{"id":118271,"date":"2020-08-18T10:24:53","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T03:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/singapores-en-block-market-grinds-to-a-halt-with-arrival-of-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2020-08-18T11:03:58","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T04:03:58","slug":"singapores-en-block-market-grinds-to-a-halt-with-arrival-of-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/singapores-en-block-market-grinds-to-a-halt-with-arrival-of-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore\u2019s en block market grinds to a halt with arrival of COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThere had only been six launches in the en bloc market since January, prior to the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore, with only one deal closed. Photo:\u00a0Three adjoining property blocks at 2, 4 and 6 Mount Emily Road
\nThe start of the COVID-19 pandemic saw the slowing collective sale market in Singapore grind to a halt, with no successful en bloc sale of residential sites recorded.
\nBased on checks with property analysts, there had been six launches since early January prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore, with only one deal closed, reported TODAY.
\nThis is in stark contrast to the five deals closed out of the 40 en bloc launches registered in 2019, noted Lee Sze Teck, Head of Research at Huttons Asia.
\nWith the cooling measures unveiled by the government in July 2018 increasing land cost for developers and affecting the collective sale market, analysts described the COVID-19 pandemic as the last straw that broke the camel\u2019s back.
\n\u201cThe (July 2018) cooling measures killed off the (demand for en bloc sites)\u2026 COVID-19 extended cautiousness among some developers to acquire more land,\u201d said Nicholas Mak, Head of Research and Consultancy at ERA as quoted by TODAY.
\nSuggested read:\u00a09 Condos To Watch For Fire Sales As They Approach ABSD Deadline in 2020\/2021
\nAnalysts expect the market to remain quiet until 2022, when the excess supply of around 28,000 units would have been absorbed, said Ismail Gafoor, Chief Executive Officer of PropNex.
\nMak also pointed to the availability of an effective COVID-19 vaccine as another factor that could help revive the en bloc market.
\nAnalysts noted that all of this year\u2019s launches tended to be small projects.
\nThese are Green Court in Geylang, which was going for $28 million; Fairhaven and Sophia Ville condominiums, which have a combined indicative price of over $64 million; Wing Fong Court which was going for $108 million and Wing Fong Mansion in Geylang which was priced at $176 million.
\nTivoli Lodge in Geylang was also on the market for $17.3 million, while three adjoining property blocks at 2, 4 and 6 Mount Emily Road carry an asking price of $24 million.
\nOf these, only Tivoli Lodge, Green Court, Fairhaven and Sophia Ville are still available for sale, while the rest have ended their tenders with no successful bid.
\nYong Choon Fah, Senior Director of Capital Markets at JLL, which is Fairhaven and Sophia Ville\u2019s marketing agent, shared that they received \u201ca good level of interest\u201d, with over 30 parties requesting for their Information Memorandum.
\nIan Loh, Head of Capital Markets for Knight Frank Singapore, which is Green Court\u2019s marketing agent, said they also received a lot of enquiries, with interest coming from developers, contractors and co-living operators.
\nAccording to Mak, the slowdown in the collective sale market was a cyclical phenomenon. In fact, the en bloc market was quiet in 2014 and 2015 before it began seeing more activity in 2016.
\nDuring the en bloc market\u2019s peak in the first half of 2018, several sites were going for more than $1 billion. Pacific Mansion emerged as the most expensive collective sale site to be sold at $980 million.
\nWhile demand for collective sale sites has been muted this year, some analysts said owners have not lowered their asking prices.
\n\u201cReplacement homes are still expensive, hence the asking prices for such en bloc transactions are still at pre-COVID-19 level. However, buyers are not willing to bite because of the pandemic and recession. Hence the price expectation between buyers and sellers is widening,\u201d said Christine Li, Head of Research at Cushman and Wakefield as quoted by TODAY.
\nOwners usually look at whether prices of new launch units or resale units have declined before making any adjustments to their asking prices, said Lee.
\nAnd since private home prices have only declined by 0.7% in the first half of 2020, owners of en bloc site do not see the need to lower their asking prices as well.
\nHowever, Mak revealed that the owners of Fairhaven have lowered their asking price at $44.7 million.
\nThis is down from its 2018 reserve price of $57 million and closer to its 2015 selling price of $45 million.
\n\u201cThey are realistic. However, they have a base price which they will not compromise,\u201d said Mak as quoted by TODAY.
\nLooking for a property in Singapore? Visit\u00a0PropertyGuru\u2019s\u00a0Listings,\u00a0Project Reviews\u00a0and\u00a0Guides.
\nVictor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email\u00a0victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg
\n\u00a0
\n
\nSource : proppertyguru.com.sg\/Property Market
\nRead more…Singapore\u2019s en block market grinds to a halt with arrival of COVID-19<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There had only been six launches in the en bloc market since January, prior to...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-property-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75ss1-uLB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":115418,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/covid-19-showflat-galleries-suspended-for-a-month\/","url_meta":{"origin":118271,"position":0},"title":"Covid-19: Showflat galleries suspended for a month","date":"April 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Some developers will continue to showcase their projects with the help of technology, while others are looking to delay their launches.\u00a0 With the Covid-19 outbreak getting worse, developers in Singapore were told by the Controller of Housing to close all show galleries for residential projects from 7 April to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95051,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/singapore-private-home-prices-rose-3-4-in-q2\/","url_meta":{"origin":118271,"position":1},"title":"Singapore private home prices rose 3.4% in Q2","date":"July 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\r The price growth in Q2 was slightly slower than the 3.9 percent increase in Q1.\u00a0 Singapore private home prices rose 3.4 percent quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2018 compared to a slightly faster growth of 3.9 percent in Q1, according to more complete data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95241,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/windy-heights-condo-up-for-en-bloc-sale-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":118271,"position":2},"title":"Windy Heights condo up for en bloc sale again","date":"August 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\r The condo owners are going through a re-signing process to revise the reserve price to a lower amount. (Photo: Knight Frank) Despite a failed bid earlier in the year and the introduction by the government of new property cooling measures, owners at Windy Heights in Kembangan remain undeterred as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":106215,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/singapore-residential-market-to-remain-stable-in-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":118271,"position":3},"title":"Singapore residential market to remain stable in 2019","date":"April 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\r The pace of new launches is forecasted to pick up from the second quarter of 2019, with CDL launching numerous projects, including a new EC project at Sumang Walk. Source: HDB Property developers and property services companies expect the residential market to remain relatively stable this year, revealed CGS-CIMB.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86928,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/up-to-29-new-launches-offering-14200-units-for-rest-of-year-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":118271,"position":4},"title":"Up to 29 new launches offering 14,200 units for rest of year: report","date":"May 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Is the upcoming supply excessive and will it result in an overheating housing market?\u00a0 Up to 29 private residential projects could be launched between the second and fourth quarters of this year, supplying about 14,200 new units and raising concerns of an overheating housing market, according to a report\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87349,"url":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/property-news\/kemaman-point-up-for-en-bloc-sale-with-143-8m-reserve-price\/","url_meta":{"origin":118271,"position":5},"title":"Kemaman Point up for en bloc sale with $143.8m reserve price","date":"May 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\r Completed in 1993, the 89-unit Kemaman Point is located close to Novena MRT station. (Photo: Knight Frank) Kemaman Point, a freehold condominium off Balestier Road in District 12, was launched for collective sale on Monday (7 May) with a reserve price of $143.8 million, said marketing agent Knight Frank\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Property News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.siamlandbank.com\/propertynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}