Singapore Property Weekly Issue 257

8/18/2019 Singapore Property Weekly Issue 257

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Issue 257Copyright © 2011-2016 www.propwise.sg. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.propwise.sg/http://www.propwise.sg/


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CONTENTS

p2 Do Property Agents Add Any Value?

Should Individuals Be Free to Transact

Their Own Properties?

p7 Singapore Property News This Week

p11 Resale Property Transactions

(April 11 – April 15)

Welcome to the 257th edition of the

Singapore Property Weekly .

Hope you like it!

Mr. Propwise

FROM THE

EDITOR

mailto:[email protected]://www.propwise.sg/advertise/http://www.propwise.sg/advertise/mailto:[email protected]


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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 257

Page | 2Back to Contents

By Various Guest Contributors

Our last article Is the CEA Being Fair to

Property Agents? touched off a raw nerve in

Propwise.sg readers - I received a number of

lengthy emails debating the points made in

that article, particularly on whether individuals

should be free to transact their own properties

or be forced to engage an agent, and more

broadly on whether agents add value in the

buying, selling and renting process. I've

selected three of the better argued pieces to

publish, mainly representing the perspective

of the individual investor and consumer.

Do Property Agents Add Any Value? Should Individuals

Be Free to Transact Their Own Properties?

https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/http://www.propwise.sg/http://www.propwise.sg/http://www.propwise.sg/http://www.propwise.sg/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/https://www.propwise.sg/is-the-cea-being-fair-to-property-agents/


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Individuals should be free to buy whatever

they please (at their own risk)

An individual in transacting his/her own

property sales and purchases need not beheld to the high competency levels that

professional real estate agents do because

they are not paid for the service they provide

(to themselves). So they bear the full gain of

their own judgement and negotiation and

save on agent fees, but they also bear the fullconsequences of their personal misjudgment.

The same is true of all other forms of

investments, even insurance products.

Professionals earning an income from advice

given have to be certified and qualified to do

so, and are held to high regulatory standards

and demands, while individuals are free to

buy whatever they please (at their own risk)

even if they are clueless about the

instruments.

Janelle Tan, co-founder and Managing

Partner of Dunn & Partners Pte Ltd, is a

licensed estate planning practitioner who provides consultation to families and

businesses on wealth protection, preservation

and transfer. She also runs financial literacy

seminars and workshops on an invite basis.

She may be contacted via email at

[email protected]

Absurd to prevent consumers from

transacting their own properties

I appreciate the value of the articles written in

the Singapore Property Weekly and they are

a good read. But I have some comments onthe recent article Is the CEA Being Fair to

Property Agents? The writer stated that

agencies should lobby to the Government to

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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"restrict" people from transacting and renting

their own properties to lift the professionalism

and levels of ethical conduct of the sector.

I feel this is totally absurd. Isn't this anti-competitive? For example (just for

wackiness), maybe I should also ask the

Government to "force" people to engage a

hair stylist to do their hair, because if they cut

their own hair they will screw it up and

become a national embarrassment in theeyes of foreigners.

If things go wrong, consumers will address it

via other means and channels. People should

be free to choose, and as always, it's caveat

emptor . People who choose not to be

represented by an agent (be it buy, sell or

whatever side) would have to grapple with the

consequences of their decisions. This has

nothing to do with whether they are cheated

or not. In the event they are cheated, then

they have to address it themselves too!

Much has also been said about the "work"

done by property agents, and the subjectivevalue that they bring to clients on both the

buy and sell side. We shall not go into the

ethical issues regarding the conduct of agents

- the CEA was set up for this very reason!

Another avid property investor

Singapore agents add less value

compared to their regional peers

I hope my views can be shared with the

Propwise.sg readers. Nobody cares more

than you when it comes to your money. I am

a property investor with investments invarious countries and Singapore agents add

relatively less value compared to their

brethren in other countries.


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I have tried to use property agents many

times and they have plenty of tricks up their

sleeves to get themselves appointed as an

exclusive agent, instead of figuring out a

strategy to help you market your unit. When Iwas based overseas and could not market

the unit myself, I engaged an agent who

claimed to specialize in commercial property,

but after two months and with no results I had

to take things into my own hands to advertise

the property myself, and ended up still havingto pay the co-broke agents who brought in the

customers to rent my industrial property.

