In light of CROSSING OVER 8,000 ERA TEAMMATES, we will be revealing the TOP 400 ACHIEVERS for the FIRST TIME in ERA history! The event will also be graced by Minister of State for the Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, Mr Desmond Tan.

Plus, get ready for the latest updates ranging from latest project updates, agent- and client- centric initiatives and tech tool upgrade; as well as the announcement of new winners from our All New RealtyWatch 5-Star Staycation Contest and MANY MORE!

Thereu2019s much to look forward to; spread the word with all our teammates and RSVP now!

The HDB released the public housing statistics for the first quarter of 2021 (1Q 2021) today.

The HDB resale market is heading towards bullish territory as prices rose for the fourth consecutive quarter since 2Q 2020. In 1Q 2021, HDB resale price index increased by 3% quarter-on-quarter (qoq) and 8.1% year-on-year (yoy), which was the highest annual growth rate since 1Q 2012 when resale prices increased by 9.6% yoy.

The expansion in HDB resale price index in 1Q 2021 was led by the growth in prices of HDB flats in mature estates. While the median transacted price of resale flats in mature estates grew 4.2% qoq to $500,000, the median price of flats in non-mature estates only increased 2.3% qoq to $450,000.

Among the different flat types, resale 5-room HDB flats enjoyed the highest quarterly price growth in 1Q 2021. In the first quarter of this year, the median transacted price of 5-room flats islandwide increased 4.2% qoq to $545,000. As more people work from home more often due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some might want more spacious living environment that could easily be converted into work space if needed. Hence, there were more demand for bigger resale flats.

Table 1: Median transacted prices of different HDB resale flat types

Source: HDB, ERA Research & Consultancy<

HDB transaction volume

The Chinese New Year festival is a traditional lull period for real estate activities. As a result, real estate transaction volume tends to be lower in the first three months of the year. Last year, the HDB resale transaction volume decreased 7.0% qoq drop in 1Q 2020. However, in the first quarter this year, there were only 0.8% fewer applications for HDB resale flats registered compared to 4Q 2020. The smaller decline in HDB resale volume in the first quarter of 2021 illustrated the healthy demand for public flats.

In addition, the HDB resale volume in 1Q 2021 was still 28.6% higher than the same period in 2020, which was before the Circuit Breaker last year. This shows that the HDB resale market has recovered from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

One factor driving the growth of HDB resale transaction volume was the expected delay in construction of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats. With a longer waiting time for the new BTO flats, some homebuyers prefer to switch to the resale market instead.

HDB rental volume

The HDB rental market also seems to be recovering from the pandemic as rental volume jumped 26.0% from 8,472 leasing transactions in 4Q 2020 to 10,676 leasing transactions in 1Q 2021. The increase in leasing demand was partly contributed by some young families renting HDB flats while waiting for the completion of their new BTO flats, as well as more foreign talents and international students returning to Singapore.

Outlook

The number of HDB flats that reached the end of their 5-year MOP and could be sold in the resale market started to increase sharply in 2019. In 2021 and 2022, an additional 26,000 flats and 35,300 flats would reach the end of their 5-year MOP respectively. This is much higher than the annual average of 12,600 flats in the previous 5 years from 2014 to 2018. The rise in the number of newly eligible resale HDB flats would further increase the resale transaction volume.

Moreover, these flats are newer and could potentially fetch higher resale prices compared to nearby older flats, which could fuel additional upside pressure on HDB resale prices.

The expansionary effects of the influx of such younger flats on HDB resale prices and transaction volume will continue be felt at least for the next two years, or until the HDB could effectively bring the completion schedule of BTO flats back on the normal track.

The continuing rise in HDB resale prices would beg the question on whether the government would introduce any cooling measures on the HDB resale market. Any cooling measures on the HDB resale market, such as the introduction of higher taxes, stamp duties and tighter loan restrictions will be highly unpopular with HDB flat owners. A large majority of HDB flat owners has invested their CPF funds and hence, their retirement nest eggs in their HDB flats. Furthermore, the HDB flat is probably the single largest asset to many flat owners. Any government market intervention that would deflate the value of HDB flats would have an adverse effect on the retirement assets of a large number of ageing Singapore citizens.

Therefore, the most likely method that the government would use to cool the HDB resale market would be to increase the supply of BTO flats and to ensure these flats would be completed without undue delays.

While the HDB rental volume rebounded by 26% qoq in the last quarter, it is still 7.9% lower than the rental volume in 1Q 2020. With the vaccination programme on track to cover the adult population in Singapore by third quarter this year, more foreigners would return to Singapore and HDB rental market will be able to recover from the pandemic.

