New areas of Singapore: would you like to live like this?

kingfood (25)in #travel • 6 years ago

What do you imagine when you hear the expression "residential complex"? A group of 25-storey anthills, parking in the courtyard, a poor playground, a pub on the ground floor ... Let's see how to build residential complexes in the banana-lemon Singapore!

For reference, the area of Singapore is two times less than the area of St. Petersburg, and about the same people live there, that is, the population density in Singapore is twice as high (7,437 versus 3,669 people / sq. Km). So the construction of multi-storey buildings is still somehow justified. But you will not meet in small Singapore, which is experiencing a shortage of land, such misery as in the sleeping areas of St. Petersburg or Moscow!

Standard residential complex in Singapore looks more like a good hotel. Fenced territory, swimming pools, saunas, jacuzzi and spa, gym, tennis and squash courts, basketball court, jogging tracks, a library, karaoke rooms and barbecue areas ...

Singapore residential complex Double Bay Residences, built in 2012, is located in the district of Simei in the east of the city, near the airport. It is a closed quarter consisting of 14 thirteen-storey buildings. Yeah, not 25, but 13 floors! Peter, envy;)

Apartments in the complex are sold and leased. However, the word "sold" here is also not quite true. The buyer has the opportunity to either rent an apartment for 99 years, or rent it for a short time. But who knows what will happen in 99 years?

Despite the impressive number of houses, there are a total of 646 apartments in total. Apartments are different, from 50-meter two-room to six-room apartments with an area of 324 sq. M. meters. The cheapest apartment now costs 680,000 Singapore dollars (27.9 million rubles), the most expensive - 3.5 million (143.5 million rubles).

By the way, the most common type of housing in the Double Bay Residences is three-bedroom apartments, or four-bedroom apartments, such as in the complex more than 50%. They can cost from 1.25 million to 1.94 million Singapore dollars

From the side of the street there is nothing remarkable.

Here are entrances for taxis. As you can see, there is no parking even guest! Multi-level parking is a separate building. There is only an area for disembarking passengers. Taxi come here.

This is parking. The tenants have fixed places for which they pay every month. There are more places for guests.

Let's go inside.

To buy an apartment in Singapore on the secondary market, first you need to write the owner a check for 1.5% of its value, and within two weeks - another 3.5%. If you do not do this, then the owner can terminate the deal, and take one and a half percent for yourself. If everything is good, then you can attend to the loan.

In Singapore, banks issue loans of several types. The most popular of these is the SIBOR (Singapore Interbank Offer) loan rate. This value fluctuates, but it fluctuates at the level of one percent. SIBOR is usually plus a certain fixed rate, as a result, the total value of the mortgage rate is 1.5-2%.

To avoid overheating of the real estate market, several years ago, "cooling" measures were introduced in Singapore. This is a set of rules that slightly limit access to credit. For example, you can not take a loan of more than 80% of the value of the apartment, if this is your first home purchase.

In addition, you will not be given a mortgage if the total amount of your loan payments exceeds 60% of your income. Roughly speaking: here you get 10 thousand Singapore dollars and intend to buy an apartment with a monthly payment of $ 2,000 on the mortgage. But you already pay 5000 per month for a car, household appliances and a dog of a rare breed. In this case, a loan for an apartment will not give you.

The same rules protect the housing market against speculation by foreigners. When registering a property, you pay a state duty, which is called “stamp duty”. When buying a new home, it is 0% for citizens, 5% for those who have a residence permit, and 15% for foreigners.

In addition to this, everyone pays the same progressive fee, depending on the cost of housing: 1% from the first $ 180,000 of the cost, 2% from the next 180,000 and 3% from the rest of the amount. That is, for the purchase of an apartment you should have enough money to cover at least 20% of its value, as well as both state fees, fixed and progressive.

In general, in Singapore, the citizens overpay the least for an apartment, and foreigners, depending on the type of housing and mortgage terms, may end up paying a lot more.

By the way, if you have a residence permit in Singapore, you must transfer money to the CPF. This is something like a pension fund, but you can also use it to pay off a mortgage loan if you buy your first apartment.

Inside - narrow paths among lush vegetation, as you walk through the jungle.

The apartments located on the first floors, the entrance is directly from the courtyard.

Very cool accomplishment.

Transactions are usually conducted by real estate agents. At the same time in Singapore is very strict punishment for collusion between the buying agent and sales agent, so the likelihood of any deception tends to zero.

But usually the buyer has literally 5 minutes to see the apartment. Therefore, in Singapore there are special courses for home buyers, where they teach what to look for in order not to lose.

More Singaporeans are very driven by Feng Shui. For example, on the fourth floor apartment can not be bought. Why? Why, 4 is the number of death! Better sell this apartment to a stupid foreigner. In Singapore, people can really refuse a good deal just because the wall of the apartment is western, not eastern, and so on. If you are a foreigner and in the future you plan to resell this apartment, then you would also be better to understand this.

By the way, about the cardinal points. Never take an apartment in Singapore on the south side. And Feng Shui has nothing to do with it: it will just be very hot, and you will overpay crazy money for air conditioners.

These are the tracks.

On the left of the apartment, along the sidewalk is a stream with carps.

How do you like this yard?

The abundance of cool water should save in hot weather.

On the first floors there is a small plot of land, and each tenant makes himself a patio here.

You can make out as you like. Many dig pools.

What could be better than a private pool in the living room? To dissociate themselves from prying eyes, planted bamboo.

Someone greedy and the pool did not)

Residents of the upper floors have large balconies.

The complex has many swimming pools. You leave the apartment - and swim) In Singapore all year +30 celsius

There is even a 50 ft pool where you can train) Suddenly you are an athlete.

In the center of the courtyard - a huge pool in the form of a lagoon.

Like a good hotel.

This tree grew here before the construction of a residential complex, now it is a symbol of Double Bay Residences.

Jacuzzi

There is a grill area, it can be rented on the site of a residential complex, it costs very little, you only have to pay for cleaning. But if friends came to you, you can have a pool party.