Singapore Property Weekly Issue 57

7/31/2019 Singapore Property Weekly Issue 57

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Issue 57Copyright 2011-2012 www.Propwise.sg. All Rights Reserved.
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CONTENTS

p2 Singapore Property News This Week

p8 How Much Do Property Agents Earn?

p12 Resale Property Transactions

(June 6 June 12)

Welcome to the 57th edition

of the Singapore Property

Weekly.

Hope you like it!

Mr. Propwise

FROM THE

EDITOR
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 57

Singapore Property This Week

Page | 2Back to Contents

ResidentialAylesbury Pte Ltd bought freehold

Kemaman View en bloc at $45.5m

The 17,388 sq ft site located off Balestier

Road was sold for $45.5 million or $935 psf

ppr based on its 2.8 gross plot ratio and53,813 sq ft potential GFA. If approval for an

additional 10% GFA for balconies is granted,

the additional $2.8 million would mean a

higher unit land price of $816 psf ppr. The site

zoned for residential use has a maximum

height allowance of 36 stories subject toapproval. A new development on the site

could potentially house 98 600-sq ft apartment

units with a selling price between $1,400 and

$1,600 psf.URA and HDB launch two residential sites

at Tanah Merah, Bright Hill

The two residential sites, one located at Tanah

Merah Kechil Road and another at Bright Hill

Drive have been launched.The 99-year leasehold 150,678.5 sq ft site

located at Tanah Merah Kechil Road has a

maximum GFA of 421,901.8 sq ft which can

potentially support 415 homes. It is expected

to attract five to eight bidders, with a top bid

ranging from $500 to $600 psf ppr and an

expected average selling price of $1,100-

$1,300 psf.


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The second site, which is also a 99-year

leasehold plot, is located at Bright Hill Drive. It

has a 144,635.6 sq ft site area and a

maximum GFA of 404,979.7 sq ft and can

potentially yield 405 homes. The site is

expected to attract three to eight bids, with the

top bid at $550-$620 psf ppr and the average

selling price at $1,100-$1,300 psf. While some

believe that the irregular layout of the site may

discourage bidders, others feel that the site

may see pent-up demand since there had not

been new launches in the area for years.

The tender for the two sites will close on noon

on July 31 and August 7, respectively.

Farrer Drive reserve list site draws $1,048

psf ppr record high bid

The private residential site located at Farrer

Drive attracted a record top bid of $1,048.52

psf ppr from a Singapore Land unit despite

garnering only six bids. While the top bid was

within top range of $1,100 psf ppr the site was

expected to fetch, the number of bids fall short

of the 10-20 bids that was predicted. This may

be due to the sites irregular, elongated layout,

its proximity to an electrical substation and its

maximum height condition of eight levels.

There is also competition from the d'Leedon

project nearby. Furthermore, being located in

District 10 means that it does not cater to the

mass market and instead the high-end

residential market which has been seeing

rather lacklustre results. SingLand plans to

develop a 100-unit project comprising mainly

of 1,000 sq ft two-bedroom units and some

smaller units such as one-bedroom units with

a study on the site. The expected breakeven

cost and average selling price are $1,600 psf

and $1,800 psf, respectively.


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which meant that an oversupply of rooms

could result in slower average room rate

(ARR) growth and lower occupancy rates

which is estimated to hit 90% in 2012F before

falling to 84 per cent in 2014F. Revenue per

available room (RevPAR) would parallel the

occupancy rate with a $233 peak in 2012F but

fall to $227-$229 in 2013F-2014F before

peaking again at $237 in 2015F. ARR growth

may fall to 3.2% but RevPAR could remain

above $245 if occupancy rate remains above

80%.

DTZ: Q2 retail rents remain stable

Retail rents for both Orchard and suburban

malls saw a marginal increase from the Q1

2012, with the average gross fixed rent of

prime retail space along Orchard/Scotts Road

having increased by 0.1% to $30.33 psf per

month in Q2 and the average rents in

suburban areas having increased by 0.2% to

$28.35 psf per month. The stability in the

prime retail rents could be attributed to the the

lack of prime frontage retail space as well as

the entry of new international brands such as

Tory Burch and Tommy Bahama. The

surburban retail rents, meanwhile, are

benefitting from the strong retailer demand

and consumer spending, especially with more

expatriates living in the suburban areas.

