Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty indicated the expeditious take-up of the developer’s mass-market projects like the Hillier in Hillview

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released their forth-quarter data that stated for buyers to expect an unprecedented wave of imminent supply in the industrial, commercial and residential segments. This sequencing omits a warning to investors who potentially entered the market at steep prices.

URA’s data shows how past figures in conjunction to the completion of residential projects starting in December 2010 are in fact ahead of the allotted scheduled time. As most of these projects are given a finished construction time of 2015, most are constructed within 24 and 36 months and obtain their TOP (temporary occupation permit) in 4Q2011 as they were already under construction.

Thus, the bulk of these units should be finished under schedule in 2013 or 2014, which means that this avalanching of available units for sale will impact investors tremendously, so investors are warned to think carefully before investing in this overflowing market.

Despite arguments of caution, the opposing banter reassures investors not to fret as the majority of the units have already been pre-sold by the project developers prior to receiving TOP. Nevertheless, cooling measures apparent in the fifth round in the past few weeks pertaining to the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty indicated the expeditious take-up of the developer’s mass-market projects like the Hillier in Hillview or Watertown in Punggol.

Supported by the brisk pace of pre-sales, developers are scrambling to replenish their land banks. GLS, of Government Land Sales programme, that contributes to prime sites linked to rare sites or transportation infrastructure. Since the beginning of 2010 developers have been consistently granted for residential land property and even revamping the projects for a quick launch within nine months, hence the multiple cooling measures had little influence on the number of bidders for each property.

Thus, since the developer’s thirst for property launches is unquenchable, GLS must keep moving ahead. As there is a constant increase in land supplies, which could ultimately attribute to cooling of prices, it is truly a gamble.

The cost of housing in Vietnam is 25 times higher than the average workers wage, 5 times higher than housing in developed countries and 10 times higher than housing in developing countries according to a real estate expert.

The State is implementing a strategy to apply the necessary policies to help develop the housing market and help low income earners who struggle to find adequate housing.

Over the next five years, Vietnam aims to have 10 million square meters of housing, including housing for low income earners in urban areas, help 400,000 poor households in rural areas improve their accommodation conditions and reduce the percentage of undeveloped housing to less than 5 per cent. Meanwhile, the proportion of housing for lease would reach 20 per cent of the total housing fund to serve low income earners.

During the next ten years, Vietnam hopes to have 12.5 million square meters of housing in urban areas and help 500,000 households in rural areas improve their accommodation situation and eliminate undeveloped housing across the country

A survey of households and housing by the General Statistics Office (GSO) showed Vietnam still has 1.6 million temporary accommodations, 0.5 million apartments with an area of less than 15 square meters in urban locations and 1.5 million undeveloped houses in rural areas.

It would take an average labourer 75 years to save enough money to buy a house in Vietnam with the current house values. Former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Dr Dang Hung Vo, believes the housing strategy requires investment by the State and the community if it is to succeed.

“Once the problem is settled well in Vietnam, this means that we can eliminate the housing price paradox, i.e. narrowing the gap between the average price and the annual income of workers,” he said.

All four Beachfront Residences have been sold within two month of Hong Kong launch.

All four Beachfront Residences at The Residences at W Retreat Koh Samui have been sold out less than two months after its launch in Hong Kong. The Residences at W Retreat Koh Samui feature 12 villas in modern design offering buyers a contemporary lifestyle option in the Thai resort market.

“The demand for The Residences at the W Retreat Koh Samui has greatly exceeded expectations with the sale of all the Beachfront Residences,” said Sunny Bajaj, managing director of Amburaya Hotels & Resorts, developer of the property. “There is strong demand worldwide for Thai resort properties and, in particular, for the W lifestyle brand. Discerning buyers from all over are quickly recognizing that The Residences at the W Retreat are an excellent lifestyle investment.”

Priced from THB65million, The Residences at the W Retreat Koh Samui feature a combination of different types of villas with various sizes, ranging from two to five bedrooms and from 515 to 1,170 square meters (built-up area). Each property is a study in tropical Zen style with exotic touches, and offers full access to the signature comforts, services and amenities available at the adjacent W Retreat Koh Samui including W’s signature concierge service Whatever/Whenever®.

