Singapore Property Weekly Issue 330
Singapore Property Weekly Issue 330
Singapore Property Weekly Issue 330
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SINGAPORE PROPERTY WEEKLY Issue 330
Collective sale hopefuls are probably inspired better offer, but because of the fear of
by the recent successful deal at Tampines missing the boat.
Court. The ex-HUDC deal managed to be
It reminds me of the famous 1966 movie The
closed at S$970 million after two failed
Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Fortune seekers
attempts in the past. This is no doubt a
are trying their luck to bag their pot of gold,
heartwarming win for the owners who stand
but this time from selling their home.
to pocket $1.71 million to $1.75 million each
for their unit. It sends encouragement and The Good
positive signals to home owners who have In my previous blogs posts, I also talked
failed to sell en bloc that its time to try again. about the good, the bad and the ugly in my
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly personal encounters of going through the
process of collective sale in two of my
I have covered the collective sale topic in my
properties. Both projects were over 25 years
book No B.S. Guide to Property Investment:
of age. Many residents bought their units first
Like many hopefuls in an en bloc sale, it all
hand from the developer and have been
started with excitement and greed, then
staying there since the development obtained
gradually there were resistance and quarrels,
TOP.
and finally things ended in a mediated
consensus. It turned out that the majority of These owners were already in their 50s. They
the residents agreed to sign, not because of a were either near retirement age or already
retired with grown-up kids.
2. It is a lot of work, stress and uncertainty Can they afford a similar or better unit in the
same location with the sum from the en bloc
The Collective Sale Committee has to engage
sale?
consultants, review proposals, agree on a
selling price, and above all, collect enough Will they miss the familiar environment and
signatures from the residents. Regular friendly neighbors they have had for many
resident meetings are called for in the years?
evenings and over the weekends. All of these
The Ugly
have to be completed under the pressure of
time. Every news article reports a successful en
bloc sale in a similar way: how much the
Many residents who face a collective sale of
project was sold for, what the estimated
their home are going through a lot of stress,
amount each owner can pocket is, which
tension, frustration and disappointment in the
developer paid the top price, what the
whole process of en bloc sale. When the sale
potential future project is, and so on.
finally goes through, residents have to deal
with the new uncertainties in the near future: The media is only covering part of the story of
a successful en bloc sale. Have they
Will they have sufficient time to find a new
interviewed the rest of the 20 percent owners
home given the timeline to move out of the
who voted No to sell their home?
old estate?
En bloc is a battle between the two camps of more shares of the condominium. There was
sell and stay owners. You will be surprised also a rumor that the fengshui of this place
how a quiet and peaceful housing estate was bad. This was followed by stories of
suddenly turns upside down when talk of harmful radiation from a rooftop antenna,
collective sale begins. terminal illness of a few residents, a suicide
case
En bloc is not a straight-forward business
deal. It is about money, greed, emotion, I am neutral to property investors who
uncertainty and fear. I shared my experience speculate in en bloc sale provided they
of the ugly side of an en bloc sale in my use honest means and show respect to
book No B.S. Guide to Property owners who hold a different view.
Investment:Objections came from a small
Is a collective sale good or bad for the
group of residents. They thought that it was
residential market?
almost impossible to find an equivalent
project with the same spacious layout and big The 2007 en bloc fever was caused by the
site area. There were also new owners who need of developers to refill their depleting
just settled down in their new home after a lot landbank. The 2017 en bloc fever is caused
of work doing the renovation. by the need of developers to refill their
landbank after being outbid by Chinese
Then unexpected things happened. People
developers.
were targeting owners of big units who owned
The property agencies, bank analysts and new en bloc sales in the market.
owners of old estates are all excited by the
revived collective sale market. It helps to fuel
the optimism of a market recovery after a
quiet market in the last few years.
If all of these home owners need a whether you are an industry stakeholder or a
replacement private residential unit, they are home buyer when you answer this question.
at most consuming only one-fifth of these
By guest contributor Property Soul, a
unsold units, not forgetting the fact that there
successful property investor, blogger, and
will be 12,700 new units to be launched in the
author of the No B.S. Guide to Property
next two years from the en bloc sites.
Investment.
What if many of the collective sale owners are
keeping the sale proceeds for retirement and
opt for a cheaper HDB home?
Non-Landed Residential Resale Property Transactions for the Week of Sep 11 Sep 15