However, the average retail rents are not

expected to rise by much because of the

uncertain global economic outlook and the

large upcoming supply.

Expression of interest exercise conducted

for three conservation shophouses onAmoy Street

The three 999-year leasehold (with 814 years

remaining) prime conservation shophouses


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(77, 78, and 79/80Amoy Street) have a

combined site area of 8,182 sq ft, with an

estimated floor area of 23,820 sq ft. Buyers

can either purchase 78 and 79/80 Amoy

Street together or all three units. 77 Amoy

Street has a 2,773 sq ft site area, and has an

estimated floor area of 7,610 sq ft. 78 Amoy

Street has a 2,597 sq ft site area and an

estimated floor area of 7,793 sq ft while 79/80

Amoy Street has a 2,812 sq ft site area, andan estimated floor area of 8,417 sq ft. The

shophouses can potentially fetch $1,600 psf

of GFA since the market for conservation

shophouses in strong in the area. It is

expected to be attractive to investors seeking

a more affordable alternative to strata officeunits and office buildings. The exercise will

close on July 25, by 5pm.

30-year leasehold Tai Seng Link industrial

site attracts $23m top bid

The top bid of $23.3 million or $199.69 psf

ppr for the 0.43 ha site came from OKH(Woodlands) Pte Ltd - a unit of OKH

Holdings, exceeding the expectations of a top

bid of around $100 to $170 psf ppr and the

next highest bid by 28%. The number of bids,

however, was a meagre four, despite

predictions that it would draw much interest.

The sites proximity to the Tai Seng MRT

station maybe the reason, since it also

means that no strata subdivision of the site is

allowed within the first 10 years of completing

the project. Located within Paya Lebar iPark,

the site has a permissible gross plot ratio of

2.5 and a 116,681 sq ft gross floor area.

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY I 57


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The expected selling price of the property is

$450 to $500 psf ppr.

Investment sales of property on the

rebound

Preliminary figures showed that investment

sales have increased to $6.4 billion in Q2 as

of June 19, up from $4.8 billion in Q1 2012,

and may possibly hit $7 billion, bringing the

H1 2012 total to $12 billion. This increase

was driven by both the the residential and

office markets and the figure may eventually

result in a total of $21-25 billion for the whole

of 2012, driven by GLS land sales in H2.

Investment sales in the residential sector

have increased by 46% to $3.6 billion fromQ1 2012, driven by the $2.5 billion from GLS

sites, an increase of 38% from Q1 and$1.9

billion, a 91% increase from Q1 in the

commercial segment. Investment sales of

industrial properties and the collective sales

market, however, fell 32% to $766 million and

from $456.6 million to $328.8 million in the

same period, respectively.

High expectations for Bugis Cube strata

units

91 out of the 119 units in Bugis Cube, a 999-

year leasehold retail development located

opposite Bugis Junction, have been

launched. The development consists of over

six floors of prime retail and food-and-

beverage space with units ranging from 129

to 635 sq ft. Prices range from $2,900 psf to

$7,500 psf. Since it is located in the popular

Bugis shopping area, and near amenities andthe Bugis MRT station, it will likely attract both

retailers and investors interested in owning

prime retail property in the city centre.

SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY I 57


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How Much Do Property Agents Earn?

By Getty Goh

I was recently invited by the Institute of Estate

Agents (IEA) to be one of the panel judges for

the Realtor of the Year award. Along with my

fellow judges, I was given the task of

interviewing and identifying a suitable

candidate who embodied the values of amodel realtor. Apart from being top

performers (in terms of commissions earned),

they also had to be professional in conduct

and provide warm and personable service.

