Government releases four residential sites in one go

The government has released four more residential sites for sale, which can accommodate more than 1,200 private home units.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said yesterday that the potential land supply from the government’s land sales programme, as well as the supply from projects in the pipeline will be “more than sufficient to meet the demand for private housing”.

“The government will continue to monitor the property market closely,” it said. “If necessary, more supply can be injected via the second half 2010 government land sales programme to ensure that property prices are in line with economic fundamentals.”

Private home prices increased 7.4 percent in Q4 2009, following the 15.8 percent growth in the third quarter. Prices of private residential properties for the whole of 2009 rose by 1.8 percent.

Many analysts have said that the URA price index, which will be released in April, will likely show an increase in the Q1 2010 result, as more higher-value projects were sold in the current quarter of the year.

URA said that it is releasing three residential sites for sale located in Simei Street 3, Stirling Road and Boon Lay Way. URA last released three land sites for sale at one go in January 2000.

In addition to this, the Housing & Development Board (HDB) also plans to put a residential site in Tampines Road up for sale in the next two weeks. HDB is releasing the site as it was triggered by a bid from unknown developer.

Analysts said that the government’s “very rare” move of releasing four sites simultaneously was designed to emphasize its often-repeated point that the supply of land and homes in the country is more than enough to meet the demands.

The upcoming releases from the four land sites could also help reduce prices of private homes.

Colin Tan, research and consultancy director of Chesterton Suntec International, said that HDB and URA are coordinating their efforts and pushing out development sites quickly.

“This should stem the overly aggressive bids we have seen in recent weeks and also stem future price escalations from the supply side. Because if developers pay too much for their sites, their initial selling prices may be higher to recover the land cost,” said Mr. Tan.

URA’s three land sites can accommodate up to 1,180 private home units. The sites are “well-distributed across the island, namely in the west, east and central regions, to provide developers and home-buyers with more choice,” the agency said.

Two of the three land sites released by the URA yesterday, the one in Simei Street 3 and Boon Lay, were being offered through a confirmed list. The third site at Stirling Road was put into a reserved list, meaning it has to be triggered for sale before it will be launched.

Chua Chor Hoon, head of DTZ’s South-east Asia research team, said that the two sites on the confirmed list were both attractive. She estimates that the site in Boon Lay Way could fetch a price of $330-$390 psf of potential gross floor area, while the site at Simei could go for about $360-$410 psf of potential gross floor area.

HDB’s Tampines site could also receive strong interest. The land parcel will be put up for tender after a developer bid at least $6.5 million.

Updates from URA shows that the government has already sold four residential sites since January this year. These sites can potentially accommodate a total of 1,710 housing units.

Two more private residential sites – one in Upper Serangoon Road and another in Sembawang Road – will be put on sale next month through the confirmed list.

The fundamentals of fundamental analysis

When it comes down to a choice between technicals and fundamentals, technicals usually win out. Perhaps the main reason for this is because technicals are often easier to understand. Moreover, technical indicators are applicable to any traded asset, as long as there is price and volume information, and the interpretation is always the same. A moving average cross over is interpreted in the same way for oil or for a listed IT company.

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