“There is a strong demand for lifestyle residences located in Thai resorts,” said Richard Skene, director of sales and marketing for Amburaya Hotels & Resorts. “The Residences at W Retreat Koh Samui offers an alluring combination of the W lifestyle brand and a stand-out location that is proving to be irresistible to potential owners.”

The Reflection's two residential towers promise luxury living to investors

As Pattaya continues to flourish as Thailand’s fastest growing centre for both Thai and foreign investors wanting a second home, Reflection, a new Jomtien beach condominium is setting the stage for new luxury residential real estate.

Due to Pattaya’s centrality to big city Bangkok life, Major Development PLC embarked to create yet another notorious development. Having been successful with the Fullerton and Manhattan projects in Bangkok, the Reflection is intended to demonstrate Major’s dominance in the Thai property market.

With the intention to become the city’s most prestigious landmark, the Reflection resides as the first and only “high-end skyscraper.” Pronounced as a “super luxury condominium,” the Reflection promises to be epitome of Jomtien Beach opulent living. This two-tower property will include units ranging from 58-205 sqm while the penthouses will go from 180-340 sqm.

With 55 storeys and 102 units in the Ocean Front tower and 42 storeys and 233 units in the Garden tower, Reflection will be ready for occupation in 2013.

Property prices in Singapore could drop five to ten per cent this year forecast some analysts in the city, reports Channel NewsAsia. Others say interest remain string and there could even be more cooling measures on the way.

The president of the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (REDAS), Wong Heang Fine, said they were cautious going forward and that everything depended on how the global economy will fare in the coming months.

Recent URA data showed prices moderating for the ninth consecutive quarter with rental prices also declining.

However, recent launches have seen strong interest, indicating that demand is still there and tentative reports on January sales were also positive. REDAS warned however that the healthy figures do not indicate how the rest of the market will perform this year.

“I think January figures, you must look at it more in perspective. Actually January figures are generated by the new launches of two or three projects. So the numbers itself does not really reflect the entire state of the market,” he said.

An impression of Ideo Morph 38, which is currently 50 per cent sold.

Property developer Ananda Development Co., Ltd plans to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in order to mobilise THB4 billion (US$129.3 million) for projects worth a combined THB10 billion (US$323.2 million) to be launched in the second half of this year, reports The Bangkok Post.

The IPO will be made in March or April and Bualuang Securities and Seamico Securities will be financial advisors to the deal.

Ananda Development president and chief executive, Chanond Ruangkritya, said the IPO will target institutional investors as they are less sensitive to economic changes and market volatilities than retail investors. He expressed confidence in the SET Index, which yesterday showed around 1,000 points and added that if positive sentiment continued the IPO would go ahead and the company would launch new projects afterwards.

Going forward, 75 per cent of Ananda Development’s portfolio will consist of condominium developments while the remainder will be low-rise projects. The company has set a target to achieve net profit of THB2 billion (US$64.8 million) with a 15 per cent yearly growth rate. Locations for the new condominium projects will be concentrated near mass transit routes while the low-rise projects will be located in Bang Na area.

January saw sales with THB500 million and the company plans a total sales volume to hit THB16.5 billion (US$534.6 million) this year. New Ideo projects with units worth THB6 billion will be delivered this year: The Morph 38, Blu Cove Sukhumvit, and The Verve Sathorn, which have sales of 50 per cent, 75 per cent and 75 per cent repectively.

Projects in the pipeline include four new condominium projects worth a total of THB10 billion and located in Phaya Thai, Sukhumvit soi 81, Krung Thon Buri, and Rama IX.

Due to a tightening of policies, China's luxury apartment value has chilled

According to Jones Lang LaSalle’s latest Q4 2011 Asia Pacific Residential Index, which follows eight luxury residential markets within the region, there was on average a 0.2 per cent increase in capital value in the fourth quarter of 2011.

While Beijing, Bangkok, Jakarta, and Mumbai witnessed an increase, and Kuala Lumpur and Singapore remained stable, Hong Kong and Shanghai slumped.

