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Call it a re-launch if you like.

Eleven @ Holland showroom is now open again but only on weekends. The great news is that prices has not changed since the official launch in June.

Hurry, to the showroom today at Holland Link.

On a side note, do you know that the new circle line mrt linking Paya Lebar MRT all the way to Botanic Garden, Holland Village, Haw Par Villa will be open on 8 Oct 2011?  Property prices along this stretch of MRT will go up.

Remember, Eleven @ Holland is also not far from Holland Village MRT Station.

Click on the picture to enlarge !

This is indeed an exciting news for residential owners staying in this district (District 10) at Bukit Timah area.  All the more at Eleven@Holland.

You can expect more retail shops to be open along the new Circle Line with lots of activity. Businesses are already planning ahead for the opening of the Circle Line. There will be a bigger crowd of people and night life.

You don’t even have to go to Mohamed Sultan or Clarke Quay to enjoy the live band music, the restaurants and al-fresco dining environment.

For those who prefer shopping, there are lots of shops and supermarket that you can visit. Some of these shops and supermarkets actually open for 24 hours to cater for busy people.

The atmosphere will be simply fantastic. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to own a property at Eleven@Holland for home-stay or investment. Expatriates will especially like the concept of resort-living lifestyle, yet able to enjoy the amenities available near their homes.  More news in the Straits Times.

This may be your last opportunity to view the site model and show flat — and also to accept the offer price by the developer. About 23% of the cluster semi-detached houses has been sold to date.

For those who had the opportunity of viewing the quality of the furnishings and decided to buy the property, the buyers know they have a good buy.

For those who have not seen it, please hurry to the showroom at Holland Link and quickly make your decision.

I’ll see you at the showflat on this Friday and the coming weekend.

Timothy Chew
CEA Reg. No. R021687B
KF Property Network Pte Ltd
Mobile: +65 91781178

Do you know that not far from Eleven@Holland is a stretch of old railway tracks that were once owned by Malaysia KTM (Kereta Tanah Melayu)?  It is actually at the bend from Old Holland Road towards Blackmore Drive, about less than 1km away. I believe you can actually ‘bashed’ through to get to the railway track and appreciate the nature and flora around the area.

Development plans are already on the way to redevelop the area for more roads, condominiums and shopping malls. My opinion is that there is already sufficient buildings in Singapore  for home ownership but not enough of greenery. Once destroyed, you can never re-create the beauty of mother nature. History and ecosystems will be gone forever.

I certainly hope that the Green Corridor at Bukit Timah will be preserved for old time’s sake. It can be used as a learning journey for future generation to learn history behind the railway track between Singapore and Malaysia. Perhaps one can use it to trek along the railway line towards Bukit Timah Hill. Let’s preserve our culture and history behind Bukit Timah as we all know that this is one place that is famous during the Japanese invasion of Singapore in 1942, being the last battle ground for the British soldiers.

If the plan to preserve the Green Corridor is achievable, buying a semi-detached home at Eleven@Holland is certainly a bonus. Don’t lose this opportunity to be near the Green Corridor.

Lend your support to https://www.facebook.com/thegreencorridor or visit http://www.thegreencorridor.org

Is there a difference between a leasehold and freehold property? Why buy 99-year leasehold when there are freehold landed properties?  Will the value of the 99-year leasehold landed property fall when one wants to sell later? For a landed property, which gives a better yield – freehold or 99-year leasehold?  These are some of the questions that goes through the minds of buyers.

In Singapore, the common tenures of private residential properties are 99-year leasehold, 999-year leasehold and freehold.  The main difference between a leasehold property and a freehold is that when one invests in a leasehold property – an owner is only conferred the right to the exclusive use and possession of the land for a fixed term whereas in the case of a freehold property, an owner will have the full ownership of the land and the property in perpetuity.

99-year leasehold property is priced lower than the freehold landed property due to the limited supply of freehold land as most land sales released by the government are leasehold. As long as the leasehold properties are affordable, there is always a market for 99-year leasehold landed private properties. Where capital gain is concerned, by assuming all other conditions being equal, the price appreciation of a 99-year leasehold landed property will always grow in tandem with its freehold counter-part.  This is because property prices will always move in the same direction based on market demand.

When a tenant lease a property, the tenure of the property does not affect his decision to lease, neither would the price at which the property was purchased.  A tenant is only concerned with the location, the condition of the rented unit, fully furnished or partially furnished, near MRT or amenities and most importantly, the rent.  Typically, yields for a freehold property is in the 3.5 – 5% range, whilst that of a leasehold property is in the 5 – 6% band.  From the viewpoint of yields, a 99-year leasehold landed property commands higher returns than a freehold. Another consideration to take note is that when purchasing a 99-year leasehold property that is cheaper than a freehold property means borrowing less from the banks and that ultimately translates to paying less interest.

Buying a home: freehold vs leasehold

Fri, Dec 04, 2009
The Business Times

By Nicholas Mak

THE question of whether to own freehold or leasehold property seems a perennial one, with pros and cons shifting with market cycles and new trends. Here, we examine the issue from the perspective of both a home owner and investor, and see how both tenures perform in rising and falling markets as well as in collective sales.

The chief attraction of 99-year leasehold property is that it is typically priced lower than a comparable freehold property. As a result, they are popular with HDB upgraders as entry-level private properties. Most mass-market homes are 99-year leasehold condominiums, with prices ranging from $500 per sq ft to $900 per sq ft. A typical family-size apartment could cost anything from $600,000 to $1.2 million.

For investors, leasehold properties usually offer a higher rental yield because of their lower capital cost. However, the higher yield merely compensates the owner for the decaying lease.

