A strong demand that boost the private residential market from HDB upgraders that met 5 years MOP

The number of residential sales from HDB upgraders who had fulfilled the minimum occupation period of five years had seen to boost the private housing market in the todays market.

As many as 80% of the local people live in group houses, many of whom aim to upgrade from group houses to private homes. From 2019 to 2022, there will be between 20,000 and 25,000 three-bedroom or larger units with a minimum tenancies from 2019 to 2022, significantly higher than the average of about 10,000 between 2017 and 2018, according to estimates provided to the United Morning Post by Huttons.

However, the number of MAP-filled units will fall from 2023, with only more than 11,000 expected for the full year and more than 8,000 expected in 2024.

From 2015 to 2019,  property developers had sold a relative high percentage of private residential properties according to Ma Junrong, head of industry research and consulting at ERA. Last year, for example, 47 per cent of buyers who bought non-land and land-owned private homes and implemented co-ed apartments (EC) were group home promoters, up 33 per cent from original private home tenants.

On the other hand, the travel restrictions implemented with the coronary disease epidemic have prevented developers from overseas publicity in order to attract overseas buyers, thus making group housing upgraders a major source of demand for developers.

Sun Yanqing, head of research and consulting at Orange Industries, said more people had resold group homes less than 10 years old in recent years, reaching 3,686 in the first eight months of this year, nearly four times more than the 749 in the same period in 2015. These people are likely to sell group homes in order to buy private homes.

Buyers who bought private homes for less than $800,000 and $800,000 to $1 million accounted for 18% and 21%, respectively.

In an effort to encourage buyers to buy cautiously in times of economic dodle and curb the rise in private home sales data, the government last week introduced new measures to limit developers from repeatedly re-issuing purchase rights to buyers who want to buy the same unit, which prohibits OTP from being repeatedly extended.

Regarding whether this restriction will have an impact on price-sensitive group home promoters, Mr Li pointed out that there are still many such buyers who do not have to extend the OTP period. China’s large liquidity, low loan costs, but also help to support the demand for private housing.

Mr Sun argues that it is forbidden to extend the OTP period several times or to affect some group house upgraders in the short term, as some buyers may need to raise funds or sell group homes for longer periods of time. However, there is no shortage of genuine buyers in the market, and demand from group house promoters will stabilize.

The areas most popular with group house promoters are mainly outside the Central District (OCR), which represents popular private homes, and other Central Districts (RPRs), which represent mid-range private homes. Best-selling projects include Treasure at Tampines, Parc Esta, JadeScape and The Florence Residences.

Taking Penrose, a new private housing project, as an example, developers have revealed that many are group home upgrades, with nearly 85 per cent of buyers singaporeans and others Singapore permanent residents and foreigners.

The 566-unit project, developed by Hong Leong Holdings in a joint development with City Developments Limited (CDL), sold more than 60 per cent of its units in its first weekend.

Clavon by UOL will be launching soon and expected to have high number of interest. More HDB upgraders will look forward to the launch date.