Agents are often just gatekeepers rather

than facilitators

I wonder why should I pay the co-broke agentwhen I did all the work of showing and

advertising but unfortunately the tenants were

lazy and engaged agents for their services,

not knowing that some agents are

gatekeepers, meaning they swing customers

to properties that make them the highest

commission or where they do not need to

share commission.

In another situation, I tried to engage the

same agent who brought in my previous

tenant for my residential property after the

lease expired. In two months, the agent only

did three viewings and did not even know the

real market price. I decided to DIY by

advertising and dropping flyers and mailers.

Within a month, I got about 20-plus viewings

and managed to rent the unit out.

While doing this, I checked some online

property portals and found that the majority of

agents basically get exclusive marketingagreements for three months from consumers

and just inform their network to let the co-

broke agents do their advertising while the

exclusive agent basically does nothing except


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consolidate viewings once per weekend for

co-broke agents to bring in customers.

So, in this case do you think agents are worth

what they are paid? Very often, they are

gatekeepers more than facilitators. So choose

your agent wisely.

Do agents add any value?

When Person of Interest mentioned the

example of property agents checking for

cracks, it made me laugh because most of

the time in Singapore, the new owners will

renovate the unit they buy so checking for tile

cracks is unimportant, and it is better to bring

in a plumber because the biggest problem is

water leakage from the false ceiling. My

question to the agents: are they trained to

check for technical and plumbing defects in

order to add value to the consumer? Also, do

they help owners do a staging to add value to

the property? The answers to these questions

are obvious for more than 90% of the agents

I've come across.

In the Internet age, intermediaries who do not

add value will die a natural death, so agents

should ask themselves how they can add

value so customers will go to them, instead of

asking why customers can DIY. The reason

why customers DIY is obvious - the value

provided by the agents is often not worth thecommissions they earn.

Finally, engaging a good conveyancing lawyer

is important as they will tell you what to check

before doing a handing over. I have never

seen agents rolling up the carpets to check

for cracks before.

Eddy S., an avid property and financial

markets investor

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY I 257


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Singapore Property This Week


Residential

HDB resale prices in Q1 remain flat

Quarter-on-quarter, HDB resale prices have

fallen by 0.1% in Q1 this year. Resale

transactions fell 10.9% from 4,992 units in Q4

last year to 4,449 units in Q1 2016. Marketexperts believe that this was due to the

festive season in February, which is also a

shorter month. Year-on-year, the transaction

volume increased by 7.6%. PropNex’s Ismail

Gafoor believes that resale transactions are

likely to increase gradually due to fallingprices. Eugene Lim from ERA Realty added

that the market is likely to be stabilising as

minute price movements have been recorded

in the resale market in the last 4 quarters. Lim

believes that resale flats in mature estates willcontinue to draw buyers as BTO flats in these

areas are rare. He predicts that there will be a

drop of less than 1% for HDB resale prices in

2016 while resale volumes will likely be

around 20,000 to 22,000 units this year. This

is up from the 19,300 units resold in 2015.

(Source: The Business Times)

Private home price index fell 0.7% in Q1

Quarter-on-quarter, URA’s private home price

index has fallen by 0.7% in Q1 this year,

following a 0.5% drop in Q4 2015. Since Q3

2013, the index has also fallen 9.1%. Market

experts believe that the index reflects market

sentiments as evidenced by the successful

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY I 257


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launches of Cairnhill Nine and The Wisteria.

Prices of non-landed private homes in the

outside central region have fallen by 1.3%

quarter-on-quarter in Q1. In the same period,

prices have gone up by 0.3% in the corecentral region while prices remained flat in the

rest of central region. Nonetheless, market

experts believe that it is still too early to lift

cooling measures. On the rental front, URA’s

rental index for private residential units has

gone down by 1.3% in Q1. With an increase

in expected completions by end-2016 and a

slowdown in the inflow of expats, market

experts believe that there will be an

oversupply in the next 3 years. This is

expected to further affect the rental index.


