The government’s surprise release of new property cooling measures has left many homeowners jittery, especially those planning to go en bloc.
This comes as the fate of their collective sale bids has now become uncertain, given that developers are expected to take a cautious stance in bidding for new sites.
Huttons Asia’s Head of Investment Sales, Terence Lian revealed that he has received over 30 calls from concerned homeowners wondering how the measures would affect market sentiments as well as the progress of their collective sale, reported Today Online.
With this, Lian has set meetings for two large sites – Kensington Park on Wednesday (11 July) and Pine Grove on Thursday (12 July) – to discuss the impact on the development and the actions that could be taken to ensure their collective sale bids will proceed smoothly.
With a reserve price of $1.65 billion, the 660-unit Pine Grove near Ulu Pandan Road is seeking the consent of the last 20 or so units before the site could be launched for sale.
The 310-unit Kensington Park in Serangoon Gardens, on the other hand, has a reserve price of $1.05 billion and is persuading around 10 percent more of the homeowners to agree to the collective sale.
The collective sales committees at Cavendish Park and Laguna Park in Marine Parade are also set to hold a meeting to discuss the impact of the measures.
“We are talking to our marketing agent. We will let them advise (and) consider if there are any actions to be taken” said Tony Sum, the collective sale committee chairman at Laguna Park.
Despite the concerns, some homeowners believe that an en bloc sale is still the way to go for their developments.
“To me, the ABSD is very small. If you really need (to buy) a property, paying S$50,000 or more (for the stamp duty) doesn’t matter,” said a 67-year old Pine Grove residents, who refused to be identified. He noted that residents will still gain more from a collective sale than through the current open market.
Leonard Jayamohan, a member of the collective sale committee for Mandarin Gardens, concurs, “We don’t see a major problem… I would say a lot of people have a negative view, but we see that it is even better for us. Developers are going to focus (and) look for something that is worth their time and money.”
With a site area of more than one million sq ft, Mandarin Gardens has a $2.5 billion reserve price and is expected to be attractive to big property developers, he added.
Senior Content Producer, Christopher Chitty, edited this story.
