I hope you had a great start to 2024. And today we’re going to talk about one of the key transformation area. Of course, our viewpoint on this particular zoning. This area that we’re going to explore about is the Lentor area. Lentor is interesting as it is probably the newest township that is developing rapidly in the North region and with its new And I personally think that this is going to happen for Lentor as well based on how things are moving.
Lentor being a New Township has been one of the very exciting and popular zoning since 2022 when it first launched its first project, Lentor Modern. Let’s have a look at this particular area and then we’ll talk more about it. So for those of you who are not sure where is Lentor, this is in the North East Zoning. However, this Northeast Zoning is not towards like the far portion of Northeast where Punggol and Sengkang is. This is like towards the portion whereby it’s a little bit more centralised towards the Upper Thomson Zoning. It’s like a tuck right near towards the Yio Chu Kang Zoning, Ang Mo Kio Zoning as well as the Thomson Zoning. It’s also very near to Upper Pierce Reservoir. If you move northwards, that’s going to bring you to Springleaf area. In short, this an area that was not given much attention when you drive past. This sleepy area is fast becoming the next township that is growing rapidly.
Let’s have a look at the new MRT station, Thomson East Coast Line. This line leads you directly straight on towards the CBD Zoning at Marina Bay as well as Orchard. This is one of the lines that connects not just from this north area towards the central area, it also connects throughout the entire East Coast Belt. A lot of people are anticipating this line. A lot of East Coast residents are waiting for this and there are reasons on why this line is taking shape so much later compared to the other existing lines.
Lentor is already open, and this new zoning is called the Lentor Hillock Park. Later as we deep dive into the master plan, something to take note is that whenever you see this light orange kind of zoning, this is called residential zoning and later as we blow up even further, you start to realise that the master plan has changed for this entire zoning throughout the last revision of the master plan zoning in the sense that there’s going to be a lot more residential plots and why is that important is because whenever you look at plots, where the government is putting attention to. For example, like Hillock Park, this is going to be like a brand new concept with a lot of townships for private properties, centralized park right in the middle. Seems like a major transformation is taking shape and when we analyse properties, transformation is definitely key. That’s very near to the teachers’ estate, the Tagore region, as well as the entire Thomson, Yio Chu Kang, and Ang Mo Kio and Upper Thomson zoning. So this is like what we call like a brand new kind of branding. And branding sometimes is important in the sense that it creates new excitement to the area. There’s going to be like an integrated kind of retail, residential, as well as shopping. And that’s going to be Lentor Modern, which has a lot of units that has already been sold out. We’re going to talk more about all the developments right here. But for today, we’re going to focus on some of the new ones that are coming up, which is precisely this particular plot here, which is seemingly based on what we have so far, is one of the largest plot that is available. So let me just bring you up to speed for 2024 because 2024 has lesser new launches compared to 2023.
I’m going to deep dive a little bit into the disparity price performance of TOP versus new launch for this year and next year. And perhaps if you’re thinking about, hey, should we go for like a TOP project or maybe a new launch project? What is the PSF play that we’re looking at? What’s the quantum play that we’re looking at?
Upcoming projects as of the end of last year, if we look at some of the projects that will likely be launched this year, this year will have lesser launches compared to 2023. 2023, there are still a couple of balance units from the launches that started from the first quarter. And later, I promise you at the end of this article, when we deep dive into the cycle, I think you’ll have a clearer clarity on whether to go for a new launch or TOP or resale.
So let us have a look at Lentor transformation. As Mansion earlier, this area has been like a sleeping town. Why is that so? Predominantly when you tell people that you’re going towards Yio Chu Kang. This used to be like just a plot of greenery land. People will usually drive past all the way from Ang Mo Kio if you drive across towards Yio Chu Kang MRT and you want to cut across towards Casuarina where there’s like a famous row of eateries that sells roti prata into the night. There’s also like a shop that sells like a lot of nostalgic toys. So along Casuarina right beside Upper Pierce Reservoir there’s a very popular eatery place. There’s also like hawker center right across that road as well. So this area has not seen new launches for quite a fair bit of time. Deeper in, there’s also like Bullion Park, some of the projects is closer in towards the North-South Expressway.
