New projects in Bishan/Thomson still hot despite cooling measures?

New property launches in choice locations such as Bishan and Thomson have been attracting interest from home buyers, despite recent curbs on housing loans.

Some analysts said this is because property prices have since softened and are now more competitive.
Potential home buyers have been checking out CapitaLand's latest project in Bishan - Sky Vue - since its showflat was open for previews last week.

The 694-unit project, which is slated for its official launch on September 28, is located next to CapitaLand's other new development, Sky Habitat.

More than a third of units at Sky Habitat have been sold since its launch in the first quarter of last year.

Although prices will be unveiled later this week, the average selling price of Sky Vue should range from $1,380 to $1,550psf.

This is lower than Sky Habitat's price range of $1,600 to $1,650psf.

CapitaLand said Sky Vue is targeted towards younger families, while Sky Habitat is for buyers who want the spaciousness of a landed property without the hassle of higher maintenance.

CapitaLand bagged both sites through the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme.
Its bid for the Sky Habitat site was at $869.36 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) in February 2011.

As for the next-door plot for Sky Vue, CapitaLand won the tender with a slightly lower bid of $852.94psf ppr in November last year.

CapitaLand said it is more than just price considerations when bidding for land.

Wong Heang Fine, CEO (Residential) at CapitaLand Singapore, said: “One cannot generalise unfortunately. The Singapore market has matured significantly over the last few years.

"There have been some launches that have great response, there are some launches that do not attract a lot of attention as well. The right product in the right location... is what the market is looking for.”

At a nearby project along Upper Thomson Road, Thomson Three's developers - UOL Group and Singapore Land – have said that more than 80% of its 200 units in Phase One have been sold.

Alan Cheong, research head at Savills Singapore, said: “We may see more competition on the supply side. One would try to achieve a sales rate that would suck up most of whatever they have launched upfront.

"Then they would think what they want to do next. This kind of competition would be healthy to investors in the long run.”

The average selling price of Thomson Three's units is around $1,350psf.

This is lower than what developers UOL and SingLand had earlier planned for before the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) scheme was introduced in June.

Source: Channel News Asia

Coincidentally, the SON and I passed by the sales gallery of Sky Vue last Sunday and it looked packed with viewers. However, there seemed to be more agents than viewers at Thomson Three's sales gallery located at Venus Drive (i.e. the road leading to SICC Thomson clubhouse) whenever we drove past during the past 2 weeks...