Is there an environmental cost from Singapore’s love affair with en bloc sales?
Written by Cheryl Lin and published on CNA website on 29 May 2021 06:30AM
In 2002, Olivio, a 36-unit condominium in Novena was completed and welcomed its new residents. But just four years later, it was sold en bloc and torn down.
To this day, it remains one of the youngest condominiums to have undergone a successful collective sale – which is when owners band together to sell their project to a developer.
Since the 1990s, a few en bloc cycles have come and gone, with the most recent lasting from 2017 to 2018, before cooling measures put the brakes on.
Analysts expected the trend to bud again this year, as developers seek to replenish their land banks, amid a property market that has defied the economic gloom of the pandemic.
Four collective sales have taken place since January, compared to four in the whole of 2020, while more projects have been taking another stab at a collective sale.
The phenomenon owes its longevity to several practical reasons, such as allowing urban renewal and, often, a handsome windfall for those selling their units.
But some believe Singapore’s love affair with en bloc sales is becoming increasingly problematic, in light of its recent pledges to sustainability.
In particular, the country has crafted a Green Building Masterplan to reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment sector, which accounts for 20 per cent of the country’s emissions.
