1 HDB resale prices fell by 1% quarteron-quarter

URA: Uneven price falls for condos

HDB resale prices have fallen by 1% in Q1

2015 from the preceding quarter, according to
HDB. According to Nicholas Mak from SLP
International, the resale price index in the last
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10 out of 46 condo projects saw double-digit

declines in median prices this year, compared
to prices in 2013, according to a study by
URA on private non-landed home prices.
However, only 2 projects in the city centre
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 202

saw price declines of over 20 percent this
year. According to the URA study, the large
price falls appears to be confined to a few
projects. Particularly, ultra-luxury condos saw
a 12.4 percent fall in average prices in the
last year according to a study by Knight
Frank. Higher price properties saw a greater
fall in prices because of the weak market
sentiments and the increase in supply of
completed units for certain types of condos,
said Alice Tan from Knight Frank.
(Source: Business Times)
Commercial
Subletting of industrial land is banned
To ensure that Singapores industrial land
spaces are used more productively, HDB has
revised its subletting policy in line with JTC
Corporations policy. Currently, tenants of
HDB industrial properties can lease out up to
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50 percent of their factory floor space.

However, new and existing tenants of HDB
industrial properties will not be allowed to
sublet their units from June 1 onward. The
maximum allowable sublet quantum for other
end-user lessees and third-party facility
providers have also been cut from 50 to 30
percent of the gross floor area. Tenants with
existing approved subletting arrangements
will be allowed to renew their subletting
agreements up to Dec 31, 2017. Nicholas
Mak from SLP International said that due to
the policy changes, subtenants may have to
relocate. This may marginally increase
occupancy levels in the private industrial
market. However, the changes may mean
that industrial tenants may have less flexibility
to rescale their space, said Chia Siew Chuin
from Colliers.
(Source: Business Times)
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 202

Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Mar 18 Mar 24
Postal
District
1
1
3
5
5
5
7
8
9
9
10
10
10
11
11
11
14
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
16

Project Name
MARINA BAY SUITES
PEOPLE'S PARK COMPLEX
RIVER PLACE
THE PARC CONDOMINIUM
MONTEREY PARK CONDOMINIUM
PALM GREEN
BURLINGTON SQUARE
CITIGATE RESIDENCE
THE LAURELS
THE TRILLIUM
STEVEN'S COURT
JERVOIS MEADOWS
DUCHESS CREST
PARK INFINIA AT WEE NAM
PARK INFINIA AT WEE NAM
ADAM PARK CONDOMINIUM
SIMS GREEN
PEBBLE BAY
ONE AMBER
THE BELVEDERE
LAGUNA PARK
SANCTUARY GREEN
VILLA MARINA
MANDARIN GARDEN CONDOMINIUM
MOUNTBATTEN SUITES
RICH EAST GARDEN

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Area
(sqft)
2,056
1,119
1,722
1,518
1,302
1,098
1,119
570
1,302
1,399
2,863
2,024
1,345
1,464
1,442
1,216
958
2,217
1,701
1,238
1,615
1,152
1,249
1,001
441
2,411

Transacted
Price ($)
4,680,000
880,000
2,120,000
2,000,000
1,480,000
1,035,000
1,439,000
755,000
3,150,150
2,660,000
3,500,000
2,000,000
1,758,000
2,855,000
2,700,000
1,550,000
855,000
3,200,000
2,380,000
1,820,000
1,380,000
1,360,000
1,280,000
1,080,000
690,000
2,250,000

Price
Tenure
($ psf)
2,276
99
786
99
1,231
99
1,318
FH
1,136 999
943
FH
1,285
99
1,323
FH
2,419
FH
1,901
FH
1,222
FH
988
FH
1,307
99
1,950
FH
1,872
FH
1,274
FH
892
99
1,443
99
1,399
FH
1,470
FH
855
99
1,181
99
1,025
99
1,079
99
1,563
FH
933
FH

Postal
District
16
16
17
17
18
19
20
20
21
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
26
27
27

Project Name
OPTIMA @ TANAH MERAH
EAST MEADOWS
EDELWEISS PARK CONDOMINIUM
ESTELLA GARDENS
OASIS @ ELIAS
EVERGREEN PARK
THE GARDENS AT BISHAN
CENTRO RESIDENCES
THE RAINTREE
PARK NATURA
TREE HOUSE
HILLVIEW HEIGHTS
HILLVISTA
CASHEW HEIGHTS CONDOMINIUM
HILLVIEW REGENCY
REGENT GROVE
REGENT HEIGHTS
BULLION PARK
SUN PLAZA
EUPHONY GARDENS

Area
(sqft)
2,271
1,206
3,197
1,292
980
1,076
1,572
818
1,292
1,744
1,561
1,668
1,292
1,658
1,109
1,259
1,023
807
1,345
1,184

Transacted
Price ($)
1,910,000
1,100,000
2,000,000
1,088,888
888,000
880,000
1,460,000
1,228,000
1,250,000
1,900,000
1,720,000
1,580,000
1,535,000
1,480,000
970,000
928,000
820,000
798,000
1,048,000
823,000

Price
Tenure
($ psf)
841
99
912
99
626
FH
843
FH
907
99
818
99
929
99
1,501
99
968
99
1,090
FH
1,102
99
947
FH
1,188
FH
893
999
875
99
737
99
802
99
988
FH
779
99
695
99

NOTE: This data only covers non-landed residential resale property

transactions with caveats lodged with the Singapore Land Authority.
Typically, caveats are lodged at least 2-3 weeks after a purchaser
signs an OTP, hence the lagged nature of the data.

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 202

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