How WFH has changed the concept of home
One of the issues raised during the forum was how working from home (WFH) could change the way people view their homes. Ong Choon Fah was the moderator for the forum. “Perhaps, working from home may spur the upgrader market — people who want more comfort and space at home to work and live in,” says Alan Cheong, head of research at Savills Singapore. “It could also spur the need for ergonomic furniture. Architects will also have to rethink the layout of apartments, and how to increase the use of efficient space.”
More important than size is flexibility, says Dora Chng, general manager (residential) of Guocoland. “A larger home does not mean that it is more flexible,” she adds. “To be able to transform a living area where one can entertain, to a place for relaxation, and then to a place of work, will be something that people want.”
With WFH, more people are shopping online and having food and shopping delivered to their homes. More developments in the future will have to cater for contactless delivery, such as parcel locker systems, adds Chng.
Frequent cleaning and sanitation of common areas, especially in lifts and condominium facilities, will also become the norm. Developers are therefore, also exploring the possibility of introducing cleaning robots, installing UV lights in the lifts to kill bacteria and other features, as health and wellness becomes more important to residents, notes Chng.
As WFH becomes more commonplace, businesses that promote the sharing economy such as “cloud kitchens” as well as online gaming and entertainment companies will boom, says Christine Li, head of research for Singapore and Southeast Asia at Cushman & Wakefield (C&W). “As real estate agility increases, a lot of buildings will not be relevant to today’s workforce,” she adds.
Li believes that “cloud kitchens” will be here to stay. Such kitchens offer shared kitchen spaces for delivery-only restaurants. Savills’ Cheong agrees, adding that F&B outlets and restaurants are likely to “go underground” — either operating from home or a central kitchen. “These kitchens could dilute the demand for F&B shopfronts in malls or commercial shops,” he adds.
The long-term impact of Covid-19 on the sharing economy remains uncertain. “It’s a mixed bag at the moment as some businesses in the sharing economy will not even survive the current downturn, especially if they are in the business of human interaction,” says C&W’s Li.
Another concern was whether the election results could have an impact on the residential market. “Foreigners will still see our political system as very stable,” says Savills’ Cheong. “They will look at Singapore very favourably — given the quality of the civil service sector and transparency of business policies. Even the loss of one more GRC [group representation constituency] to the opposition party will not affect that perception.”
C&W’s Li agrees: “Investors don’t look at how many seats PAP [People’s Action Party] have won because many come from democratic societies where coalition governments are common.”
In fact, Li says Covid-19 and the unrest in Hong Kong have led to an increase in real estate enquiries from both investors and multinational companies. She also points to the “spillover effect” from the trade war last year and the ongoing conflict between US and China. “Singapore will continue to be a key financial hub in Southeast Asia due to its transparent and sound infrastructure,” says Li.
Another perennial question was whether the government would lift some of the property cooling measures. “Housing is a socio-economic and political tool,” says Wong Yew Kiang, CLSA head of research for Singapore. “It must be kept in line with income growth, which is now 3% to 4% annually. My gauge is that when prices grow by more than 1% to 1.5% per quarter, or an annualised rate of 5% to 6%, the government gets a bit worried, which was exactly what happened before the latest cooling measures in July 2018.”
C&W’s Li agrees. She reckons the government will only tweak some of the measures if residential property prices plunge by at least 5% within a short period of time. “In fact, during Covid-19, the government deferred mortgage repayments for homebuyers and also gave a six-month extension on the ABSD [additional buyer’s stamp duty] remission for couples buying their second home, as well as for developers. Even commercial landlords had deferment on their mortgage repayments.”
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