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The URA released the private housing statistics for the first quarter of 2021 (1Q 2021) today. Below are our analysis and commentary on the above topic.

Faster pace of growth of private residential property prices

According to the official real estate information for 1Q 2021, the private residential property price index appreciated 3.3% quarter-on-quarter (qoq), faster than the 2.1% qoq increase in the preceding quarter of 4Q 2020.

The faster price growth was led by the price expansion of non-landed properties in the city fringe area, also known as Rest of Central Region (RCR) and landed housing. The price index of RCR non-landed residential properties and landed housing increased by 6.1% and 6.7% qoq respectively.

Landed housing price growth

The robust price growth of landed housing was partly contributed by the growing demand for more spacious homes and the growing prices of non-landed housing. Since the start of the pandemic and work-from-home culture, many people would prefer more spacious homes but not everyone can afford to buy larger real estate.

Those who have the financial capabilities to do so had fuelled the increase in the transactions of landed housing. Furthermore, the rising prices of condominiums had also made landed housing appeared to be value for money, resulting in higher demand for the latter.

Before the pandemic, a total of 1,542 private landed housing units were transacted in the primary and secondary markets islandwide in 2019. This translated to an average of 385 units in each quarter of 2019.

In 3Q 2020, after the lifting of the Circuit Breaker, the transaction volume of landed houses tripled to 650 units from 213 units in the previous quarter.

Number of landed housing units sold islandwide

Source: ERA Research & Consultancy, URA

In 1Q 2021, based on the number of caveats lodged, 785 landed houses were sold. The quarter-on-quarter dip in the transaction volume in 1Q 2021 was due to the lull period during the Lunar New Year. Since 3Q 2020, the number of transacted landed homes in each quarter remained above the quarterly average of 385 houses in the pre-COVID period of 2019.

Due to the strong demand, the price index for landed housing increase 6.7% qoq in 1Q 2021, faster than the 2.5% qoq rise in the price index of non-landed residential properties over the same period.

City fringe areas lead the price growth

The main driving force behind the expansion of non-landed property prices in 1Q 2021 was the 6.1% qoq growth in non-landed property prices in the RCR. There were two relatively large condominium projects in the RCR that were launched in the first quarter of this year, namely Normanton Park and The Reef at King’s Dock with 1,862 and 429 units respectively.

The Reef at King’s Dock is located at the premium waterfront Keppel Bay area and within close proximity to the Central Business District. Therefore, housing units in this development were able to command comparatively high prices and could potentially drive up RCR non-landed price index.

In 1Q 2021, new homes at The Reef at King’s Dock were sold at a median price of $2,257 psf while the overall median transacted price of all new non-landed homes in the RCR was $1,820 psf. On the other hand, prices in the CCR and OCR grew by a relatively moderate 0.5% and 1.1% qoq respectively.

Outlook for private residential property market

Launch & sales

Despite the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, real estate developers still managed to sell slightly more private housing units in 2020 than the preceding year, partly due to the steady stream of project launches. In 2020, developers launched 29 residential projects, including Executive Condominiums (EC), with 7,347 units in total.

In 1Q 2021, six residential developments with a total of 3,683 units were launched. The number of units in these 6 projects is half of the total number of units in the 29 residential developments launched last year. The 1,862-unit Normanton Park is the largest of the six projects launched in the first quarter and it is likely to be the largest project launched this year.

In the remaining nine months of this year, 19 residential projects with a combined 5,215 units are lined up for launch. If the developers were to launch all 19 projects this year, the total number of units launched in 2021 would be more than that in the pervious year. Since the number of housing units sold by developers is positively correlated to the number of units launched in the same period, developers could sell 10,000 to 11,000 private housing units plus 1,000 to 1,300 EC units in 2021.

Private housing price

The homebuying demand is powered by a combination of different factors, such as growing market confidence, fear of missing out (FOMO) and supported by low interest rates and ample liquidity. The concern about rising home prices and the policy risk of additional market cooling measures had also motivated some buyers to rush to acquire residential properties. Furthermore, the rising prices of HDB resale flats would also increase the purchasing power of HDB upgraders.

As a result, the private residential property price index could increase by 7% to 10% yoy in 2021.

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SINGAPORE, 15 March 2021 – Singapore’s residential market took a breather during Lunar New Year with the lowest number of Singapore’s private housing units released in February 2021 since December 2018.

Market needs time to absorb new supply

Real estate developers released only 167 private housing units for sale in February 2021, the lowest number of units released in a single month since December 2018, when 101 units were released then. The 167 units released in February was a 93.6% drop from the 2,600 units released in January 2021.

