Lendlease bullish as it makes first foray into housing market in Singapore

SINGAPORE – Australia-listed developer Lendlease, making its first foray into the private residential market in Singapore, is bullish about demand for its Park Place Residences project, which will be part of the 3.9-hectare Paya Lebar Quarter development.

Lendlease’s chief executive for Asia, Mr Tony Lombardo, said on Thursday (March 9) the property market here is set to pick up, benefiting from pent-up demand after prices fell in the last few years to make housing more affordable. The clarity that the property cooling measures will remain in place also means that it is a “good time to launch projects,” he said.

Lendlease, a familiar name in Singapore with malls such as Parkway Parade, 313@Somerset and JEM, on Thursday said it is targeting to launch Phase 1 sales of Park Place Residences on March 25. The show suite will be open to the public from March 11.

The condominium is part of the centrally located mixed-use development which also includes a retail mall and three office buildings. The 429-unit condominium consists of 117 one-bedroom apartments priced from S$780,000 onwards; 234 units of two-bedroom apartments priced from S$1 million; as well as 78 units of three-bedroom apartments priced from S$1.6 million.

While Lendlease is putting up all units of Park Place Residences for selection, it intends to sell about 40 per cent of its stock in the first phase. The remaining units will be released in tandem with future announcements on the commercial towers, retail mall, as well as the larger Paya Lebar Central area, the developer said.

“I do expect greater activity in the housing market in the next 12 months… Over the last 36 months, we have seen prices come off and over the last three years, we have seen volume bottoming out. Now we have started to see volume pick up, so the (residential property) releases this year have seen pretty good activity. So my view is that the market is bottoming or has bottomed out, and we should start to see the market improving from here on,” Mr Lombardo said.

“I think the market has finally accepted that the Singapore government won’t change the rules of the game and the (property cooling) measures are here to stay. So, people who think they want to buy should buy… Financing is at a sweet spot as well and the mortgage market looks robust. So, (it is a) good time to launch projects,” he added.

Mr Lombardo acknowledged that impending mortgage rate hikes, likely to follow the expected US interest rate increases this year, will have a direct impact on the property market here. Analysts expect the US Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark overnight rate target by 25 basis points to between 0.75 and 1 per cent next week.

“It will have an impact, but we are doing something different here,” Mr Lombardo said, pointing at the new condominium which is part of an integrated mixed-use development built on a live-work-play concept.

Park Place Residences is not subject to Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty rules as it is located within a commercial zone, said Mr Richard Paine, the managing director of Paya Lebar Quarter.

“With strong project attributes, we are confident that units in the condominium will translate into long-term investment opportunity and yield great returns in the long run for buyers,’’ he added.