Singapore Property Weekly Issue 193

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CONTENTS

p2 7 Tactics to Maximize Your Investment

Property Returns

p7 Singapore Property News This Week

p11 Resale Property Transactions

(January 14 – January 20 )

Welcome to the 193th edition of the Singapore Property Weekly.

Hope you like it!

Mr. Propwise

FROM THE

EDITOR

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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 193

Page | 2Back to Contents

By Property Soul (Guest Contributor)

As an investor, you have two major objectives

when you own property:

1. To generate an optimal return from your

investment; and

2. To increase its value to be sold at a good

profit in the future.

To achieve that, you have to maximize the

rental income and minimize the costs at the

same time. In other words,

Maximizing the return of your property =

cost savings + value creation

7 Tactics to Maximize Your Investment Property Returns



Below are seven useful tactics that you as a

landlord can use to save money while adding

value to your property.

1. Ask for early completion

You have submitted the cheque with the last

payment to your lawyer. Instead of waiting for

twelve weeks, you can request for an early

completion of the sale in ten weeks, so that

you can get the keys earlier and rent out your

property faster. Your lawyer should be able to

liaise with the attorney of the seller to make

the necessary arrangement.

2. Start your work early

Once the seller hands over the property to

you, you need to rent it out as soon as

possible.

If it is agreeable by both the seller and the

existing tenant, you can request for one or

two timeslots before the handover date for a

short viewing. This is meant for your

renovation contractor to inspect the place and

give you a quotation.

However, except for cleaning a vacant flat,

resist the temptation to begin any renovation

work at the place before you collect the key

— in case any accident happens during

renovation or the sale can’t be completed for

some reason.

3. Avoid festive seasons

Take note of the completion date of the sale.

Try to avoid Christmas, year-end or Chinese

New Year. This is the time when the

renovation contractors go for home leave and

potential tenants go on holidays. It

unnecessarily prolongs the vacancy of your

property and affects the return of your

investment.



4. Compare before committing

Get at least three quotes for all planned

expenditure, including legal fees, mortgage,

insurance, renovation and repairs. Contacting

different vendors may be time-consuming but

you are most likely rewarded with better

options and more savings.

You don’t have to use the one that submits

the lowest price. But you can use the lowest

quotation as a reference to negotiate the

price with your chosen vendor.

Never let those negligible numbers add to

up a considerable sum.

5. Look for savings constantly

When interest rates have decreased, take

action immediately to refinance or reprice

your housing mortgage.

You can specify in the tenancy agreement for

the tenant to pay for minor repairs and routine

maintenance under the cost of $150.

Before the tenancy starts, tell your tenants to

notify you if they spot anything wrong or

anything out of order. Many repairs in the flat

are simpler and more cost-effective to do if

they are done earlier, especially leakage of

water, gas or electricity.

Similarly, if your tenant complains about a

loose window, fix it the next day. Don’t take

the chance to let any accident happen in your

property.

6. Raise the rent

Remember to increase the rent regularly.

Tenants are more likely to accept it with

moderate increases every year rather than a

big jump after three years.



When negotiating for a raise, an initiative from

you to fix or upgrade something in the flat can

give you the upper hand. It makes the

increment look more justified and you will

receive less resistance from the tenant.

You can also consider signing a lease with

progressive rental increments from your

tenant. For example, a three-year lease can

specify a fixed increment on the second and

third year.

If it is a month-to-month contract or a short-

term lease that lasts shorter than a year,

always propose a rent higher than the market

rate to compensate for the hassle of finding

the next tenant.

When I first started as a DIY landlord, I made

the mistake of befriending my tenant. That

makes negotiations on rental increment

difficult. Maintain a cordial but business-like

relationship with your tenant so that you can

win the cooperation of your tenant on

inspection, maintenance, flat viewing, etc.,

but won’t make it awkward to discuss a rental

increment.

7. Shorten the vacancy period

If you are buying a property with an existing

tenant, get a copy of the tenancy agreement

to check the actual expiry date and the

renewal clause. If the tenancy is ending soon,

negotiate with the existing tenant to adjust the

rent upwards to match the market rate.

If the tenant is not renewing the contract,

have your agent to look for a replacement as

soon as possible to avoid any loss of rental

income from a vacant flat.



If the tenant wants to terminate the contract,

he/she should give your agent sufficient time

to find a replacement. To avoid any rental

loss, you can ask the tenant to continue

staying and pay a pro-rata rental on a daily

basis until the handover of the flat to a new

tenant.

By guest contributor Property Soul, a

successful property investor, blogger, and

author of the No B.S. Guide to Property

Investment.

http://propertysoul.com/

http://aktive.com.sg/store/no-b-s-guide-to-property-investment/














http://www.anthonyrobbinssg.com/propwise


Singapore Property This Week


Residential

Higher home vacancies expected to push

prices down further

Property values are falling following the

government’s implementation of cooling

measures. These measures include a stricter

restriction on property loans. After a spike in

property prices in 2013, the government tried

to regulate the market by capping borrowers’

total debt repayments at 60 percent of their

income. With such measures, Singaporeans

found it harder to refinance loans. Besides

that, the government had also implemented

additional property taxes on purchases made

by foreigners. These cooling measures had

been effective in reducing home prices by 4

percent in 2014. However, the cooling

measures had weakened the rental market.

Vacancy rates for private residential homes

increased by 1.6 percent from Q3 to Q4 last

year, according to data from the Urban

Redevelopment Authority. The data also

showed that rental prices had fallen by 3

percent last year. Other signs that the

property market is weak include increased

sentiment that property prices will slip further,

according to the Business Times. Not only so,

the number of repossessed homes that are

on auction had increased about 10 times to

118 in 2014 from 2013, according to Mok Sze

Sze from Jones Lang Laselle Inc.