URA decided to rejuvenate the place and then they launched this entire area called the Lentor Hillock Park Zoning. So I think what’s interesting is that there’s like a centralized park right in the middle, followed by all these plots of land that is for bidding and of course these are private properties. And plot ratio is pretty interesting. Predominantly the plot ratio is high here compared to surrounding because you are surrounded by mainly landed properties in the teacher’s estate. And if you look at this, you have plot ratios all the way from 3 .0 to 0 .8, 3 .0, 2 .1, 2 .1 and take note when developers bid for the land, they have to submit the concept for consideration. So the concepts are important to URA because they want to make sure that there’s no overcrowding here. There’s like a conceptualized kind of plan for this entire zoning to make it like a very viable township. So what we mean by a new township is this. Lentor Modern has already been launched by Guocoland. Lentor Hill Residences launched pretty well. There’s going to be a smaller plot right here that’s going to be launched in 2024, Lentoria with 265 units. This has also been successfully bidded by Guocoland with 475 units. And today we’re going to explore this because this is going to be launched soon in the first part of 2024. 533 units Lentor Mansion. And the number three reason why I think this is going to be interesting is because of this school which is CHIJ St Nicholas’ School. One of the most popular school right here which is also the key reason why projects such as Panorama has did so well. If you look at this radius right here from one map, basically this is the one kilometers radius. But if you look at Lentor Modern, Lentor Modern is not within the kilometers, but is an integrated project and it did very well, can come down straight onto all the shopping mall. And of course Lentor Modern being an integrated project is directly connected to Lentor MRT. And one of the MRT exits will lead you directly to Lentor Modern. You look at this plot right here, this is Hillock Green, this is Lentor Hills Residences. Some of the blocks are cut off, so predominantly probably about 80% of the blocks are hitting the one kilometers but subject to confirmation. I think if you hit it on the show flat, the developers and the sales people will be able to advise you which particular blocks are within the kilometer zoning.
This is exciting, huge plot right here but based on what we’ve seen so far, it seems like it’s like 90%, probably 95% covered right, only with the angular distance right there. So I think assumption is that most of the units are going to be within 1km which is going to be exciting news for a lot of families right here. So based on our research, Lentor Mansion is occupying the biggest land plot in the entire zoning of Lentor so far. It’s 68% larger than Lentoria, 48% larger than Hillock Green. So to put it things in the perspective, let’s just have a look at this table right here. So if you look at this, Lentor Modern 635 units.This land plot is about 17,279 square meters in terms of it’s site area. However, this is a different kind of USP because this is like the bread and butter project right there. And of course, when we look at integrated project, entire island has less than 6% of the condos being integrated. So integrated projects are rare, which is also a key reason why wherever integrated developments are launched, it gets snatched up very quickly by buyers. And then when you look at Lentor Hill Residences, 598 units, Hillock Green at 474 units. However, look at this, Lentoria has one of the smaller plots, 10,819 square meters, 267 units. But the interesting thing is right here, this is the largest plot, but the density is very well balanced at 533. You’re going to enjoy the largest plot which I think we don’t have like the exact information right here because it’s still pending release from the developer. But I think once the site plan is up, it’s going to be attractive in terms of the amount of green spaces that it can potentially have. Probably like the lap pool as well as like a fun pool area for the children. And perhaps I think definitely with the large length size, there’s going to be a tennis court in my own assumption. And of course, I think in terms of green spaces, lawn spaces, this are going to be some of the key punch points of this particular development. Based on what we have gotten so far in terms of some of the key USP, I think what is interesting is that this is going to be positioned as a luxury development. So if you look at Bugis, basically Guocoland has sort of shaped the entire kind of landscape in Bugis with its Midtown Modern, Midtown Bay, and of course the integrated development right there. And you have sort of shaped the combination of retail office units, residential units, and of course integrated with the Bugis MRT station. And we call this Guoco Midtown. So this area is going to be interesting in the sense that if you look at what’s happening to Bugis, Guocoland has technically transformed the landscape in Bugis area. So Bugis, of course, you have Guoco Midtown, you have Midtown Square, you have the office tower. right here. You have Midtown Bay right here, Midtown House, Guoco Midtown. This entire area is like a new concept combining residential office that’s going to be like retail zoning right here. It’s connected also to Guoco Midtown which is a residential project. Of course that is like within the entire very exciting Bugis zoning. If you were to drive through from Nicoll Highway, the moment you drive past it, this is a prominent building with a nice architectural right on the right hand side and this has shaped the entire landscape within Bugis zoning. I think what Guocoland aspired to do is of course if you look at this news… is that Guocoland is emerging as the “King of Lentor” according to some of the articles online.
