Singapore’s property market only good for the newly-wed and the nearly dead

Retirement homes are selling like hotcakes.

By now everybody knows that property prices have fallen, but there's one segment of the property market that's still shining bright like a diamond--retirement homes.

According to Savills' Senior Director Alan Cheong, in early January, the market started off with stellar sales of the first 60-year leasehold residential development in Singapore. Located in the city fringe area, The Hillford, a retirement development project, saw all its 281 apartments snapped up on the first day of launch, at a median price of S$1,105 per sq ft.

Despite its shorter-than-usual tenure and specific design as a retirement development, the project attracted not only genuine buyers but also investors who were actively looking for the most affordable investment options to maximise their limited credit. After the implementation of the TDSR, the market’s appetite for large apartment units shrank. Thus, compact one- and two-bedroom apartments priced at an affordable quantum are more favoured by buyers than ever. 

This was one of the success factors of The Hillford, which also benefited from the encouraging take-ups at launches of other mass-market projects in the first two months of Q1/2014. These included The Panorama (48% or 58 units sold), Riverbank @ Fernvale (84% or 211 units sold) and RivertreesResidences (73% or 218 units sold). In addition, a high-end project, the 52-unit Cluny Park Residences, was reported to have received a number of commitments prior to its officiallaunch.