A total of 96 units at The Premiere @ Tampines, Singapore’s maiden Design, Build and Sell Scheme project, have changed hands in the resale market. More DBSS units will come onstream next year as projects such as City View @ Boon Keng and Park Central @ AMK fulfil their five years minimum occupation period (MOP). Although this pioneer batch of sellers pocketed hefty profits of between $200,000 and $300,000, sellers of resale HDB flats beat them in terms of profit margin.
Four-room flats at The Premiere were launched at an average price of $344,000 back in 2006. In 2014 and 2015, four-room flats in the project changed hands at an average price of $577,000, netting sellers an imputed profit of $233,000, or 68% (see Table 1).
Table 1
Meanwhile, four-room resale HDB flats that are within 500m of Tampines MRT station sold for $259,000 on average in 2006. In 2014 and 2015, they were transacted at an average price of $483,000, reflecting a price upside or imputed profit of 86%. While sellers of HDB resale flats paid a much lower price for their properties, they have the opportunity of netting profits of more than $200,000, on a par with DBSS sellers at The Premiere, resulting in a bigger profit margin. The trend is also observed for five-room units.
In fact, the overall price of resale HDB flats in Tampines, including those not located near the MRT station, has fared as good as, if not better than, The Premiere. The average price of resale four-room flats in Tampines as a whole appreciated 78% between 2006 and 2014/15 while that of five-room resale flats was up 77% over the same period.
The DBSS was first introduced by then Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan in 2005 to involve developers in the building of public housing and to offer buyers with higher disposable incomes a wider variety of housing. Because of their better design and finishes, DBSS projects usually command a higher premium than Built-to-Order and resale HDB flats. Sale of DBSS sites has been discontinued since 2011 following a public outcry over the hefty price tags of newer projects. Thirteen DBSS projects have been launched to date, out of which only The Premiere at Tampines has hit the resale market, having fulfilled its five-year MOP more than a year ago.
HDB resale projects offer better rental yields
Four- and five-room units at The Premiere command relatively lower rental yields ranging from 4.4% to 5.3% compared with nearby resale HDB flats, which posted rental yields of above 5.5% based on the transactions over the past year (see Tables 2 and 3). Rental yields for The Premiere and nearby resale HDB flats were generated using the “Location Scan” tool on TheEdgeProperty.com. The tool allows users to scan for properties within a 100m to 3km radius of a selected location or landmark, and obtain information on their prices, rents and yields.
Table 2
Table 3
Notwithstanding the stronger price and rental performance of resale HDB flats, many DBSS projects still hold the trump card of being located in central areas and near MRT stations. Early DBSS projects have also ridden the HDB price rally over the years. It is quite safe to say DBSS projects City View @ Boon Keng and Park Central @ AMK, which will hit the resale market next year, will net profits for their sellers. Notably, new resale HDB flats near City View @ Boon Keng and Park Central @ AMK were recently transacted above the launch price of the two projects (see Table 4).
Table 4
Source: HDB, The Edge Property
Click here to search for properties within 500m radius of The Premiere
This article appeared in The Edge Property Pullout of Issue 694 (September 14) of The Edge Singapore.