So coming back to the luxury part, because of the fact that Lentor now has several plots right here within Lentor and of course that allows them to shape the whole transformation in a very intentional fashion and some of the key defining things is to have different themes for different condominium projects and Lentor Mansion has this luxury theme whereby you know sometimes when you talk about luxury, it’s not just about the design and of course luxury design is very important in terms of facade, the feel but it’s also about the facilities as well as the convenience that comes with it. All this in essence to gather form the luxury concept of course and when we look at Lentor Mansion based on the news that we have now, there’s going to be like a black and white colonial style clubhouse. If we need to, we can take reference from Guocoland’s mansion series of projects, Meyer Mansion that is located at Meyer road – Meyer Mansion. It seems that Guocoland has a particular series in their project naming, the Modern series, Mansion series. We have seen a couple of projects that bear certain similarities and this one is no exception. With mansion in its name, it seems that luxury is a definite.
The three bedrooms are also going to feature like a flexible room which is awesome and Lentor Mansion is certified as the Green mark Platinum Super Low Energy Project, one of the first GLS to be certified as Super Low Energy Certified Building. They basically wants to really make this a very exciting Lentor zoning and just by the hearing the name Lentor, I think the branding is already there because just by hearing it, I think people already know that it’s like a private residential estate and going back to the new township kind of concept is that new townships for example like Woodleigh because it started from scratch with BTOs and now with private properties. The potential of it setting new pricing characteristics is very high just like in the past when Bishan was first launched, new pricing characteristics was high similarly for Woodleigh and of course you have Canberra that you have new BTOs, you have new private properties and of course now with Lentor, this is a very different kind of setup. Why is it different is because predominantly you have a very strong landed enclave right here in teachers estate as well as further down we have Spring Leaf. You also have that school as the anchor in terms of parent’s attraction effect CHIJ St Nicholas. You also have the HDB properties that are doing well. In Ang Mo Kio, if you look at the amount of new BTOs and MOP properties right there, it is growing and continuously adding on to the stockpile of good performance of HDB properties. And because predominately, Ang Mo Kio being in a zoning that’s very near to the city centre is something that everybody loves in terms of its address. So with that combination factor plus one last factor is that it’s also near to the Upper Thomson area, D20, that makes Lentor very unique landscape because this is firstly brand new, new concept, beautiful architecture but surrounding all the existing owners that are owning landed properties or condos or HDBs, maybe they want to upgrade to this area or maybe they want to buy something for their children or maybe when their children grow up in the surrounding properties, they want to buy something new to live near to their existing family nucleus or for the very fact that people are moving from other parts of Singapore here towards the St Nicholas. parents attraction concept. And coming back to this article, what the king of lentor concept means is that because of the fact that when a developer owns majority of the plots within a new township zoning like lentor, which is like a new private property enclave, it could also mean that in terms of price control, as a developer’s point of view, towards the consumer’s responsibility portion, I can sort of have that feeling that, you know, even if I’m the early movers advantage, kind of buyers that bought into the first, second or third or fourth project. And in future, if there’s going to be other projects in Lentor.
What the “King of Lentor” kind of concept means is also that when a developer owns majority of the plots in a new private condo enclave township, it could translate to the fact that developers have to maintain their reputation. They have to ensure that for future launches, when they launch, they have to protect the price of the previous launches. And they also have to make sure that in terms of price stability, it is there. In terms of price, acceptability is there. And I think in terms of pricing, the Lentor pricing, in terms of PSF for new launches, just on Guocoland as well as other developers, it has already been set at that range of pricing, acceptability, just by judging on how much has been sold in the previous launches. I think on top of price, it’s also going to be a very exciting township because Guocoland has to maintain the quality, the standard and the design kind of intricacies in order to attract buyers and have that status as the king of lentor in the entire new zoning. Based on the information I have, there’s going to be a unique mix of two to five bedder. There’s going to be two zones, low and high rise, eight storey, all the way to 16 levels. Definitely this entire area is GLS. They’re all 99 years leasehold. Nowadays, I mean, like if you look at the landscape of new land plots, if you want freehold, you have to go for enblock sites. And of course, enblock sites, I think it would be boutique developments. If you want to hunt for like a high rise, big freehold, project, the PSF level should be of course of a different kind of price point.