While Jakarta had an over 14 per cent growth in 2011 from high-end residential prices from the flourishing economic growth of Indonesia, Hong Kong’s prices were edged down 3.3 per cent in 4Q 2011 from a tendering investment sentiment and more constricted credit.

Going forward, Jane Murray, head of Asia Pacific Research at Jones Lang LaSalle stated, “We expect a multi-speed luxury residential market in the Asia Pacific region in 2012.  We think prices in China will soften further, though developers are likely to introduce only moderate price discounts due to limited supply in prime locations. Prices in Hong Kong and Singapore are expected to decline over the year due to projected rental correction, tighter credit and government measures; that said generally low holding costs will limit the extent of price correction. Whilst prices in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok are expected to stay flat, we anticipate Jakarta prices to be boosted by Indonesia’s strong economy.”

Luxury condominiums still remain to be flourishing in Manila’s property market due to a resurgence of expatriate buyers, reports the Malaya Business Insight.

According to executive director of CBRE Philippines Asset Services, Jose Luis Matti III, “You can’t buy large pieces of land in Metro Manila anymore so the next closest thing would be a luxury residential condominium.”

While luxury condominiums prices are dependent on per square meter, they usually run between P175, 000 (US$4,000) to P225, 000 (US$ 5,271).  In addition, condominiums that are larger than 200 to roughly 300 sqm also classify into the luxury category.

According to a CBRE residential market report conducted in the 2011 third quarter, rental prices for residential houses such as Forbes Park were approximately P350, 000(US$ 8,194) to P500, 000 (US$11,706) per month as in Dasmarinas Village, the average price of a rental was P300,000 (US$7,024) to P400,000 (US$9,365).

Executive director of the CBRE global research and consultancy group, Victor Asuncion, said that from 2009 to 2011, the take-up of luxury condos ranged from 67 to 71 per cent.

With no shortage of luxury condominiums, such as Raffles Residences of Ayala Land and KSA turning over 220 units this year plus 90 units available after JTKC Land’s Discovery Primea in 2013, reinforces how the expatriates population has become the driving force for the development of luxury residential condominiums across the nation.

In addition to the expatriate community, individuals that come from great affluence whether it’s old, family money, or attributed to familial ties to corporations have always been the leading buyers in luxury condominiums.

In an effort to maintain Kuala Lumpur’s youth and vibrancy, a new housing loan scheme for those who qualify in the low and middle-income bracket will be effective as of March 1.

Nevertheless, financial limitations and geographic boundaries would have to be clearly defined as well as a succinct and well-defined proposal that blatantly outlined the terms and conditions.

Risk management is also seriously being taken into consideration, as this new scheme will be quite appealing to those who were unable to obtain bank loans due to a lack of consistent income and/or personal reasons.

The new scheme will also include units constructed under the National Economic Action Council’s People Housing Programme and City Hall’s public housing programme.

“In Kuala Lumpur, many young people are now moving to other places because of high costs of living, and transportation issues. This scheme can attract people from elsewhere to live and work in the capital, and retain those already living here,” said Yam.

BBR Holdings Ltd in Singapore expected strong sales for their new luxury flats, Nassim Hill, located in an exclusive neighbourhood near Orchid Road. The triplex apartments come with private roof top pools and gardens but demand is dwindling due to cooling measures introduced by the government. The company has sold 9 out of 16 units so far, at an average price of S$10 million (US$7.9 million).

BBR still hopes to report a 5 per cent rise in net profit last year aided by construction work for government projects.

Andrew Tan chief executive officer of BBR believes the company should look at different areas for investment and focus more of its sales efforts on Chinese buyers.

“We have shifted the focus from European to Chinese buyers as the Chinese buyers are really rich and they also have their own (property) restrictions. If they are looking for a place to park their funds, they would want a place that is stable, so Singapore and Hong Kong is where they would look,” he said.

BBR is also looking to develop more mid-end residential apartments that cater to Singaporeans. The 140-unit Bliss@Kovan has sold nearly half of its units and the majority of buyers are Singaporeans

The company reported net profit of S$19.6 million (US$15.5 million) in 2010. BBR competes with construction and property firms such as Koh Brothers Group Ltd and larger rival CapitaLand.