The low launch volume was partly due to the Lunar New Year lull period, when many decision makers took a break from work. Another reason was because the developers had already released more units than the market can absorbed in the 3-month period from November 2020 to January 2021. During the 3-month period, developers released 5,324 private housing units, excluding Executive Condominiums (EC), which was almost half of the 10,883 units released for the whole of 2020.

During the said November to January 2021 period, property developers sold 3,623 units, excluding EC, which represented a take-up rate of 68.1%. With a limited number of new residential projects preparing to be launched in the coming months, developers would need to space out their major launches. In addition, they would also need to give the market some time to absorb the newly released supply.

Developers sold 645 private housing units and 111 EC units in February.

Residential project and sales in February

Only one residential project was launched last month, namely J@63. One unit in the 14-unit apartment project located at Lorong J Telok Kurau was sold at $1,406 psf.

The top-selling project in February 2021 was The Reef at King’s Dock. Located at the Keppel Bay area, the 429-units condominium project is located within walking distance to Harbourfront MRT interchange. In February, 102 units in the 99-year leasehold development were sold at the median unit price of $2,226 psf. This was followed by Parc Central Residences EC and Normanton Park with 78 and 61 units sold respectively.

Top 5 best-selling project

Boulevard 88 was the most expensive new launch last month based on the transacted unit price. One unit in the development was sold at $3,735 psf in February 2021. On the other hand, the most expensive resale property was a terrace house at Emerald Hill Conservation Area, which was transacted at $4,356 psf.

Secondary market remained stable

Although the pace of sales in the private residential secondary market also slowed during the Lunar New Year period in February, the slow-down was milder than that in the primary market. In February 2021, 1,056 private residential units, excluding EC, were transacted, 16.3% lower than the preceding month. The decline was more moderate than the 60.5% month-on-month (mom) decrease in the developers’ sales volume last month.

Number of private housing units transacted (excluding EC)

Source: URA, ERA Research

In the past five months, despite the year-end and Lunar New Year festivities, sales in the secondary market had remained quite stable, ranging between 1,056 and 1,482 units monthly.

Outlook

In the coming months, about 20 new residential projects, including EC, with a total of 4,270 units could be launched. The residential primary market sales volume will pick up again when property developers release more units for sale, especially when highly anticipated projects such as one-north Eden and Provence Residence (EC), are launched.

When new projects are launched, homebuyers will take heed of the government’s advice. But instead of holding back, the buyers will be rushing to cement their acquisition before any new cooling measures are implemented.

Real estate developers launched 10,883 private housing units and sold 9,982 units last year. This year, developers may release fewer than 10,000 residential units for sale. As a result, the primary market sales volume in 2021 may also be lower than the volume last year. However, residential property prices could still increase by 4% to 6% this year on the back of the economic recovery and positive market sentiments.

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Top Achiever of the Year: From Left, Doris Ong, COO of ERA | Indranee Rajah, 2nd Second Minister for Finance and National Development | Kavin Kuah (in red), Branch Division Director of ERA and #1 ERA Top Achiever of the Year | Jack Chua, CEO of ERA | Marcus Chu, COO of ERA

Top Division of the Year: From Left, Doris Ong, COO of ERA | Indranee Rajah, 2nd Second Minister for Finance and National Development | Chris Chen (in dark blue), Advisory Group Division Director of ERA and #1 ERA Top Achiever of the Year | Jack Chua, CEO of ERA | Marcus Chu, COO of ERA

Supporting the launch of Real Estate Women’s Association: From Left, Kemmy Tan, CEO of M+S and Vice President of REWA | Doris Ong, COO of ERA and Secretary of REWA | Indranee Rajah, 2nd Second Minister for Finance and National Development | Jas Ng, Realtor and President of REWA

Press Coverage Links:

• The Business Times
• PropertyGuru
• Yahoo News
• AsiaOne
• Taiwan News
• Weekender
• VulcanPost
• Branding in Asia
• Yahoo News UK

Transcript Link of Minister’s Speech:

• Ministry of National Development (MND)

Announcing new overseas partnership, interactive workspace, groundbreaking PropTech tools, trailblazing project initiatives and social empowerment of youth

SINGAPORE, 10 March 2021 – Singapore’s largest international real estate agency, ERA held its annual Asia Pacific Business Conference virtually for the first time today. The virtual conference was graced by Ms Indranee Rajah, the Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for National Development, and attended by over 18,000 trusted advisors across 10 countries.

Since its inception in 1982, ERA has been continuously building a culture of empowerment which aims at inspiring individuals to greater heights. Despite a challenging and uncertain 2020 as a result of the pandemic, the company has planned a slew of initiatives in the new year to continue empowering its trusted advisors and contributing to the society for a brighter future.

