Singapore landed properties still hot

Feb 18, 2011 - PropertyGuru.com.sg

Singapore landed properties will likely see strong demand this year, as buyers will occupy them, as opposed to simply speculating for earnings, said analysts.

These buyers will thus be unaffected by the series of cooling measures announced by the government. Demand will also be fuelled by low interest rates, abundant liquidity and limited supply of landed properties, said analysts.

Despite this year’s moderating economy, landed property prices will increase eight to 12 percent in 2011, they said.

About 70,000 landed housing units are now available in the market, accounting for 30 percent of the entire private home supply, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
 
“Some of the home buyers feel that the newer apartments tend to be a bit smaller than some of the older apartments. And in order to have the luxury of space, some of these buyers turn to landed properties,” said Nicholas Mak, Executive Director of Research and Consultancy at SLP International, in an interview with the Today newspaper.

Tan Wee Yong, who founded Mushrooms Realty, added, “Traditionally, (landed properties) might be out of people’s budgets. But nowadays, if the price difference is not that great, I think most Singaporeans will go for landed property.”

Demand for landed property sites is also overwhelming the current supply, said analysts.

“For freehold sites, I think there is a supply crunch. As long as there is a new piece of land coming out in the market, there will be a lot of interested parties if the asking price is at the market rate,” said Mr. Tan.