Huttons Asia has expressed support for the proposed reduction in consent thresholds for older condominiums in Singapore, a move aimed at facilitating urban rejuvenation. With Singapore’s ageing stock of developments, the change is seen as necessary to meet the increasing housing demands, especially given the limited land resources and rising number of single households.
The proposal could ease the process for older developments to initiate collective sales, addressing maintenance issues such as lift and water seepage problems, which have become more pronounced post-COVID due to increased maintenance fees. Huttons Data Analytics estimates that around 150 private non-landed developments in Singapore are between 40 and 59 years old, with fewer than 10 developments aged 60 years and above.
The changes also include raising the threshold to convene a general meeting for a collective sale committee to 35% of owners, up from 20%, and shortening the time to secure signatures from 12 months to six months. These adjustments aim to protect minority owners whilst still enabling collective sales.
A significant shift is the extension of the collective sale regime to non-strata titled private residential developments with long leases of at least 850 years, which previously required unanimous agreement for a sale. Huttons anticipates more collective sale attempts in the future, though success will depend on factors such as reserve prices and the proportion of foreign owners and investors in the developments.
The proposed changes offer a potential avenue for owners to monetise their assets and consider rightsizing to Housing Development Board (HDB) flats, facilitated by the recent removal of the 15-month wait-out period for private property owners.