(Source: Business Times)



Non-landed private home prices slip by

1.2%

From November to December last year,

prices of non-landed private homes fell by 1.2

percent according to flash estimates from the

National University of Singapore. This is well

within expectations, said Ong Kah Seng from

R’ST Research. In December, resale prices in

the non-central region and the central region

had also fallen. The sub-index for the central

region had fallen by 1.7 percent month-on-

month in December last year, while the sub-

index for the non-central region had fallen by

0.8 percent within the same period of time.

Ong believes that the continued loan curbs

and decreased interest in resale properties

are reasons for the fall in resale prices.

Nonetheless, prices of small apartments and

condo units that are up to 506 sq ft had

increased marginally by 0.5 percent in

December last year.


NUS-Redas Real Estate Sentiment Index

falls by 0.3 from Q3 to Q4 2014

According to the NUS-Redas Real Estate

Sentiment Index, the overall market sentiment

in Singapore had fallen by 0.3 from 3.7 in Q3

to 3.4 in Q4 last year. Sing Tien Foo from the

National University of Singapore said that the

weak residential market had dampened

market sentiments. Particularly, sentiments

about the residential sector had been mostly

negative. The proportion of respondents who

picked positive options and those who picked

negative answers were a net minus 59

percent for the prime residential sector.

Nonetheless, the current net balance for

office properties was a positive 38 percent.

Not only so, 43.5 percent of respondents had



indicated that they would want the

government to review its property cooling

measures in 2015.


Commercial

Tuas site launched for tender

Under the Industrial Government Land Sales

programme, JTC Corporation has launched a

0.8 ha site at Tuas South Street 11 for tender.

The land parcel is zoned for business

development and its tender will close on

March 24. The Tuas site has a maximum

permissible gross plot ratio of 1.0. Eight other

sites will also be launched under the

confirmed list for the Industrial Government

Land Sales programme in the first half of

2015, according to the Ministry of Trade and

Industry (MTI). Another five sites will also be

added onto the reserve list during the same

period of time. This would mean that a total of

14 hectares of land will be made available by

H1 2015. Of the 14 hectares, the nine sites

on the confirmed list will make up 6.46

hectares while 7.62 hectares will be yielded

from the reserve list.


AXA Tower acquired for $1.17b

AXA Tower will be acquired by a consortium

of investors for $1.17 billion or $1,735 psf of

net lettable area. The AXA Tower, which is 50-

storeys high, has a total net lettable area of

about 674,000 sq feet. Its total gross area is

about 1.03 million sq ft. The building is

currently made up of Grade A office spaces

and other retail spaces.



Located at Shenton Way, the building has a

99-year lease from 1982. Investors in the

building say that they will look into optimising

the value of the property by utilising the

additional 212,000 sq ft that is currently not in

use.


http://propertymarketinsights.com/



Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Jan 14 – Jan 20

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.

Postal

DistrictProject Name

Area

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)Tenure

1 RIVERWALK APARTMENT 1,259 1,580,000 1,255 99

3 TANGLIN VIEW 1,464 1,510,000 1,031 99

4 TURQUOISE 2,777 4,550,000 1,638 99

5 VENTANA 1,518 1,675,000 1,104 FH

8 KERRISDALE 1,485 1,488,000 1,002 99

9 THE METZ 1,023 2,300,000 2,249 FH

9 ST THOMAS SUITES 2,605 5,100,000 1,958 FH

9 MACKENZIE REGENCY 1,087 1,250,000 1,150 FH

10 ST REGIS RESIDENCES SINGAPORE 4,941 9,500,000 1,923 999

10 MELROSE PARK 1,292 2,060,000 1,595 999

10 BALMORAL GATE 1,259 1,700,000 1,350 FH

10 TANGLIN REGENCY 1,259 1,470,000 1,167 99

11 PARK INFINIA AT WEE NAM 1,464 2,854,800 1,950 FH

11 CUBE 8 1,335 2,000,000 1,498 FH

11 MONTEBLEU 1,475 2,180,000 1,478 FH

11 SUFFOLK PREMIER 1,001 1,180,000 1,179 FH

12 CASA FORTUNA 506 738,000 1,459 FH

12 BALESTIER PLAZA 1,625 1,600,000 984 FH

15 NATURALIS 646 800,000 1,239 FH

15 BUTTERWORTH 8 1,313 1,570,000 1,196 FH

15 MANDARIN GARDEN CONDOMINIUM 1,001 1,080,000 1,079 99

15 THE BECCAGAYLE 1,475 1,520,000 1,031 FH

16 CASA MERAH 1,550 1,680,000 1,084 99

16 AQUARIUS BY THE PARK 1,324 1,270,000 959 99

Postal

DistrictProject Name

Area

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)Tenure

16 THE BAYSHORE 980 930,000 949 99

16 THE CLEARWATER 1,356 1,150,000 848 99

16 STRATFORD COURT 2,034 1,480,000 727 99

17 BALLOTA PARK CONDOMINIUM 1,281 920,000 718 FH

19 KOVAN MELODY 1,313 1,435,000 1,093 99

19 THE FLORENTINE 958 1,000,000 1,044 947

19 CENTRAL VIEW 1,206 1,060,000 879 99

20 SIN MING PLAZA 2,971 2,680,000 902 FH

22 LAKEHOLMZ 1,249 1,050,000 841 99

23 HILLINGTON GREEN 1,356 1,360,000 1,003 999

23 REGENT GROVE 1,163 855,000 735 99

23 PALM GARDENS 2,336 1,580,000 676 99

Documents

Singapore Property Weekly Issue 193