Eyeing for Bigger Regional Presence

ERA is set to expand its presence in India as the organisation has recently been appointed as a consultant to a homegrown Indian real estate agency, HomeSFY. The fast-growing agency currently has presence in 4 cities, namely Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bengal. According to reports , Indian real estate market attracted over USD6.06 billion in 2019, and is expected to reach a market size of USD1 trillion by 2030. This partnership is believed to drive more value and opportunities to ERA and its network of trusted advisors.

Newly Renovated Interactive Space and Groundbreaking Proptech Tools to Boost Empowerment in Workplace

ERA is the first and only real estate agency in Singapore to own its building. Named ERA APAC Centre, the property serves as the headquarters of ERA Asia Pacific – the largest of its kind in Asia Pacific region – providing a permanent “home” for ERA’s agency operation and its entire nextwork of trusted advisors. The ground floor has recently been transformed to provide a creative, conducive, and collaborative work space. With digitalisation taking centre stage across every touch-point, its network of trusted advisors will get to enjoy access to cutting-edge facilities powered by technology.

Its ground floor co-working space named, Everyday @ ERA, is a tangible vision of the company to create a place to work, learn and nurture the OneERA spirit everyday amongst ERA trusted advisors. The meeting rooms are also thoughtfully named after ERA Core Values: Gratitude, Passion, Integrity, Unity and Innovation, as a prompt of what ERA seeks to work towards and achieve as a company.

ERA also launches an all new RealtyWatch by ERA, the first and only client-agent-enabling CRM tool in the real estate industry offering 24/7 updates on the latest neighbourhood project transactions. It is carefully designed to benefit both ERA trusted advisors and consumers, empowering them with the right tool and knowledge to transact in real estate. Consumers will be able to access transparency on the latest neighbourhood transaction prices, be educated on the latest property market info and trends, and be connected to professional trusted advisors anytime and anywhere. At the same time, ERA trusted advisors can enjoy efficient and free lead generation via a “grab” function which can then be streamlined for follow-up and conversion.

Project Marketing – Another Key Area to Boost

When circuit breaker measures were first introduced in April 2020, ERA was the first real estate agency to put together a Project 360 virtual property gallery and hosting Singapore’s largest virtual real estate consumer show – 2020 ERA Property Weekend – in partnership with developers to allow consumers to view different projects in one place. In the new year, ERA Project team has come up with trailblazing innovations to increase work productivity while empowering its trusted advisors.

• ERA Projects x LytePay – ERA will subsidise the transaction fees for its trusted advisor to advance the first $5,000 of their commission via LytePay, so they can continue with their prospecting works. Usually, real estate salespersons have to wait for 6 to 9 months to get their project commission. This initiative also encourages them to receive their commissions via bank transfers to reduce the usage of cheques.
• ERA Project Tagger AMA – Ask Me Anything (AMA) is a newly launched initiative to connect closing taggers with ERA trusted advisors via Zoom. They can login from anywhere they are, and find out more about the key selling points of each project from closing taggers.
• Socius by ERA Projects – Socius means partner or ally in Latin. Project taggers play an important role in project sales, but most of the time, their hard work is undermined. To maintain fair recognition across all roles in the real estate industry, ERA Projects introduces this new monthly award to recognise project taggers who have successfully tagged at least 3, 5 or 8 transactions per month.

Pledging Support Towards Children and Youths from Financially Disadvantaged Backgrounds

ERA is an organisation that empowers. Over the years, the company and its network of trusted advisors have engaged in various charitable works. These include NUS-ERA Student Foundation Bursary that provides financial assistance to underprivileged students yearly and ERA Scholarship initiative aimed at grooming potential talents in the property industry.

From Left: Doris Ong, COO of ERA | Tan Tee Tong, Director of The Rice Company | Indranee Rajah, 2nd Second Minister for Finance and National Development | Jack Chua, CEO of ERA | Marcus Chu, COO of ERA

This year, ERA pledges fundraising support towards The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BT BAF) Children for Children (CFC) initiative, an annual community outreach event that brings joy and laughter to children from financially disadvantaged backgrounds on Children’s Day. The amount raised will be used to fund 1,000 goodie bags for the kids to bring along during their visit to the attraction. The drawstring bag, painted with artworks created by children from BT BAF, will come with food vouchers, notebook and pen, face masks and hand sanitiser, snacks and confectionery.

