ST : Downtown Line news lifts home sales

Aug 25, 2010

Downtown Line news lifts home sales

HOME buyers have snapped up eight units at Waterfront Key and six at Waterfront Gold in the Bedok Reservoir area in the days since last week's news that an MRT station will be built nearby.

Developer Frasers Centrepoint Homes said the units have been sold since the Government announced details of Stage 3 of the MRT Downtown Line last Friday.

The firm will also officially launch Waterfront Gold this Saturday.

Waterfront Gold, Waterfront Key and the fully sold Waterfront Waves are near the planned Bedok Reservoir station on the newest stage of the Downtown Line.

Experts say projects near this line should experience stronger demand, as with other projects located near MRT stations.

Stage 3 of the Downtown Line stretches from Singapore Expo in the east to Liang Court in River Valley in the south. A total of 16 stops are planned, including Tampines East, Upper Changi, Kampong Ubi and Kaki Bukit.

Ms Christine Sun, senior manager at Savills Research & Consultancy, noted that quite a number of MRT stations on this line are located within commercial and industrial areas, particularly in the North-east and Eastern regions.

This line will boost transport links to suburban commercial sites in Ubi, Kaki Bukit, MacPherson and Singapore Expo, she said.

The Paya Lebar Industrial Park, where 15ha are to be developed under the Masterplan 2008, will be a definite beneficiary.

Ms Sun said more businesses may relocate their offices from the city fringes and downtown areas to the park, and a positive impact on industrial property prices in these areas can be expected.

Residential properties near the Bedok Reservoir, Tampines, Pasir Ris and Upper Changi areas could see higher demand down the road, she added.

Residents in these areas will be able to transfer to the East-West Line stations via the new Downtown Line instead of using bus transfers, she said.

'For now, owner-occupiers may show more interest than investors in the projects near the new Downtown Line because these are mostly suburban areas.'

Also, the timeframe for the completion of the Downtown Line may be too long for some investors, she said.

Savills Residential director Phylicia Ang concurred that new and existing residential projects near the upcoming Downtown Line should attract demand but said not all investors will be eager to jump in now.

They will have to wait a few years for the line to be ready in order to reap the benefits, she said.

Price is also a key factor as developers and individual sellers may raise their prices, she said.

Stage 3 of the Downtown Line is scheduled for completion in 2017.

JOYCE TEO