GLS predominantly near to MRT stations and if you get a good plot, I think there’s an opportunity right here in D26 and if you look at this in terms of the land bids as well as the estimated breakeven price point, I think is of a nice entry point.
Okay, so if we compare Lentor Mansion, I think other than the fact that it has a huge land plot and the density is not as high, it’s not as maxed out. I think what’s going to happen is that if you look at the bit, the estimated break even is lower than Lentoria and Hillock Green and of course that is because of the new harmonization ruling. That was being discussed in another article.
Let’s talk about the Lentor potential in terms of URA master plan. Now, because it moves at a very fast pace, if you look at new developments over the years, the amount of MRT station that has been crafted and of course with this new North South highway, there’s going to be a a very exciting thing moving on towards 2030 whereby most of things will already be done we’re already in 2024 so in six years time we’re going to see like super well connected Singapore with even the cross-island line and things like that but importantly is that I think wherever the government is injecting money and injecting development funds through URA into our landscape that’s the area that we have to pay attention to. The MRT effect is the volume effect which is to buy at best properties there’s above 300 units in terms of overall volume and density so that you have a little bit more transaction volume where TOPs and moving forward towards the resale later I’ll show what happened to Panorama and of course parents attraction effect and one of the key development is that is there potential for growth in that area so if you look at URA this has a lot of potential right here a lot of new residential zoning. So what does this mean is that this is like the first new residential private property zoning to be developed with a concept planning. In future, I don’t know what’s going to happen here, but it’s already demarcated as residential zone. I think there’s going to be new concepts right here as well because I think URI is in the conceptualization kind of phase that they want to not just launch GIS land plots, they also want to launch homes with a concept so that it creates like better kind of work lift play living for Singaporeans as well as residents. So this I think is going to be exciting in the sense that whatever is going to be launched here, potentially if it’s going to be launched over the next 10 -20 years, PSF level will definitely be higher than what’s happening in Lentort which then gives opportunities right here towards Lentort. So things that are already happening, Punggol of course everybody knows that over the last 20 years is now like a wonderful township, Watertown, Punggol Integrated Development also see a lot of hype. Of course you have Long -Trump being starting to develop now and this is of course the Lentort zoning right here. You also on top of that you have commercial nodes as well as the Lita Aerospace or a good sub -regional center. Defu is going to be developed last but not least Lentor Hills of course is one of the very hyped zone right now and of course there’s a nature zoning. These are all part of URA’s plan to ensure that there’s a well balance of not just new residential and commercial plots but also nature has been preserved and well integrated into all the concepts. So when we talk about URA master plan, there’s this principle in terms of property investing as well is that wherever you see the government injecting funds to transform a new area, there’s also a very good indication to you know look at that part as a high priority location for investment. So when we look at the URA website of course this is on URA .gov .sg. This is the part about Lentor Hills and what is very interesting is that the Hillock Park is like the central note within this entire condo enclave. It’s going to connect every condo to the central green zone. And this is like the artist’s impression. Of course, now with the launches coming up, you can already start to see this taking shape. And this linear park is also going to link the residence here directly to Thomson Nature Park. So I think for families, even for couples or even if you want to, you know, just spend some time in the green zone, this is going to be a good combination of condo living, having the convenience with the MRT station, having shopping facilities within the same zone. And most importantly is that the green portion is being planted into the entire concept. So if we look at the performance of like Hilo Green, Hilo Green currently is about 31% sold as of date of filming. So you have about 68, 67%. Well, all these are subjected to change. And there was like a one to four beta kind of distribution right here. And when you look at Lentor Hill residences, currently is about 70% sold. Also a one to four bedroom kind of concept, Lentor Modern right now is about 97% sold. Now one question that might be on your mind is that hey, you know, there’s a couple of projects that’s being launched in Lentor, there’s also going to be future launches.
