As of January this year, some residents of The Premiere @ Tampines have lived there for five years and are now allowed to sell their units. Being the first batch of premium flats from the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS), some units have been on the resale market for months now but hefty price tags are making deals unlikely.
For instance, several ads are spotted on ST Property where there are nearly 40 listings for units at The Premiere, with $800,000 for a five-room flat the highest asking price.
However, as of last Friday, the Housing Board's database shows that no resale deals for that project have been approved. Experts said most buyers are unlikely to accede to the high asking prices while sellers were probably testing the market with high exploratory prices.
Launched in 2006 to strong demand and welcoming its first families in January 2009, The Premiere was the pilot DBSS project. Under the scheme, public housing was designed and built by private developers, with high-end fittings such as built-in cabinets. Therefore, sellers of resale DBSS units may try to push for a premium because DBSS flats are positioned as premium flats.
In addition, with new projects unlikely, sellers might hope that their rare DBSS units can fetch higher prices in the market after the suspension of the DBSS scheme in 2011 due to a public outcry over expensive units.
However, unlike executive condominiums or private projects, DBSS flats are "non-gated" developments. Hence, it is unlikely that there will be many buyers willing to pay hefty prices for a resale unit.
In light of the current softened market tied with property curbs, sellers of The Premiere units should refer to the median prices of units in Tampines instead. Notably, the median price of a five-room flat in Tampines was $543,000 in the last quarter of 2013. This means to show that half of such flats were transacted for at least $543,000, giving DBSS resale flats a good gauge for their asking price.
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