“ERA has always strongly believed in empowering ERA teammates through various upgrading programmes that equip them with relevant skills to be the best in their field. In the same spirit, we are in strong support of initiatives focused on social empowerment for the underprivileged, nurturing their talents and enabling beneficiaries to contribute meaningfully to our community. ERA will continue to support the younger generations in the pursuit of their dreams, by providing them with resources to nurture their talents and to realise their maximum potential,” said Jack Chua, Chief Executive Officer of ERA.

Company-Wide Lucky Draw and Rewards Program to Inspire New Breakthroughs

• Win A Dream Draw As OneERA
  In anticipation of ERA’s 40-Year Anniversary grand celebrations in 2022, the company is rolling out a grand lucky draw to inspire ERA trusted advisors for a new level of breakthrough: better sales results and recruitment. Titled, Win A Dream Draw As OneERA, the lucky draw will run from 10 March 2021 to 9 March 2022.
  The grand prize is a penthouse unit in a condominium worth S$2 million or a Tesla Model 3 electric car worth approximately S$150,000 (excluding COE, road tax and registration fee)
• Watch Me Win
  Acknowledging the hard work of all ERA trusted advisors, the Watch Me Win lucky draw seeks to reward them with three luxury watches worth $30,000, including the highly popular Rolex GMT-Master II as the main prize. Those who have closed projects this year will stand a chance to partake in this campaign.
• All New RealtyWatch 5-Star Staycation Contest
  ERA will be giving away a total of 78 5-star staycation packages to mark the launch of the all-new RealtyWatch by ERA, a free service to educate and empower individuals in property transaction decisions. Each package comprises a 2 Days 1 Night stay in a 5-star hotel for 2 people, inclusive of hotel breakfast. As ERA celebrates its 39th anniversary this year, the winners are defined by the 39 participants who have registered as RealtyWatch VIP ending with the “39th” position according to their registration status.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the use of technology in our everyday life and work. With the help of listing portals and video conferencing technology, tech-savvy Realtorpreneurs have shifted their business from physical to digital in response to social distancing restrictions.

As an agent-centric Real Estate agency in Singapore, ERA places importance on value-adding to the industry’s technological front. Providing cutting edge technology to aid in the transition to digital, our consistent tech innovation has helped many of our salespersons find success in trying times.

With these changes to the industry, what can we expect going forward? Find out more in CEO Jack Chua & COO Marcus Chu’s interview with The Edge Singapore. Read more here.

• FY2020 revenue up 6.7% to S$389 million driven by higher brokerage income from resale and rental of properties;
• Board declares a final dividend of 1.75 cents per share. Including the interim dividend of 0.75 cents per share, the aggregate dividend for FY2020 is 2.5 cents per share, representing a dividend payout ratio of 54.3% and a dividend yield of 5.88%;
• APAC Realty continues to be well-positioned with a strong balance sheet and healthy cash balance of S$35.1 million as at 31 December 2020.

“Notwithstanding the impact of COVID-19, we turned in a relatively strong performance in FY2020. Our on-going digital transformation across our business continues to provide us with greater flexibility in today’s differentiated work environment. Our ability to engage property owners and interested buyers on multiple real estate channels and proprietary apps, and close property transactions through digital platforms has allowed us to grow our business and underpinned our resilience in an unprecedented year.

Looking ahead, we are cautiously optimistic that demand for HDB resale and private residential properties in Singapore will remain resilient in FY2021. In the region, we will continue to monitor market and COVID-19 developments which continue to influence the performance of our investments in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. We believe that the economies of these countries will recover as vaccination programmes are rolled out across these markets during the year.”

– Mr. Jack Chua, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of APAC Realty Limited

Financial Highlights

S$’000	2H FY2020	2H FY2019	Change (%)	FY2020	FY2019	Change (%)
Revenue	222,302	206,463	7.7	395,125	369,524	6.9
Profit before tax	10,581	10,970	3.5	19,649	17,222	14.1
Profit after tax	8,641	8,838	2.2	16,342	13,877	17.8
Earnings per share (cents)*	2.45	2.50	2	4.63	3.94	17.5
Net asset value per share (cents)	As at 31 Dec 2020		As at 31 Dec 2019		Change (%)
	43.6		41		6.3

* Based on 355,197,700 weighted average number of shares as at 31 December 2020 and 31 December 2019.

SINGAPORE, 23 February 2021 – APAC Realty Limited (“APAC Realty”, the “Company” or together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”), a leading real estate services provider which operates a market-leading real estate brokerage in Singapore under the ERA brand, announced a 6.7% increase in revenue to S$389.4 million for the year ended 31 December 2020 (“FY2020”), compared to S$365.1 million in the previous corresponding period (“FY2019”).