How do we look at the supply factor right here? So we want to talk about supply, we want to look at macro as well as micro. Let’s have a look at macro first, I promise you and we’ll hit straight into micro because we’ve already done charts to also think about this portion about the Lentor supply right there combining the older projects as well as the new ones that are coming up. So when we look at macro, it’s important to note that we are in Singapore, extremely land scarce. At this point in time, what has happened is that we need to look at the total residential inventory stock for all kinds of residential properties as well as the population that’s already living in Singapore. So every time we like to look at the three main product categories. So first product definitely will be HDB apartments. Currently, there’s about 1.239 million and of course it’s growing with new BTOs being injected into the supply every single year. And private properties in totality when we look at ECs plus condominiums and we usually categorize them together as private non -landed because anyway ECs after they hit the MOP plus the 10 year mark of MOP, they’re going to be fully privatized. So we just take it combined to be at about 360 over 1000 condo apartment units. And of course for landed 73 ,000 unchanged since the last 8 to 10 years because there’s no more new supply of landed homes. And importantly, when we zoom in to look at condos and apartment, the first macro view is to look at who are currently owning the condominiums right now. And it’s also important to note that in terms of transaction volume every year, we can just simplify it to note that every year there’s about 20 ,000 resale HDB transaction. There’s about 1000 plus to 2000 plus landed property transaction. In terms of condominiums resale, there’s about 10,000 resale transactions for condos and apartments for the new launches also about 10 ,000. So in totality, we are looking at about 40 ,000 in terms of transactions for the private residential market. And when we look at condominiums out of the 360 ,000 available units right now on the land of Singapore, we have about 5%, which is about 19,000 units of this condominium that are currently being owned by companies. And we have about 69,000 being owned by foreigners and PR residents. The rest about 270,000 units are being owned by Singaporeans. So what does this mean? This means that when you look at this, combining with the 15 rounds of cooling measures, one of the latest rounds is that there’s 60% ABSD for foreigners. And when you look at this 20% plus companies, companies also have to pay the same. Foreigners also have to pay the very high tier ABSD. And of course, when you look at this, the 25% right here is very likely that this 25%, which is about 80 over 1000 units of condominium apartments, is going to be very sticky. Why? Because this category of ownership if they were to sell, they cannot buy back. If they were to buy back, they have to pay the new ABSD of 60%. Most of them have already purchased before the 60% was introduced. They could have bought it when it was 7%, 10%, 12%, 15%, or even 30%. But this category is likely to hold their purchases, they’re going to hold their properties. They will just continue to rent it out, live in it or they will not exit it because they cannot buy back at the old ABSD. So we are looking at the revolving stock of this 270,000 units that are being owned by Singaporeans. And of course, every year, there’s only going to be about close to maybe 10,000 units being added into the stockpile. Maybe by the end of this year, there’s going to be 370 ,000. Next year is 380,000.
So on and so forth because government also controls GLS very closely. If you look at the latest news in 2024, first half of 2024, they’re going to only release this set of amount. And Singapore is a very different country compared to the rest of the world because land is being controlled by our government. They release it based on data. They want to make sure that there’s gradual growth and not have an oversupply situation whereby prices became stagnated. Like some other countries with enormous amount of land space. But being a scarce land Singapore, I think land is very well controlled. But let’s look at micro as well because on a micro level, maybe we are thinking, what about the overall supply just for land tour itself? So what we’ve done is that we have categorized and find out what are the projects within a kilometer from Lentor MRT station. And these are the projects right there with the number of supply indicated that. Of course, take note in Singapore, I would say that when you go to real list and look at the data, almost all projects that has been existent are filled up.
When you look at unsold completed units, in 2022, there’s only 121 unsold completed non -landed private residential units according to data from real list. This means that projects that has been done and TOP in the whole of Singapore as of 2022, there’s only 121 units that are unsold. Likely these are the CCR core luxury projects. And in most properties in like the rest of Singapore, it’s all already fully sold. It’s owned by somebody, it’s been rented out, it’s been stayed on. So let’s come back to the micro fashion. These are the projects right there. Most of them. are of a certain age category. So for example, when you look at Far Horizon Garden, it’s one of the older projects right there. Seasons Park is also pretty old of a certain age already. You have of course Castle Green, Novo used to be an EC, Bullion Park and of course these are the projects that are within a kilometers. But if I were to further shrink it down to really pure walking distance towards Lentor MRT station, then definitely all these new projects within that radius is going to be something that will be in a closer proximity. And if you were to lay them out in a sequential launch fashion, 2022 Lentor Modern and you have 2023 Lentor Hills Residences, Hillock Green, 2024 Lentor Mansion, Lentoria as well as the Lentor Central GLS Land Plot. In totality when you look at this, in terms of overall supply, my own opinion is that in the entire whole of Singapore, it’s still like an under supply situation because we have to remember that every year there’s only like an introduction of probably close to only 10,000 new units. And we are looking at the existing roving stock of about 270,000 to 280,000 being held by Singaporeans and PRs. The rest of the stock that is being held by foreigners and companies, they are already very sticky. They are unlikely to be released in the retail market. So just by looking at the macro and the micro point of view, I think combining this, if I were to add up 475, 267, 533, 474, 598 and 605, in totality, this is only close to about 2,000 units and 2,000 units out of the grand scheme of only having 360,000 condo units in the entire Singapore. I think this is like a just a very micro introduction of new supply into the market.
