You’ve got a home… but does your car?
September 8, 2008
Carparks
at newer condos smaller; some even have fewer lots than units
Home owners
looking to buy a condominium within the next few years may soon find
themselves in a squeeze when it comes to parking their cars at home.
A Straits
Times survey of 26 condominiums launched or built after 2005 showed
carparks are getting smaller, with some even falling below a government
standard of at least one lot per unit.
About 50
per cent of the condominiums surveyed will have just one lot for each
unit - plus not more than 5 per cent of extra lots - when completed.
The situation
is more pronounced in the city. At least three new developments - The
Sail @ Marina Bay, Marina Bay Residences and Icon in Tanjong Pagar -
have between 20 per cent and 40 per cent fewer lots than units.
In comparison,
a survey of about 10 condos built between 1980 and 2000 showed they
were more generous, with over 50 per cent of them giving at least 15
per cent more leeway for lots.
For instance,
Kembangan’s Windy Heights, which was completed around 1978, has 274
lots to its 202 units - about 36 per cent more lots than units.
In comparison,
The Sail @ Marina Bay will have 700 lots for its 1,111 units - but only
because it has ‘direct access to MRT stations, Raffles Place and is
within walking distance to many workplaces and amenities’, said a spokesman
for the developer CDL.
The upcoming
Dakota Residences in Mountbatten, when completed in 2010, will have
one lot for each of the 348 units while Reflections at Keppel Bay, when
ready in 2013, will have about 1,200 lots for its 1,129 apartments -
just 6 per cent more lots than units.
While many
of these condos have not yet been completed, and the problem has not
quite set in, there have been a few rumblings.
For instance,
a handful of retailers at the mostly sold Icon - a retail-cum-residential
development - said a few customers have complained how hard it can be
to find a lot during the peak hours of lunchtime and 5pm to 8pm.
Investor
Hengky Oeni, 54, who has bought a unit at The Sail @ Marina Bay, believes
visitors may face problems finding a spot at certain times if forced
to park outside at nearby office buildings. ‘On weekdays when employees
are around, parking spaces in these buildings will be difficult to find
and expensive.’
Real-estate
firm Knight Frank’s director of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak
pointed out that home owners-to-be would not feel the effects now.
‘But once
they move in, for instance when they throw a house-warming party, they
will realise there may not be enough parking lots,’ he said.
During festive
seasons such as Chinese New Year, visitors who take up spaces meant
for residents may cause spats in the estate too, he said.
Management
consultant Ong Tee Jin, 46, complained he often had to park in HDB estates
and walk over when visiting friends in some of the new developments,
‘because their carparks are so crowded’.
‘Some of
my friends regretted buying these condos after they found out about
the parking problems,’ he said.
He also
said condo owners who can afford these homes are likely to have more
than one car.
Reasons
for the downward trend vary: Some say it is the sheer cost of land and
construction, and the smaller plots of land for sale these days.
Also, basement
carparks, while ideal solutions for narrow land plots, cost three times
as much as above-ground carparks to construct, said Mr Mak.
Assistant
Professor Erwin Viray from the National University of Singapore’s architecture
faculty told The Straits Times that the authorities or developers may
want to ‘encourage a green urban lifestyle, where people…live healthy
lives by walking and using public transport’.
He described
how the well-off in cities such as Manhattan and Tokyo often ditch their
cars to walk, and have ‘created a sort of healthy trend’. ‘It could
be a sign of things to come in Singapore,’ he said.
A rule change
in 2005 meant that developers no longer have to provide as many parking
spots, if the condo falls in the Central Business District or is near
an MRT station. But it is largely still up to developers to decide what
works for them.
Mr Mak said:
‘People usually take parking for granted. When choosing a condo to buy…parking
is one essential that often gets neglected.’
The exception
is usually super deluxe condos, which sell for about $3,000 or more
per sq ft. For example, the upcoming Boulevard Vue will provide up to
four lots for each penthouse unit.
Source :
Straits Times - 8 Sep 2008
