The following is a letter which was sent to the Straits Times.
Ash Tong
As the recession might be hitting Singapore hard, I hope that the HDB will be transparent with how their market pricing model works.
I refer to the 4 room flats in Treetops@punggol project as an example. Treetop@punggol was released April 2008 and the indicative price range for a 4-room flat then was $208,000 to $254,000.
In the October 2008 half annual sale, the price range for Treetops was then listed between $235,000 -$309,000.
In The Half Annual Sale in April 2009, the same development is being sold between $276,000 and $298,000.
The difference translates to at least a 15% price increase. No amenities have been built nearby yet. Neither are there any differences from the master plan for Punggol 21.
From the HDB statistics, blocks 293-297’s past resale prices in Punggol since 2008 have not shown any variation. This is used as comparison as they are the premium flats and in the same proximity as Treetops and the other BTO projects in the past year.
I do understand that HDB now prices their flats by market value. Can HDB please address and justify that the market value in the vicinity has risen since April 2008?
The same reasoning should also apply to the higher prices in Punggol Acardia and Sapphire in relation to Treetops. These projects were all released within a year of each other.
Read also: Treetops@Punggol overscribed by four times. (CNA)
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