Bedok, Punggol, Pasir Ris seen as top investment areas

Inventory build-up fast tracks formation of new housing clusters in many suburban areas, says Savills.

Here’s from Savills Research Team:

During the previous 2007 property boom, homes launched in the city fringe areas such as Novena,
Balestier, Geylang, West Coast and Telok Kurau sold well due to their affordable price tags. The numerous small-format units which promise high rental yields have also lured investors.

Today, these areas have developed their own private communities with the completion of these housing projects.
Currently, suburban planning areas like Bedok (Reservoir), Punggol and Pasir Ris are becoming increasingly popularamong buyers as more amenities and infrastructure come on stream. Rising prices of new homes in the city fringes have shifted demand to the suburban areas.

 Hence, the release of more private land parcels in emerging towns like Punggol, Sengkang and Pasir Ris should whet the appetites of HDB up- graders living in these areas.

New housing clusters

Compared with stock in Q4/2011, Punggol records the largest increase in private homes (where no private condominiums had been built previously), followed by Downtown Core (93%), Sengkang (89%), Pasir Ris (81%), Yishun (68%) and Sembawang (63%). Suburban planning areas currently have the largest increase in home supply.

In Punggol, the spike in new housing units came from the huge supply of GLS sites which spawned developments like Watertown (992 units) and A Treasure Trove (882 units).

In Sengkang, major launches include The Luxurie (622 units), Riversound Residence (590 units) and H20 Residences (521 units).

Together with Sengkang, Punggol has repositioned itself as a vibrant new town for young executives aspiring to own private homes within reasonable budgets, such as ECs. In fact, more than 3,600 EC units have been launched in these two planning areas alone from Twin Waterfalls (728 units), Prive (680 units), RiverParc Residence (504 units), Esparina Residences (573 units), Austville Residences (540 units) and Riversound Residence (590 units). As the government has lifted the qualifying income ceiling and raised the allocated units to 30% for second-time owners, many of these

ECs have attracted a large number of buyers, despite their prices being at an historical high.
In Yishun, major launches included Eight Courtyards (654 units), The Estuary (608 units), The Miltonia
Residences (410 units), The Canopy (406 units) and The Springside (253 units).

In Sembawang, the only two major launches were The Nautical (435 units) and Canberra Residences (320 units). Notwithstanding the limited amenities and being far from the city centre, sales have been fairly brisk for these two planning areas because selling prices have remained relatively attractive.