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Singapore’s rich growing fond of US properties

The rebounding housing market in the United States – notably in pricey markets such as Manhattan’s luxury condos – is finding fans in wealthy Singaporeans.

New projects with top-of-the-line finishes and expansive views as well as hotel-like amenities and services are a big draw now, real estate agents said.

Comprehensive statistics on purchases by Singaporeans are not publicly available in New York City records. Anecdotally, however, property agents said they had seen a tenfold increase in purchases by Singaporeans compared with two years ago.

In contrast to US buyers who are lured by the current historically low interest and mortgage rates, Singapore buyers always made their purchases in cash, said the heads of some of New York’s largest residential brokerages.

Corcoran Group president and CEO Pamela Liebman noted that among them were not only wealthy individuals, but also consortiums buying properties in bulk as investments.

Public records show that Sonsie Holdings, with a listed address of 14 Robinson Road in Singapore, bought a two-bedroom apartment in Midtown East for US$2.26mil (RM6.75mil) at end-2011.

Veteran rubber trader Oei Hong Bie purchased a Chelsea condominium from Singapore Tong Teik, the company he founded, for US$1mil (RM2.98mil) last October.

“They are attracted to the sexy properties that are going up, such as One57 in Midtown and 56 Leonard in Tribeca,” said Liebman, adding that price tags ranged anywhere from US$1mil to US$30mil (RM89.4mil).

“They love all-glass towers, with great views, preferably of Central Park, with hotel-like amenities and services.”

Dorothy Herman, president and CEO of Douglas Elliman, concurred, saying: “We have seen a steady increase of luxury buyers from Singapore over the past couple of years, snapping up anything from studios to luxury condos.” — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Surge in Penang projects expected with the election fever finally over

Developers can now focus on new launches

All systems go: Developers in Penang and elsewhere in the country are now getting ready to execute their project plans for this year.

GEORGE TOWN: The value and volume of construction projects that will be given out this year in Penang should increase by 10%, compared with 2012.

Penang Master Builders & Building Material Dealers' Associationpresident Lim Kai Seng said the first quarter of 2012 was slow for the industry, due to the uncertainty of the general election.

“According to the latest Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) report, in the first quarter 2012, the volume of construction jobs from both the private and government sector awarded in Penang was only about 10% of the total volume awarded in 2011, which was 514 with a value of RM6bil.

“Normally, the figure for the first quarter of the year should be around 25% of the previous year's figure.

“The value of construction jobs awarded in the first quarter 2013 was approximately RM651mil,” he said.

About 15% of the construction jobs awarded in the first quarter 2013 for Penang came from the government sector.

“Now that the general election is over, we can expect more property launches to take off in Penang soon. This is why we are confident of more construction contracts to be awarded in Penang this year,” he said.

On construction costs, Lim said prices for building material such as cement and sand had remained stable since late last year.

“A bag of 50kg cement is still RM16.50, while the price of sand is RM40 to RM45 per cu metre, more or less the same as late last year.

“The costs of construction should remain like this till the third quarter,” he added.

To build a 1,000sq ft condominium in the south-west district of Penang today would cost around RM250,000, inclusive of land cost, Lim said.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) expects the prices of all types of strategically-located properties in the country to rise by 10% to 15% this year.

MIEA president Siva Shanker said the volume of property transactions should rise by 5% to 10 % this year.

“As the general election is now over, Malaysians with disposable income to buy properties are now in the buying mode.

“The real estate market has been getting more enquiries on properties in strategic locations the last few days after May 5, despite the complaints on the irregularities of the general election which have affected the feel-good factor,” he said.

Siva said last year, especially in the first half, there was a slowdown in the property market due to the tighter loan conditions imposed by banks.

“But now most of the people have got used to the banking guidelines for housing loan. They now have a better idea of the chances to get the kind of loan that they want, which will reduce rejection rate,” he said.

Siva said strategically-located high-end condominiums in the country, especially in Kuala Lumpur, would perform well.

“These projects used to command the interest of foreigners, but nowadays even Malay-sians are interested in buying high-end condominiums that come with lifestyle living,” he said.

According to the National Property Information Centre 2012 report, the volume of all property transactions recorded 427,520 in 2012, about a 0.7% drop from the 430,403 transactions registered in 2011.

The value of all property transactions had, however, increased by 3.6% to RM142.84bil in 2012, compared with RM137.83bil in 2011.

The volume of residential property transacted in 2012 was 272,669 with a value of RM67.76bil, compared with 269,789 with a value of RM61.8bil in 2011.

Raine & Horne Malaysia director Michael Geh said he expected property prices in Penang to rise by about 10% this year.

“There will be more property launches in the next six months, compared with a year ago. Developers in Penang are now getting ready to execute their project plans for this year.

“We expect to see large-scale launches in Batu Ferringhi in the north-east district and in Teluk Kumbar and Bayan Lepas in the south-west,” he said.

Geh said the tighter conditions on housing loans would weed out speculators, as many of them would find it more difficult to borrow, since they were already owning more than one properties.

“We expect less speculators this year and more genuine home buyers,” he added.