From the judging session, one thing I notedwas how much these agents earned. As all of

the shortlisted candidates were top achievers

in their agencies,



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almost all of them earned commission

amounting to more than several hundred

thousand dollars. Seeing this, one of my

fellow judges even commented in jest that he

should consider a career switch.

This got me thinking and I started to wonder

how much does a property agent really earn?

We often hear or read about certain agents

making million dollar commissions, but is that

the exception or the norm? That piqued mycuriosity.

Working out the average commission

Based on the caveats lodged with the

Singapore Land Authority (SLA) in 2011, the

number of private residential, commercial,industrial and resale HDB transactions were

about (1) 32,903, (2) 1,411, (3) 2,241 and (4)

22,683 respectively. The total value

transacted for residential, commercial,

industrial and resale HDB amounted to about

(1) $50,448,013,709, (2) $4,087,529,191, (3)

$4,528,320,789 and (4) $9,695,739,615

respectively. Based on these figures, the total

amount of property transactions for 2011

worked out to be about $68.76billion.

If we work on the assumption that the

commission for each HDB resale transaction

is about 2% and about 1% for a private

residential, commercial and industrialtransaction, the total commission generated

by the real estate industry would amount to

about $785million.

Based on this figure, what is the average

commission each agent can expect to make?

According to a Channel News Asia report,

dated 30 Jan 2012, the number of agents in

2011 was 34,300. Assuming everyone gets an

equal share, the average commission



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each agent would get is about $22,873 (or

about $1,906 per month).

I admit that simply taking the average may

not be very reflective of the actual situation

and a more accurate form of approximation,

such as the Pareto Distribution, should be

applied.

Applying the 80-20 Rule to figure out what

the top agents make

Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist who

lived in the early 1900s. Through his

research, he discovered that 80% of wealth

was held by the top 20% of the population.

Over time, the 80-20 distribution was found to

be highly accurate in approximating income

distribution and it became an accepted

economic principle, hence the 80-20 rule.

If we were to apply Paretos 80-20 rule to

how the commissions are distributed, we find

that the top 20% of property agents would

have made an average commission of about

$91,493 annually (about $7,624 per month).

In comparison, the majority would make an

average of $5718 annually (about $477 permonth)

Based on MOMs website, the average

employee made about $4,334 per month.

Putting things into perspective, we can

conclude that those who do well (i.e. within

the top 20%) do make a fairly comfortable

living. On the other hand, those who are not

doing as well would just be scraping by.

Million-dollar agents are more the

exception than the rule

More importantly, this analysis also suggests

that agents who make million-dollar

commissions annually are likely to be

exceptions. Even if they were able to do so

http://www.mom.gov.sg/statistics-publications/national-labour-market-information/statistics/Pages/earnings-wages.aspxhttp://www.mom.gov.sg/statistics-publications/national-labour-market-information/statistics/Pages/earnings-wages.aspxhttp://www.mom.gov.sg/statistics-publications/national-labour-market-information/statistics/Pages/earnings-wages.aspxhttp://www.mom.gov.sg/statistics-publications/national-labour-market-information/statistics/Pages/earnings-wages.aspxhttp://www.mom.gov.sg/statistics-publications/national-labour-market-information/statistics/Pages/earnings-wages.aspx


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for one year, it would be very difficult for them

to sustain their performance, as there is

simply not enough commission to go around.

For the figures to add up, in order for all

practicing realtors to make commissions of

$1million or more every year, there can be no

more than 785 agents, which is a small

fraction of the total number of registered

agents.

We often hear stories of top property agentsmaking a good income and walk away with

the impression that there is easy money to be

made in the real estate industry. This analysis

shows that for every million-dollar property

agent, there are many others who do not

make it and eventually fall out of the game.

Hence, it does not come as a surprise that

the real estate industry has such a high

turnover rate. Perhaps this is why about

3,700 (more than 10% of the total agent

population) decided not to renew their license

and we are down to 30,600 agents in 2012.

