En bloc reforms may spark more deals, but not a repeat of 2018 boom cycle
Collective sale reforms may help more elderly owners of ageing properties to cash out their assets.
Singapore's authorities have introduced measures to revive the collective sales market, which has been sluggish since the 2018 boom cycle. These policies include extending the deadline for developers to sell large redevelopment sites and lowering the consent threshold for older properties. The extension of additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) remission timelines for large redevelopment projects will give developers more confidence to acquire bigger sites.
Projects between 40 to 59 years old will have their consent threshold lowered to 70 percent, while those 60 years and older will have it lowered to 65 percent. While these reforms could potentially stimulate more collective sales, developers will still factor in residual land value, construction costs, financing conditions, and expected selling prices when making bids.
Developers remain cautious about unrealistic reserve prices and will not pay more just because the rules have become more favorable. Lower consent thresholds could help revive collective sales by reducing the reliance on the government land sales programme for housing supply. However, sellers must remain realistic about pricing to ensure developers are willing to participate.
Despite these changes, some hurdles remain in the collective sale market, and sellers need to weigh the trade-offs against their desire for a significant windfall.
Written by urgent.news from Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
