Rising en-bloc sales signal Singapore housing market recovery

SINGAPORE (June 16): Chalk up another sign Singapore’s housing market is recovering: redevelopment deals are back.

After slowing to a trickle the past three years as housing prices fell, four redevelopment deals -- where a group of owners band together to sell entire apartment blocks at a hefty premium -- have been struck already this year, with a combined value of $1.5 billion. The process, also known as “en-bloc” sales, allows developers to knock down and rebuild in a city where new residential land sales are tightly controlled by the government.

The renewed hunger for land comes as home sales climb after some property restrictions were eased in March. A residential plot last month fetched a record price in a government land sale, with a Chinese consortium bidding $1 billion.

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