Like any job, those who put in time and effort

will do well and rise to the top. The ethics of

hard work apply to the real estate market as

well. For those who are thinking of making a

career switch to become a property agent,

you must be prepared to invest the effort todo well. Otherwise you may just add to the

statistic of agents who eventually drop out of

the realtor game.

By Getty Goh, Director ofAscendant Assets,

a real estate research and investment

consultancy firm.

http://www.ascendantassets.com/http://www.ascendantassets.com/http://www.ascendantassets.com/http://www.ascendantassets.com/


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Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Jun 6 Jun 12

Postal

DistrictProject Name

Area

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)Tenure

1 MARINA BAY RESIDENCES 2,379 7,255,950 3,050 99

1 THE SAIL @ MARINA BAY 667 1,420,000 2,128 99

1 PEOPLE'S PARK COMPLEX 463 650,000 1,404 99

3 CENTRAL GREEN CONDOMINIUM 926 1,268,888 1,371 99

4 SEASCAPE 2,680 7,316,400 2,730 99

4 THE OCEANFRONT @ SENTOSA COVE 1,356 2,397,500 1,768 99

5 THE PARC CONDOMINIUM 1,507 1,800,000 1,194 FH

5 THE PARC CONDOMINIUM 1,292 1,500,000 1,161 FH

5 BOTANNIA 1,561 1,728,000 1,107 956

5 DOVER PARKVIEW 1,249 1,358,000 1,088 99

5 BLUE HORIZON 936 950,000 1,014 995 THE INFINITI 1,238 1,080,000 872 FH

8 OXFORD SUITES 893 1,205,500 1,349 FH

9 THE PATERSON EDGE 1,281 2,828,000 2,208 FH

9 SCOTTS HIGHPARK 3,466 7,200,000 2,077 FH

9 VISIONCREST 915 1,830,000 2,000 FH

9 THE PIER AT ROBERTSON 678 1,300,000 1,917 FH

9 THE IMPERIAL 980 1,850,000 1,889 FH

9 PARC EMILY 592 1,080,000 1,824 FH

9 GRANGE HEIGHTS 2,713 3,880,000 1,430 FH10 REGENCY PARK 2,260 4,000,000 1,770 FH

10 THE SIXTH AVENUE RESIDENCES 1,518 2,350,000 1,548 FH

10 VALLEY PARK 1,216 1,880,000 1,546 999

10 PALM SPRING 1,485 2,286,000 1,539 FH

10 VENTUNO BALMORAL 1,313 2,000,000 1,523 FH

Postal


Area

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)Tenure

10 VALLEY PARK 797 1,179,000 1,480 999

10 VALLEY PARK 1,216 1,680,000 1,381 999

10 JERVOIS GROVE 1,399 1,880,000 1,344 FH

10 ORCHARD BEL AIR 3,229 4,300,000 1,332 99

10 CASABELLA 3,703 4,200,000 1,134 FH

10 DUCHESS CREST 2,088 2,250,000 1,077 99

11 PARK INFINIA AT WEE NAM 1,464 2,760,000 1,885 FH

11 SHELFORD SUITES 1,292 2,280,000 1,765 FH

11 MONTEBLEU 1,475 2,100,000 1,424 FH

11 THE ARCADIA 3,714 4,780,000 1,287 99

11 HILLCREST ARCADIA 1,421 1,280,000 901 9912 PAPILLON 936 1,050,000 1,121 FH

12 MOONSTONE ROYALE 840 898,000 1,070 FH

12 AVA TOWERS 1,227 1,170,000 953 FH

13 ONE LEICESTER 1,378 1,668,000 1,211 FH

13 EURO-ASIA PARK 958 1,000,000 1,044 FH

13 BLOSSOMS @ WOODLEIGH 2,680 2,100,000 784 FH

