www.shaproperty.com

RESIDENTIAL property sales have yet to warm up after the end of the
'Hungry Ghosts' month on Sept 3, mainly because of a lack of new
launches. But activity is expected to pick up soon, with a slate of
launches planned by developers.

Sales were a little slow last week, say most market watchers, with the
only new official launch - marked by the start of an advertising
campaign - being Wing Tai's Vision Crest condo along Penang Road. But
even so, this has been on the market since last year. A total of 85
units in the project had been sold as at June 30, according to official
data.

A Wing Tai spokeswoman declined to give any numbers on sales over the
latest weekend, saying the earliest the group may do so is next week.
Wing Tai is developing the 265-unit freehold project, on the former
Cockpit Hotel site, jointly with CapitaLand and Keppel Land. The
average
price is understood to be about $1,200 per square foot.

Over in the Telok Blangah area, Keppel Group, which has been
advertising
its completed Caribbean at Keppel Bay condo over the past two weekends,
has sold 20 units over this period, a spokesman said yesterday. Take-up
in the 969-unit condo is now 80 per cent, including 168 units set aside
for corporate leasing.

Residential property heavyweight Far East Organization sold 15 units
last week, up from 12 units in the preceding week. The latest sales
figures include units sold at the group's Lakeshore condo in Jurong,
GardenVista at Dunearn Road, landed homes at The Greenwood and 'new
age'
studio office units at its Central project above Clarke Quay MRT
Station.

Forthcoming new launches from Far East and other developers include the
second tower of The Sail @ <mailto: @>  Marina Bay condo, Centrepoint's
Raintree condo at Hindhede Road in the Upper Bukit Timah area, and
United Overseas Land's Regency Suites in the Kim Tian location.

Upmarket projects which are expected to come on the market before the
end of the year include Wing Tai's Draycott 8, Hong Leong Group's St
Regis Residences in the Cuscaden/Tomlinson area and Centrepoint's
116-unit condo on Sentosa Cove.

High-end projects like these have been selling like hot cakes for
several months, on the strength of foreign demand.

Unlike many Singaporeans who continue to feel gloomy about job security
worries and remain cautious about investing in property, despite the
July package of property measures, many foreign property investors see
the Singapore residential market as undervalued and hence attractive.