FY2020 revenue increased S$24.3 million primarily due to an increase in brokerage income from resale and rental of properties of 10.7% or S$25.8 million to S$267.4 million in FY2020, partially offset by a decline in brokerage income from new home sales of 1.0% or S$1.2 million to S$116.4 million in FY2020.

The Group closed the year with a net profit of S$16.3 million, an increase of 17.8% or S$2.4 million from S$13.9 million in FY2019.

FY2020 dividend of 2.50 cents

The Board of Directors has declared a second and final dividend of 1.75 Singapore cents per share.

Including the interim dividend of 0.75 cents paid in FY2020, the aggregate dividend of 2.50 cents represents a dividend yield of 5.88% based on the closing price of S$0.425 per share on 23 February 2021. The total dividend of 2.5 cents per share in FY2020 represents a payout of S$8.88 million and a healthy payout ratio of 54.3%.

Leadership in Singapore’s new home market

ERA continues to be recognised as one of the preferred marketing agents for new home launches in Singapore. Amidst a challenging market, we were appointed marketing agent to 24 projects with more than 7,200 new home units launched during 2020. The Group has secured marketing agent mandates for 24 quality residential projects with more than 8,800 new home units launched and to be launched in FY2021.

Singapore’s developers sold 10,940 private residential units (including executive condominiums) in FY2020, an increase of 5% from 10,417 units in FY20192. ERA’s estimated market share of the new homes segment was 28.9% in FY2020, up from 27.7% in 1H2020.

Singapore’s private residential resale market recorded sales of 10,927 units, 18.3% above 9,238 units transacted in FY2019. The HDB resale market remained relatively healthy with 24,748 transactions completed in FY2020, an increase of 4.4% from 23,714 units sold in the previous year. Based on market data, ERA ended the year with a commendable 42.9% share of the private residential and HDB resale market in FY2020, an improvement from 40.7% in FY2019.

Despite the circuit breaker measures put in place in FY2020, ERA’s property auction team advised, auctioned and closed 34 residential and commercial property transactions in FY2020 with a total transaction value of approximately $70.8 million, an increase of 47.2% over the transaction value of $48.1m for FY2019 (from 40 transactions).

Digital transformation to empower ERA salespersons

As a forward-thinking real estate group, APAC Realty launched its digital transformation with the Digital Lab initiative, an investment programme designed to make ERA the leading digital real estate agency in Asia.

To date, the Group has invested S$2.4 million in leading real estate technologies. These investments continue to empower ERA salespersons with access to a range of proprietary market and data analytics applications and to an enlarged network of home owners, buyers and tenants in Singapore and the Asia- Pacific region.

Ultimately, the Group’s digital transformation enables ERA sales teams to raise professionalism and build stronger client relationships, keeping with ERA’s commitment to being first in service, first in results and first in customer service.

Outlook

The Singapore economy contracted 5.4% in FY2020 as a result of the impact from COVID-19, partially offset by the positive effects from the government’s pandemic related support measures. The government has forecast gross domestic product growth of between 4%-6% for FY2021 as COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment continues to gain traction in Singapore and around the world.

The country continues to be ranked amongst the top three prime real estate cities in the world and continues to be preferred by foreigner investors. Large scale projects such as Jurong Lake District, Sentosa-Brani Master Plan, and the revamp of the Orchard Road shopping belt are expected to stimulate local and foreign real estate investor interest and revitalize the residential property market over the long term.

APAC Realty takes a long-term approach to its regional expansion strategy and will continue to monitor market developments in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. The Group’s investments in these markets have established brand names, strong reputation and quality sales teams, however their contribution will ultimately depend on the pace of recovery of their respective economies and real estate markets.

With a strong balance sheet and robust cashflows, the Group remains cautiously optimistic about its prospects in FY2021.

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For more news about APAC Realty Ltd: http://www.apacrealty.com.sg/

SINGAPORE, 15 February 2021 – According to the January 2021’s private housing primary market sales information released by the Singapore Government, the number of private housing units, excluding Executive Condominium (EC), launched for sale had increased steadily from November 2020 to January 2021 on a year-on-year basis. In January 2021, real estate developers launched 2,600 private residential units for sale, which was 334.8% more than the same period in 2020. This was after a 264.6% year-on-year (yoy) increase in the number of units launched in December 2020.

There has been growing speculation that the government could introduce new market cooling measures in the face of the robust homebuying demand. Last month, both the Deputy Prime Minister and National Development Minister gave veiled warnings of more property market curbs. The high number of housing units launched in the past month could be a respond to such warnings.

As more housing units were launched, the number of units sold by developers also increased. Hence, the government’s warning actually heated up the market in the short term.