So finally, we want to observe this very interesting phenomenon at Pasir Ris because that will probably give us also a final deeper insight into Lentor as well. Pasir Ris has been interesting because we try to look at two sets of data. Number one is that this entire plot seems very similar in terms of an introduction of a new condo enclave because for a very long time, there’s only Elias Green condo which is an older project facing towards of course the TPE nice longish landscape as well and then of course when CDL launched the first maiden project, Livia that brought about a lot of excitement in the past and Livia was launched in 2008. It was TOP in 2011, 724 units and take note CDL owned the rest of the plots as well and they went to launch in a sequential approach. Livia and V Residences was the second one, Palette was the third one, D-Nest fourth, Coco Palms was the fifth and when they launched in this sequence up to today, PSF remains to be the same sequential growth norm. What do I mean by that is that Cocoa Palms is definitely more expensive than D’Nest in PSF level, D’Nest is more expensive the Palette and Palette is more expensive than NV, NV is higher than Livia so the latest projects usually have higher PSF advantage and of course the last but not least, Pasir Ris 8 has been launched on top of Pasir Ris Mall. which is the new integrated development and that will be the highest benchmark level at about $2000 PSF range. So if we were to look at this table. this is something very interesting because when you look at this, the amount of supply right here is actually much more in the sense that some of the projects like Coco Palms is 944 units, D’nest is 912, Palette is 892. Just by adding the first three projects is already close to 2600, 2700 units. If I add on the rest, it’s going to be like close to 4000 units in totality, much more than Lentor. But have a look at their performance from the launch until today. If you have bought them since launch until today, this is the level of PSF change for your capital growth. We saw the projects having 46%, 40%, 47%, 73% for Livia. Even with this, I think Pasir Ris is in and of itself because of the very fact that it’s near to the MRT station. It is still needing introduction of new condo projects as well.
So I think with Singapore having that population growth projection, now it’s about 5.9 million. We’re trying to hit 2030 at 6.9 million and of course our government is on track to bring foreign talents and expertise. Housing is definitely something that is needed. Over supply, I don’t think there’s a situation in Singapore whether on a macro or micro view.
And I want to bring your attention to this development before we end today’s episode because this tells us a little bit more about what is happening here. So if you look at the three projects that have already been launched, next project Lentor Mansion is exciting not just because of the fact that it’s in this new area, near MRT, CHIJ school, largest land plot. It’s going to be a luxury kind of concept. And based on the news that we have gotten, there’s going to be like a clubhouse that is like a heritage Mansion kind of version. So it’s going to be like a very beautiful clubhouse concept as well. And in terms of the launch PSF, these were the ranges. So on the launch day, basically 84% for Lentor Modern. 50% Lentor Hills, Hillock and of course as of today is about 97 so 73% 31% sold for the three projects so we want to bring our attention to Panorama. So Panorama is located right here which is very near to the CHIJ St Nicholas school opposite these two batches of landed enclave which is called Horizon Gardens and Horizon Green and of course you can see Lentor from here. Let’s have a look at the performance of this property because this is like one of the rare high rises that was launched among the Lentor enclave and of course it’s near to the Mayflower MRT station so of course if you look at the curve there’s like a double round of appreciation. So first launch was around the midpoint towards the tail end of 2014 all these blue dots were the transaction so -called figures and then when it TOP around this stage the first hand owners already made appreciation and then till today even if those people that bought around TOP or bought along the way of 2020 -2021 they still see appreciation until today partly also because of the 2020 run towards 2023 after the recovery of COVID and is even seen when Amo Residences was launched, it was sold out very quickly. And this just shows that this area has a very strong demand from either family upgraders or even young families that’s buying like a one or two bedder or families that buying three or four bedders. And I think in terms of demand and supply, it is something that we need to explore. Because when before you comment to a new launch property, it’s very important to note demand and supply level. So Panorama basically in terms of the