14 DAKOTA RESIDENCES 1,023 1,227,600 1,200 99

14 ATRIUM RESIDENCES 1,259 1,168,000 927 FH

14 WING FONG COURT 1,055 780,000 739 FH14 MILL CREEK 1,561 1,100,000 705 FH

15 THE SEAFRONT ON MEYER 2,099 3,410,857 1,625 FH

15 THE SEAFRONT ON MEYER 1,604 2,350,000 1,465 FH

15 THE SOVEREIGN 2,637 3,700,000 1,403 FH

15 SUITES @ AMBER 840 1,138,000 1,355 FH



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

Postal


Area

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)Tenure

15 THE AMERY 1,356 1,750,000 1,290 FH

15 AMBER RESIDENCES 1,249 1,600,000 1,281 FH

15 THE ESTA 1,561 2,000,000 1,281 FH

15 THE MAKENA 1,582 1,925,000 1,217 FH

15 CAMELOT BY-THE-WATER 3,531 4,220,000 1,195 9915 TANJONG RIA CONDOMINIUM 926 1,020,000 1 ,102 99

15 BLU CORAL 872 935,000 1,072 FH

15 T EMBELING RESIDENCE 1,206 1,235,000 1,024 FH

15 CHAPEL COURT 1,195 1,175,000 983 FH

15 ESPIRA SPRING 1,539 1,400,000 910 FH

15 THE ESTA 1,593 1,366,000 857 FH

16 COSTA DEL SOL 1,324 1,720,000 1,299 99

16 PARBURY HILL CONDOMINIUM 947 988,888 1,044 FH

16 EAST MEADOWS 1,216 1,100,000 904 9916 BEDOK COURT 2,411 1,720,000 713 99

17 CARISSA PARK CONDOMINIUM 1,001 900,000 899 FH

17 DAHLIA PARK CONDOMINIUM 1,270 1,010,000 795 FH

18 TROPICAL SPRING 1,076 988,000 918 99

18 MELVILLE PARK 958 730,000 762 99

18 MELVILLE PARK 1,464 980,000 669 99

19 GILLENIA 861 950,000 1,103 999

19 KOVAN RESIDENCES 4,747 4,200,000 885 99

19 RIO VISTA 1,249 970,000 777 99

20 RAFFLESIA CONDOMINIUM 1,195 1,336,000 1,118 99

20 BISHAN 8 1,163 1,230,000 1,058 99

20 FLAME TREE PARK 1,593 1,500,000 942 FH

20 FAR HORIZON GARDENS 1,389 1,060,000 763 99

21 THE CASCADIA 883 1,452,360 1,645 FH

Postal


Area

(sqft)

Transacted

Price ($)

Price

($ psf)Tenure

21 THE CASCADIA 1,302 2,132,000 1,637 FH

21 THE STERLING 1,432 2,120,000 1,481 FH

21 MAPLEWOODS 2,895 4,000,000 1,381 FH

21 CAVENDISH PARK 1,313 1,550,000 1,180 99

21 CAVENDISH PARK 1,227 1,260,000 1,027 9921 PANDAN VALLEY 2,669 2,620,000 981 FH

21 PINE GROVE 1,755 1,480,000 844 99

21 PANDAN VALLEY 4,585 3,550,000 774 FH

22 THE LAKESHORE 936 950,000 1,014 99

22 PARC OASIS 1,076 950,000 883 99

22 PARC VISTA 1,055 870,888 826 99

22 PARC VISTA 1,152 922,000 801 99

23 PARK NATURA 2,045 2,450,000 1,198 FH

23 MERAWOODS 1,001 955,000 954 99923 HILLBROOKS 1,270 1,200,000 945 FH

23 MAYSPRINGS 818 725,000 886 99

23 HILLVIEW RESIDENCE 1,690 1,330,000 787 999

23 NORTHVALE 1,324 1,003,000 758 99

23 THE MADEIRA 1,894 1,070,000 565 99

26 THE CALROSE 1,023 1,145,000 1,120 FH

26 BULLION PARK 807 800,000 991 FH

27 ORCHID PARK CONDOMINIUM 958 758,000 791 99

27 ORCHID PARK CONDOMINIUM 1,249 910,000 729 99

27 YISHUN EMERALD 1,399 990,000 707 99

Documents

Singapore Property Weekly Issue 57