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By Uma Shankari
SINGAPORE - Developers here plan to launch another 34 residential developments with more than 8,800 units by June 2011, data compiled by Knight Frank shows.
Most of the new projects rolled out will be mid-tier and high-end developments. Knight Frank's list shows that 21 out of the 34 possible launches are located in the upmarket districts of 1, 2, 4, 9, 10 and 11.
Developers BT spoke to trust that the latest round of government measures to dampen demand for private homes and HDB flats announced on Aug 30 will impact mostly mass market homebuyers.
They are hopeful that new launches, which are mostly for homes in the mid-tier, high-end and luxury segments, will see healthy take-ups.
'I believe that the hardest hit projects will be the mass market ones,' said EL Development managing director Lim Yew Soon. 'For the mid to high-end projects, the impact will be somewhat lesser.'
The large number of upcoming mid-tier and high-end developments is not a reaction to the latest round of property measures, developers and analysts said. Rather, having pushed out numerous projects targeted at upgraders, many property groups are left with pending mid-tier and high-end project launches.
CB Richard Ellis executive director Joseph Tan said that many developers who bought mass market sites launched them within nine-12 months, with some even pushing out their projects in six-seven months to ride on the exuberant upgrader market.
'The fourth quarter will see more of the mid to high-end launches,' Mr Tan said.
Added one developer: 'Most developers rushed to launch mass market projects last year when that segment of the market was very hot, so there are mostly mid-tier and high-end projects that are waiting to be launched now anyway.'
But, many developers did not want to commit to a firm launch date - even though in some cases, showflats are ready and brochures have been printed.
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