latest transaction as of December 2023 is redoing at about $1800 to $2000 per square feet. If Lentor Mansion what to launch at, I’m not sure what’s the pricing, but let’s say $2002, $2003 or even $2004, in terms of the gap is actually very close in the sense that this is a development that was launched during the mid 2014 season. So technically it’s about 10 years old. And if you’re buying a new launch that is within the same zoning within a kilometer from the same school, right beside MRT station in the new conceptual area that you are is injecting new concepts here, then I think the differential is worth considering in the sense that it’s not too far off. So of course, if you can’t wait, then by all means that you like Panorama is a great development, it’s a beautiful project. By all means, if you cannot wait for three to four years for construction, then go ahead for the resale property. But if you can wait and you want to get something new, I think the gap is worth the wait. Because if it’s $200 or $300 or $400, PSF difference is definitely worth the wait. Most of the time, I would say that the gap, if it’s like a far difference of 30 to 40%, then definitely the resale will look very attractive. If let’s say you’re thinking about resale versus new launch. So for example, if it’s like $2000 versus $200, $2800, then definitely the $800 gap is worth going for the resale because you still have room for the resale to catch up. When we look at the amount of listings, what is very interesting is also this. There is clearly a lack of listings for Panorama and in fact in this entire area. So we want to track the amount of PropdGuru listings that’s available. So current available listings in PropdGuru is only 21 listings. There are 3 listings for 1 bedder, 2 bedder there are 11 listings, 3 bedder there are only 6 listings and 4 bedder there’s only 1 listing. There’s no 5 bedder listing. And then if you look at Armour Residence, of course, this was launched in July 2022 at about $2 ,001 PSF. Transactions at $2 ,023 is about $2 ,289. Why am I looking at the current listings available at Panorama? Because I want to see whether this area oversupply with resale properties. It just shows that for a project like this, because this project has 698 units but there’s only 21 units available for sale, it clearly shows that plus the very fact that in terms of transaction volume, just look at how healthy this is. One page cannot even contain the full transaction volume on a month -to -month basis. There’s so many transactions going on. It just shows that most units that were launched has been absorbed from the retail market and it shows the strength in this area. We also did a further CMA of projects around Lentorm Mansion just to have an illustration so that we can see in terms of the resale, would they be a strong competitor? From Meadows at Pierce which is near to Casuarina, near to Upper Thomson Road, only 2 listings available. Far Horizon, the older development, only 7 listings. Season’s Park is only 3. Castle Green only 10. Panorama, only 11. I’m talking about the 2 bedder in the entire region. There’s only 33 listings available. 3 bedder, only 35 listings available and there are 4 bedder, 9 listings available, 5 bedder, 5 listings available. It’s very clear that this zoning has a lack of listings and I think what the rationale is that a lot of the resale properties now, I think they are holding on. The owners of these resale properties, they are definitely holding on. Why are they holding on is because they are holding on to wait for the new Lentor projects to complete their launch, sell out and once all these Lentor projects to be, we’re going to see a new PSF benchmark level then they will up their pricing in the resale space to catch up with the pricing right here. And this is what we call the disparity gap. And before we end, we definitely have talked about disparity gap. Let me just show you this portion right here. I think when you look at 2024, what is going to be very interesting is that the resale properties around any launch, they’re going to ask for a higher PSF. Now the newly TOP projects are already asking for higher PSF and I don’t even need to go there. I just need to look at Panorama. They’re all asking about $2,100 because if they see their neighbours doing at $2000, transacted as you can see just now from 2008 plus the 2000, some of the owners probably are already asking $2100 or $2200. And of course, if you see launches in Lentor between $2100 to $2300 or $2400 or $2500 PSF, the gap is actually very close to some of the resale projects around the region. And this is usually how we look for price gaps to decide if the new launch is worth looking at. With that, I think why do we want to touch on Lentor is because I think it’s going to be exciting zoning right there for everybody to look at and consider. Let’s say if you’re thinking of maybe a new project downstream in 2024
