Developers of completed condominiums are again offering sweeteners to home hunters that proved successful in shifting unsold apartments last year.
Real estate agents told The Straits Times that one of the latest projects to offer a deferred payment scheme – an attractive proposition to many buyers – is TG Development’s The Peak@Cairnhill II.
Two other projects that have been on the market for some time – CapitaLand’s Sky Habitat and Ardmore Three by Wheelock Properties – also rolled out such a scheme recently to woo buyers.
The Peak@Cairnhill II, a 60-unit freehold condo near Orchard Road, was launched for sale on Monday, offering a 15 per cent discount and an enhanced deferred payment scheme, where buyers pay a 20 per cent downpayment and have two years to exercise the option-to-purchase.
“In the meantime, they sign a master tenancy agreement with the developer which allows them to rent out the unit and get a rental income,” said PropNex Realty branch district manager Dominic Lee, who is marketing the project.
He said the property tax and maintenance fee payable during the two-year period will also be absorbed by the developer.
All units at The Peak@Cairnhill II are two-bedders, with the smallest unit type, at 829 sq ft, going for $2.085 million.
The average selling price after factoring in the discount was about $2,550 per sq ft, he said.
Good response to creative marketing schemes, including deferred payment, at OUE Twin Peaks last year had sparked similar moves by other developers to move unsold units at completed projects.
Since its sales relaunch last April, the 462-unit OUE Twin Peaks sold about 220 apartments as of the end of last month, based on caveats lodged, noted real estate agency OrangeTee.
Last June, CapitaLand rolled out its own version of a deferred payment scheme, known as the stay-then-pay programme, at two mega projects, d’Leedon and The Interlace.
CapitaLand said the programme, which was “well-received”, had been extended to its 509-unit Sky Habitat project in Bishan this month.
Units available under the stay-then-pay plan include two- to four-bedroom apartments ranging from 1,012 sq ft to 2,228 sq ft.
OrangeTee told The Straits Times that Wheelock Properties has also this month introduced a deferred payment scheme at its high-end condo Ardmore Three – which still had about 25 unsold units at the end of last month.
Two other projects being marketed by ERA Realty Network are also offering incentives.
They are Corals at Keppel Bay ($50,000 off prices of selected units) and One Balmoral (13 per cent discount on prices of all units).
Despite the prospect of more completed projects coming on the market with innovative sales schemes, analysts do not expect demand for newly launched condos to be hard hit.
The completed projects make up “a very small percentage of the primary sales market”, noted ERA key executive officer Eugene Lim.
wongsy@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on MONTH DAY, 2017.
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