 

Table 1: Private residential property market launch volume

Date	Private housing units launched	%yoy
Jun-20	597	-10.9%
Jul-20	869	-4.6%
Aug-20	1,582	55.9%
Sep-20	1,340	-21.8%
Oct-20	423	-53.5%
Nov-20	1,375	45.2%
Dec-20	1,349	264.6%
Jan-21	2,600	334.8%

 

More units sold but at slower pace
The number of private housing units (excluding EC) sold in the primary market also increased from 654 units in October 2020 to 1,609 units last month, but at a slower pace compared to the rate of units launched.

 

Table 2: Private residential property market sales volume

Date	Private housing units sold	%yoy
Sep-20	1,329	4.6%
Oct-20	654	-29.8%
Nov-20	774	-33.6%
Dec-20	1,217	126.2%
Jan-21	1,609	159.5%

Source: ERA Research, URA

 

From November 2020 to January 2021, the rate of growth of the number of private residential units sold each month was slower than the number of units released for sale. Although the number of units sold in December 2020 and January 2021 increased by more than 100% yoy in each month, the number of units launched jumped by more than 200% yoy in the same two months.

Therefore, the rate of growth of developers’ sales was less than half of that of the units launched in the past two months. In other words, demand was not keeping pace with supply.

New project launches
Two giant housing projects were launched last month. The 1,862-unit Normanton Park is the largest residential project and Parc Central Residences is the largest EC project expected to be launched in this and next year.

 

Table 3: New residential launches in January 2021

Project Name	Street Name	Property Type	Locality	Total Number Of Units In Project	No. of units sold In The Month	Median Price ($psf) In The Month
Normanton Park	Normanton Park	Condo	RCR	1,862	625	$1,763
Parc Central Residences	Tampines Street 86	Exec Condo	OCR	700	417	$1,177
The Reef At King’s Dock	Harbourfront Avenue	Condo	RCR	429	221	$2,276

Source: ERA Research, URA

 

Outlook
As private housing supply outpaced demand in recent months, the take-up rate as measured by the ratio of units sold to the number of units launched in each month had remained below parity in November 2020 to January 2021. As a result, the number of private housing units launched and unsold had grown steadily from a trough of 4,833 units in July 2020 to 7,226 units last month.

 

Table 4: Private residential take-up rate

Date	Private housing Take-up rate
Aug-20	79.5%
Sep-20	99.2%
Oct-20	154.6%
Nov-20	56.3%
Dec-20	90.2%
Jan-21	61.9%

Source: ERA Research, URA

 

The slower absorption rate indicates that the local private residential property market is not overheated. If the government were to introduce more cooling measures this year to curb housing demand, it would result in an oversupply of private and EC housing units, which in turn would lead to negative impact on other sectors in the economy, such as the banking, finance and construction industries.

 

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SINGAPORE, 16 February 2021 – The Year of the Ox is upon us and celebrations are looking very different this year. For the past few years, ERA Singapore had organised a physical celebration at its headquarters to mark the auspicious start of the business in the new lunar year. During this festive occasion, thousands of the agency’s staff and real estate salespersons (RES) would gather at its respective headquarters to celebrate and exchange auspicious wishes, angbaos and mandarin oranges.

This year, in keeping with safe distancing measures, ERA Singapore has hosted a virtual celebration instead where staff and RES across 10 countries – Singapore, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam – were invited to join and revel in the festivities on Zoom!

Slated for 16 February, 11.00am, the live-streaming included auspicious greetings by ERA’s senior management and its leadership team, as well as lion dance performances. Video recordings of its representatives from the respective regional offices were broadcasted, offering their well wishes and greetings in their native languages. All personnel involved in the celebration followed the safe distancing guidelines as set by the Government – a team was stationed onsite to ensure strict compliance.

“Despite having to celebrate Chinese New Year differently, we wanted to create and soak in the festive mood and usher in the Lunar New Year with optimism and vitality,” says Jack Chua, Chief Executive Officer, ERA Asia Pacific. “The silver lining with going virtual is that all 18,000 members of our ERA family can now be a part of this annual tradition, wherever they are in the world, to make it a truly OneERA affair.”

Digital gifting via DBS QR Angbaos

Other than the virtual celebration, ERA has also adopted digital gifting and will be distributing DBS QR Angbaos to close to 500 staff and Division Directors. This company-wide effort is in line with the organisation’s digital acceleration journey, which includes a digital signature initiative announced back in November 2020.

To redeem, the staff can simply scan the QR Codes on the DBS QR Angbaos and receive the monetary gifts via DBS PayLah! or PayNow instantly. This eliminates the use of red packets and the need for new bank notes, which helps to reduce carbon footprint. ERA is amongst the first wave of companies in Singapore that are making the shift towards digital gifting.