Gramercy Park to be launched soon in

regional markets

Located at Grange Road, a freehold condo,

Gramercy Park is expected to be promoted in

regional markets including China and Hong

Kong. The 174-unit project will be subjected

to extension charges for unsold units from Q2

2018. Market experts said that Indonesians

and Malaysians may be keen to invest in

Singapore’s real estate due to businessdealings here and also because investors are

looking to hedge against their currencies’

depreciation. While there is a 15% additional

buyer’s stamp duty applicable to foreign

buyers, steep discounts offered for high-end

homes have piqued buyers’ interest.(Source: The Business Times)



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Commercial

Office rental index down by 2.1% in Q1

According to the Business Times, URA’s

office rental index has fallen 2.1% quarter-on-quarter in Q1 this year, following a 1.8% drop

in Q4 last year. Year-on-year, the index has

fallen by 9%. The URA price index for office

spaces also fell by 0.3% in Q1 this year after

falling 0.1% in Q4 2015. Vacancy rate for

office spaces fell to 9.2% in Q1 2016 from

9.5% in Q4 2015. Also, the stock of office

space shrank by 23,000 sq m (nett) in Q1

2016, which was a bigger drop than the

decrease of 21,000 sq m (nett) in Q4 2015.

However, market experts believe that

vacancy rates will continue to increase due to

the number of expected office completions in

the coming quarters. The fall in the office

rentals is likely to have been due to weak

business sentiments and a large impending

supply of office spaces, added JLL. Thus, JLL

predicts that URA’s office rental index will

drop another 10 to 15% this year.


Retail space prices fall by 1.9% in Q1

After falling 0.1% in Q4 2015, prices of retail

spaces have fallen by 1.9% in Q1 this year.

Rentals of retail spaces also fell by 1.9% in

Q1 after falling 1.3% in the previous quarter.

Island-wide, vacancy rate for retail spaces

have gone up to 7.3% in Q1 2016 from 7.2%

in Q4 last year. In Q1, the amount of

occupied retail space increased by 11,000 sq

m (nett), while the stock of retail space

increased by 19,000 sq m (nett), this is said

to have caused the rise in vacancy. According

to the Business Times, at the end of March

this year, a total supply of



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783,000 sq m gross floor area of retail space

was also recorded to be in the pipeline.


Shops and shophouses overtakeresidential units in auctions

A report by Knight Frank showed that shops

and shophouses have overtook residential

properties in total sales value in auctions in

Q1 this year. In that quarter, $5.5 million

worth of shops and shophouses were sold in

auctions, which more than doubled the total

sales value in the residential sector where

$2.5 million worth of sales was made.

According to Knight Frank, the shift in buyers’

preferences could be due to the additional

buyer's’ stamp duty, which is applicable only

to residential properties. Grace Ng from

Colliers said that prices for HDB shophouses

have been stable in the last 2 years. Asking

prices have not gone down as buyers would

still able to get good and stable yield for those

shophouses. On the other hand, mortgagee

sales have made up 42.6% of the auction

market in Q1. According to the BusinessTimes, there was also a higher proportion of

lower priced properties in auctions.



http://propertymarketinsights.com/


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Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Apr 11 – Apr 15