Geh said that although the demand for high-end condominiums had weakened slightly in Penang, their prices had not dropped.

“We can expect to see more high-end condominiums being rented out this year, plunging further the rental yield in Penang,” he said. - The Star

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Property price correction expected in Asia-Pacific

KUALA LUMPUR: Prices of residential properties in the Asia-Pacific region are bound for a correction following the introduction of a slew of cooling measures in these markets, according to global real estate consultancy Knight Frank LLP.

“It is our view that a number of markets in Asia-Pacific are likely to correct over 2013,” Nicholas Holt, Knight Frank research director in Asia-Pacific, said in a recent statement. He said given the severity of the latest wave of cooling measures in these markets, it is quite likely that there may not be any need for further interventions. 

The real estate consultancy expects house prices to soften in Singapore by an average of 5% and Hong Kong by 10% over the next 12 months. In China, price appreciation is likely to continue in Tier-1 cities, while there could be drops in some of the smaller cities. 

Meanwhile, Malaysia is likely to see a rebound in activity in the property sector following the recently concluded general election, said Holt.

Policymakers have been introducing greater cooling measures as many housing markets across Asia continue to see significant price hikes despite initial efforts to contain the rise. 

Among the latest cooling measures adopted are imposing more lending restrictions, and additional taxes and regulations aimed at controlling price inflation. Steps have also been taken to curtail price speculation and  support for first time buyers. 

The tools being employed comprise a mix of fiscal policy, supply side intervention, home buyers’ regulations and financing restrictions, said Knight Frank in its latest Asia-Pacific Residential Review released last month.

According to the report, post-crisis Asia has seen its property markets rebound so strongly that it has motivated governments to intervene. Issues of affordability for first time buyers have been brought into sharp focus, while the price increases have caused concern to many who have not forgotten what happened when an external trigger sets in motion a serious correction. 

It said there is no doubt the cooling measures had been effective in reducing speculation, simply by pricing speculators out with extra taxes and limited financing options.

The protectionist measures introduced in Singapore and Hong Kong have led to a drop in property purchases by foreign buyers. Singapore saw a drop of 23.5% in purchases in 2012; in Hong Kong, the proportion of mainland Chinese buyers dropped from around 30% in October 2012 to only 9.4% in January 2013.

The pick-up in equity markets over the last quarter has also induced some of these “arbitrage investors” to move out of the residential sector. 

Property investors are now increasingly looking to markets that are not impacted by restrictions and are open to foreign buyers. As a result, the United Kingdom, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada have all seen an uptick of interest from Asian buyers.

More buyers are moving into the office, retail, industrial and hotel markets as well. However, the initial signs of government intervention in the commercial market are already evident with the Singaporean government introducing a sales stamp duty for the purchase of industrial property to reduce speculation.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 10, 2013.

Positive outlook for property in 2013

PETALING JAYA: The real estate market in Malaysia will remain bullish this year with the general elections out of the way, according to Zerin Properties CEO Previndran Singhe.

“Since last year, everybody thought the property market will be bad. My message to the market then was not to panic, market is stable. Prices will not drop. In fact, certain locations that were feeling the pinch due to scarcity will see price increase and you can make money.” he said during his presentation at The Edge Investment Forum on Real Estate 2013 on May 11.

“For 2013, my market forecast still remains, if not more bullish, post elections. In my opinion, properties in good locations will see price increases of more than 5% this year. It will be case of too much money chasing too little properties in good locations. These locations will see upward movements,” he added.

He said the current market has been very active with strong mop up by investors, for both landed properties and condominiums, in traditional hotspots. This is reflected in the growth of residential loans.

“Being an agent, we have the pulse on the ground. We already felt the mop-up by investors in January and the problem we had was not having enough listings,” he said, adding that this is because people believe that real estate remains the best, safest and fastest way to create wealth.

His bullish outlook is due to several factors including the lack of housing supply.

Housing supply is playing catch up with demand and in the short term, will continue to push prices up, he said. He added that Malaysia’s population in 2012 stood at 29 million and it is expected to hit 39 million by 2040. “Our rate of urbanisation is the highest in the region at 2.9% - 3%. Greater Kuala Lumpur is home to 6 million people and this is 20% of our population. By the end of this decade, there will be 10 million people living in Kuala Lumpur. All these people have one need – homes,” he said.

Developers are also actively acquiring land as well as making medium-sized investments of below RM100 million. According to him, the vibrant property market is due to firm domestic demand, high liquidity in the market, vigorous private investment growth, strong infrastructure spending by the government and expansion in the oil & gas market.

With Malaysia’s economy expected to sustain at above 5% this year, inflation rate contained between 2%-3% and with Malaysia enjoying a high employment rate of 97%., Previndran says these factors make for “a solid base for real estate investment”.

The forum organised by The Edge Malaysia was sponsored by Malaysia Building Society Bhd and supported by Sunway Bhd.

For the full coverage of The Edge Investment Forum on Real Estate 2013, read the coming May 20 issue of City & Country, the property pullout of The Edge weekly.