The government has revised the development charge (DC) rates for the next six months, with increases seen in the DC rates for industrial and residential land sites.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said the DC rates for other land use groups remain unchanged.
A development charge is a levy that is payable by the developer when a property site is developed into a more valuable project.
The industrial/warehousing land use segment saw the steepest increase, rising by 15 percent on average.
The largest increase of 29 percent will cover areas like Woodlands, Sembawang, Yishun, Upper Thomson, Tiong Bahru Road, Delta Road, Jalan Bukit Merah, Alexandra Road, Keppel Road and Leng Kee Road area.
DC rates for landed homes will go up by an average of 7 percent, with increases ranging from 5 percent to 13 percent in 76 sectors and no change in DC rates for the remaining 42 sectors.
The biggest rise of 13 percent applies to 13 geographical sectors, including Tanglin Road, Grange Road, Zion Road, Killiney Road, River Valley Road, Mohd Sultan Road, Guillemard Road, Tanjong Katong Road, Marine Parade, Siglap, and Bedok South area.
DC rates for non-landed homes will increase by an average of 5 percent, with gains ranging from 5 percent to 28 percent in 53 out of 118 sectors. There will be no change to the DC rates for the remaining 65 sectors.
The largest increase of 28 percent is in the sector which includes Tiong Bahru Road, Zion Road, Outram Road, CTE and Jalan Bukit Merah area.
The changes surprised some analysts who had expected a more muted increase but across wider land use groups.
Chua Yang Liang, head of research at Jones Lang LaSalle, said: “Maybe what’s driving this revision, is really an opportunity for the chief valuer to align values, not just within the asset class in the property land use type, but across the island and the land use groups.
“If you look at the industrial, for example, it is wide spread increase across all sectors within the use group. And those use groups that saw increases last time in March, that is commercial and hotels, have seen no increase this time.”
Besides the commercial and hotel/hospital land use, the DC rates for four other sectors have also been left unchanged.
The review is carried out on a half-yearly basis, in consultation with the chief valuer.
If there is any disagreement over the DC payable for any development proposal, calculated based on the rates under the respective use groups, MND said developers and owners can opt for a case-by-case valuation by the chief valuer.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 30 Aug 2013