Postal

DistrictProject Name

Area

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)Tenure

4 THE COAST AT SENTOSA COVE 2,895 4,923,200 1,700 994 CARIBBEAN AT KEPPEL BAY 1,356 2,000,000 1,475 99

5 ONE-NORTH RESIDENCES 592 915,000 1,546 99

5 VARSITY PARK CONDOMINIUM 1,012 1 ,135,000 1,122 99

5 MONTEREY PARK CONDOMINIUM 1,249 1,340,000 1,073 999

8 SOHO 188 592 630,000 1,064 FH

9 THE BEAUMONT 1,916 3,888,000 2,029 FH

9 THE BOUTIQ 861 1,650,000 1,916 FH

9 THE PATERSON 1,216 2,310,000 1,899 FH

9 ONE OXLEY RISE 710 1,285,000 1,809 FH9 PARC EMILY 549 985,000 1,794 FH

9 BELLE VUE RESIDENCES 2,713 4,838,000 1,784 FH

9 CLAREMONT 1,206 1,696,000 1,407 FH

9 8 @ MOUNT SOPHIA 861 1,200,000 1,394 103

10 GOODWOOD RESIDENCE 2,486 5,752,000 2,313 FH

10 REGENCY PARK 3,649 6,100,000 1,672 FH

10 DUKES RESIDENCE 980 1,620,000 1,654 FH

10 D'LEEDON 635 1,020,000 1,606 99

10 D'LEEDON 1,163 1,820,000 1,566 9910 SOMMERVILLE PARK 624 898,000 1,438 FH

10 CHIVERTON 1,292 1,825,000 1,413 FH

10 AVALON 1,765 2,460,000 1,394 FH

10 CHATELET 1,507 2,100,000 1,394 FH

Postal


Area

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)Tenure

10 THE PRINCETON 1,087 1,380,000 1,269 FH11 LINCOLN SUITES 474 1,071,000 2,261 FH

11 ADAM PARK CONDOMINIUM 893 1,200,000 1,343 FH

12 VISTA RESIDENCES 1,216 1,790,000 1,472 FH

12 TREVISTA 1,270 1,650,000 1,299 99

12 RITZ MANSIONS 1,302 1,200,000 921 FH

14 DAKOTA RESIDENCES 1,292 1,732,500 1,341 99

14 LA FLEUR 441 572,000 1,296 FH

14 WATERBANK AT DAKOTA 1,389 1,610,000 1 ,159 99

14 WINDY HEIGHTS 2,476 2,050,000 828 FH

15 THE SEAFRONT ON MEYER 1,615 2,650,000 1,641 FH

15 833 M B RESIDENCES 538 700,000 1,301 FH

15 THE ATRIA AT MEYER 1,475 1,840,000 1,248 FH

15 NATURALIS 517 585,000 1,132 FH

15 HAWAII TOWER 2,239 2,515,000 1,123 FH

15 CALLIDORA VILLE 797 880,000 1,105 FH

15 NATURALIS 1,066 1,145,000 1,074 FH

15 COTE D'AZUR 3,531 3,735,000 1,058 99

15 VILLA MARINA 1,281 1,198,800 936 99

15 CHELSEA LODGE 1,302 1,083,000 832 FH

15 LEGENDA AT JOO CHIAT 1,227 1,000,000 815 99

15 LAGUNA PARK 1,615 1,188,888 736 9 9



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NOTE: This data only covers non-landed residential resale propertytransactions with caveats lodged with the Singapore Land Authority.Typically, caveats are lodged at least 2-3 weeks after a purchasersigns an OTP, hence the lagged nature of the data.

Postal


Area

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)Tenure

16 COSTA DEL SOL 1,561 1,960,000 1,256 99

16 BAYSHORE PARK 1,292 1,300,000 1,006 99

16 CHANGI COURT 1,163 1,120,000 963 FH

16 AQUARIUS BY THE PARK 893 835,000 935 99

18 THE TROPICA 1,238 1,034,000 835 9918 CHANGI RISE CONDOMINIUM 1,281 1,025,000 800 99

18 MELVILLE PARK 936 712,000 760 99

18 ELIAS GREEN 1,528 900,000 589 99

19 KOVAN MELODY 1,410 1,538,000 1,091 99

19 SUNGLADE 1,044 1,065,000 1,020 99

19 COMPASS HEIGHTS 1,335 1,165,000 873 99

19 COMPASS HEIGHTS 1,324 1,150,000 869 99

19 REGENTVILLE 1,076 815,000 757 99

19 RIO CASA 1,679 730,000 435 104

20 RAFFLESIA CONDOMINIUM 1,302 1,330,000 1 ,021 99

21 THE NEXUS 1,335 1,918,888 1,438 FH

21 THE BLOSSOMVALE 1,335 1,700,000 1,274 999

21 HUME PARK II 1,249 1,300,000 1,041 FH

21 SIGNATURE PARK 1,690 1,730,000 1,024 FH

21 HUME PARK II 1,023 945,000 924 FH

22 THE MAYFAIR 1,227 1,030,000 839 99

23 HILLBROOKS 1,076 980,000 910 FH

26 THE CALROSE 1,658 1,850,000 1,116 FH

26 THE CALROSE 1,238 1,300,000 1,050 FH
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