“I am excited to receive the QR Angbao, says Nicole Ong, Management Trainee, ERA. “This way of receiving angbaos is not only convenient, but also safer in our current climate whilst still preserving the tradition of giving. This festive season, I will be encouraging my relatives and loved ones to send angbao money electronically as well!”

An Ox-spicious Start: Lucky ERA Real Estate Salespersons drive home the Tesla Model 3 and Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupe for 6 months free

LytePay, a Singapore-based financial solutions provider that partnered with ERA Singapore to provide a first-of-its-kind business wallet, recently hosted a LytePay Lucky Draw in conjunction with the ERA Property Weekend 2020 during the 10.10 weekend. The top 2 prizes, which were won by ERA RES, included free six-month rental on the Tesla Model 3 and Mercedes-Benze CLA Coupe.

As part of the organisation’s ongoing efforts to reduce the use of cheques and cash transactions, ERA’s game-changing business wallet – the first and only real estate agency adopting such a service with LytePay – was first announced during its quarterly business conference on 20 August 2020.

Real estate salespersons usually have to wait three to six months after a deal’s closure to receive their commissions. This new business wallet now allows salespersons to transfer their commission advance funds to their bank accounts using the LyteMoney service. The business wallet also comes with a payment card powered by Rapyd, called Lyte Talent Card. The partnership with Lytepay further deepens ERA’s adoption of digital payments technologies, which is a cornerstone of financial inclusion society.

Since August, we’ve helped agents cashout millions across thousands of transactions. An estimate of more than 30% of active ERA RES is on board the service.

Singapore, 4 February 2021 – The Housing Development Board (HDB) announced the launch of 3,740 flats for sale today under the February Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise. The new BTO flats are located in Bukit Batok, Tengah, Toa Payoh and Whampoa.

BTO projects for seniors

A new public housing concept designed to support seniors called Community Care Apartments (CCA) are introduced at Bukit Batok. Unlike the usual public housing flats with 99-year leases offered by HDB, these apartments will have flexible lease ranging from 15 to 35 years, as long as it covers the applicant and spouse until the age of 95 years. The payment for the apartments will include both the flat prices and the service package to provide support to the seniors’ care and social needs.

The Community Care Apartments are much more affordable compared to 2-room flexi flats within the same town. Eligible buyers can buy a CCA with a 30-year lease for as low as $52,000 including grants; while the price after government grants for a 2-room flexi flat within the same vicinity starts from $101,000. While both BTO projects at Bukit Batok are not located near an MRT station, they are located within close proximity to neighbourhood parks, nursing home and places of worship. There will also be a hawker centre located at the Community Care Apartment projects.

In the mature town Whampoa, 2-room flexi flats with shorter lease of 40 years are also offered during this BTO exercise. These flats might be in higher demand compared to the Community Care Apartments as they are only 500m away from Boon Keng MRT station. Bendermeer Shopping Mall and Kallang Community Club are also within walking distance to this BTO projects. While there is no service package for these flats, they are located next to Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital and the upcoming polyclinic with long term care facility.

BTO projects for young couples

First time homebuyers will have the option to apply for their flats at all four locations in this BTP exercise. Among the different BTO projects, the three projects at Bidadari are likely to be the most popular. The three projects, namely Bartley Greenrise, ParkEdge @ Bidadari and Alkaff Breeze, are located within 1km to prestigious primary schools like Maris Stella High School and Cedar Primary School.

Bartley Greenrise and ParkEdge @ Bidadari are only 130m and 640m from the Bartley MRT station respectively, while Alkaff Breeze is 530m from Woodleigh MRT station.

The prices of the HDB flats in these three BTO projects are quite close to one another and the prices are reflective of the locations of each project.

Impact on HDB resale market

With most of the BTO projects expected to complete in 3 to 4 years, the construction speed for BTO projects seems to have picked up from the halt during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in Singapore. These might draw some of the first-time homebuyers back to the BTO markets. Among the 3,740 flats offered during this BTO exercise, first-time buyers are eligible to apply for 2,975 flats.

Nicholas Mak, Head of Research & Consultancy Dept. at ERA said, “The HDB resale price index increased 5.0% in 2020, which was more than twice the rate of the 2.2% growth of private residential property price index. The robust demand for HDB resale flats was partly due to the expected delay in the completion of HDB BTO flats.

As the HDB offer more BTO flats at attractive prices and if these flats can be completed in the usual expected construction period of about three years, it could draw some buyers from the resale market and moderate the pace of HDB resale price growth.”

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