One of the more apparent disadvantages of owning a 99-year leasehold property is that the length of the lease is contracting daily. All else being equal, this would result in falling property value. However, certain external factors could slow the decline in value, such as if the property is sought after by tenants or buyers. This could be due to a prime location, improving infrastructure (such as a proposed MRT station nearby), or good amenities or popular schools in the vicinity.

When it comes to collective sales, there are usually fewer opportunities for them with 99-year homes. One reason is that many of them are still relatively new and in good condition. Thus, the owners do not feel any urgency to sell their homes collectively.

A more pertinent reason is that the premium payable to the government to top up a 99-year lease is quite high, based on the existing formula. And since developers factor the premium as part of the total land cost, the higher the premium the less the owner of the ageing leasehold would get in any collective sale.

As such, collective sales are not attractive to many owners of 99-year leasehold apartments unless the expense of maintaining their ageing properties are so high that a collective sale becomes the cheaper alternative.

A key benefit of owning freehold real estate is that the land value does not generally depreciate in the long term. Although all properties are subject to market fluctuations, the price of freehold land tends to be more stable than that of leasehold land over time. However, the value of a freehold property could still decrease over time due to the depreciating value of the ageing building. Over the long term, while the value of freehold land may increase or remain little changed, the value of the building would decline.

One factor that supports the value of freehold land in Singapore is its scarcity. Since all the land sold by the government is leasehold, the amount of freehold land would not increase. In fact, it might shrink over time if the government makes acquisitions of such land.

Another advantage of owning a freehold property is the potential of a windfall from a collective sale. If the value of the freehold land increases while the value of the ageing building declines, it could reach a stage where the redevelopment value of the property is worth more than the utility value of the existing building. As a result, the property owners may find a collective sale of their property to a developer to be highly profitable.

Some developers looking to acquire residential land for development may also prefer freehold land to ageing 99-year leasehold property because freehold land would not require the payment of a hefty premium for extending the lease.

For all these reasons, freehold residential properties are generally priced higher than 99-year leaseholds. The price range of freehold non-landed properties is also wider than that of comparable leasehold properties. Depending on the location, freehold property prices could vary from $600 psf to $4,000 psf or more. The majority of high-end residential properties are freehold.

For investors, one disadvantage of freehold property is the lower rental yield, a function of the higher cost of the property.

Also, while freehold properties have a higher likelihood of a collective sale than their leasehold counterparts, that can prove to be a double-edged sword. The property boom of 2005 to 2008 whipped up a collective sale frenzy. But some property owners who sold for a windfall found they could not get a replacement home in the same location from their proceeds. As the collective sale boom was powered by surging property prices, by the time en-bloc property sellers received their proceeds, the prices of comparable replacement homes would have moved out of reach.

Now, we look at the price performance of freehold and leasehold properties. Although freehold properties are usually priced higher than their leasehold counterparts, their rate of appreciation does not always outperform.

There were two property cycles between end-1998 and mid-2009. The first market boom, which started at end-1998 and ended in mid-2000, was a bottom-up price recovery. Demand started in the mass-market sector and moved up to the mid-tier and finally the high-end segment.

During this 18-month period, the average price of 99-year condominiums rose faster than that of freehold homes. The average price of freehold condominiums grew by 38.2 per cent, while the average price of 99-year leasehold condominiums surged by 46.2 per cent.

But on the way down, leasehold home prices also fell more steeply. On the downcycle between mid-2000 and the first half of 2004, the average price of leasehold condominiums fell 26.1 per cent, steeper than the freehold price decline of 17.6 per cent.

The most recent boom that lasted four years from mid-2004 to mid-2008 started with high-end property and gradually filtered down to the mass market.

Even when the mass-market sector started to pick up in 2007, the momentum in the high-end segment did not let up. As a result, freehold condominium prices jumped by an impressive 64.7 per cent on average, while the average leasehold property price rose some 50 per cent.

When the property market here started to contract in mid-2008 due to the global financial crisis, freehold condominium prices fell 26.5 per cent year on year, just slightly more than 99-year leaseholds, which dropped by 23.8 per cent.

What this study shows is that if the upswing in the property market is bottom-up, leasehold condominiums could outperform freehold ones. Conversely, if the boom is top down, freehold condominiums would deliver superior results. However, this study also illustrates that the faster the rise, the harder the fall. So in a top-down property boom, owners of freehold condominiums who had enjoyed a sharper price appreciation should be nimble enough to lock in their gains before the downtrend sets in.

In comparing freehold and leasehold residential properties, there is no conclusive evidence to show that one is better than the other. Ultimately, the decision boils down to budget and preference.

This article was first published in The Business Times.

The Act seeks to strike a balance between giving Singaporeans a stake in the country by being able to buy and own residential properties at affordable prices, while attracting foreign talent by allowing permanent residents, foreign companies and limited liability partnerships that make an economic contribution to Singapore to purchase such properties for their occupation.

The Land Dealings (Approval) Unit administers the provisions of the Act and its rules by:

• processing applications from foreign persons for approval to acquire or retain restricted residential property;
• issuing clearance certificates to Singapore companies, limited liability partnerships and societies;
• prosecuting offences under the Act; and
• dealing with general enquiries relating to the operation of the Act.

Under the Act, a foreign person means any person who is not any of the following:

• Singapore citizen;
• Singapore company;
• Singapore limited liability partnership; or
• Singapore society.

If a foreign person is interested in purchasing a restricted residential property, the application form can be downloaded from the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to be completed and submitted together with the relevant supporting documents to:

Enjoy the music clip and presentation on Eleven@Holland. You find another one under Gallery.

Victor Ow, the self-made niche property developer, investor, designer and builder, unveils his largest cluster housing development in the prime Holland Road neighbourhood — the 82-unit Eleven@Holland.

Read all about it…