20 Mar 2018

Melbourne and Singapore might not seem to have a lot in common at first glance. But a wave of money from an increasingly sophisticated buyer base is coming to Australia’s property markets out of South-East Asia, which are giving some Melbourne developments a more Singaporean feel.

Greenery spilling from planter boxes along balconies and development’s being shared with hotels are all trends common across cities like Singapore.

While Singapore is a lot further along the high-density path than Melbourne, Rahul Mittal – Director at Cistri, Urbis Australia’s international arm – believes the two have a lot in common.

“Melbourne and Singapore are similar in size of population and expectations of growth,” Mr Mittal said.

“But Melbourne isn’t just learning from Singapore, Singapore is learning from Melbourne.”

Singapore was ahead on two key fronts: a focus on development near transit hubs and a significantly simpler and more predictable planning environment.

Rahul Mittal View Profile

Mr Mittal, who is in Melbourne this week for the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s National Congress event, is a big fan of the way Melbourne has made universities a part of their surrounding suburbs and communities.

Melbourne’s bike trails and lanes, as well as pedestrian-friendly streets were also things Singapore could learn from, according to the director, especially the presence of showers and end-of-trip facilities in city office buildings to encourage healthier transit choices.

But Singapore was ahead on two key fronts: a focus on development near transit hubs, something Melbourne is working to address, and a significantly simpler and more predictable planning environment.

“80 per cent of the population in Singapore will live within a 10-minute walk of the rail network stops in the near future,” Mr Mittal said.

“And on the back of that, they do transit-oriented development.”

This meant they not only looked at increasing residential density around train stations but also at office space and public housing, he added.

The approach also improved employment outcomes, with a higher percentage of the population able to rely on transit to access jobs and meant those in public housing still became a part of the wider community.

“And that is something officials in Melbourne could learn from,” Mr Mittal said.

At present, the Victorian government is working to finalise plans to renew several public housing sites with privately owned residences to be included alongside them.

The buildings themselves have a lot of amenities for the residents ... so people don’t want to escape their home, and it’s a very pleasant environment to be in.

Rahul Mittal View Profile

Meanwhile, a rising trend of owner-occupier buyers in Melbourne was leading some developers to focus on larger apartments with high-quality features, something that was mandated by the high price of land in Singapore, Mr Mittal said.

“In Singapore, we don’t have the luxury of a lot of landed residences, but because of that the quality of the apartments and the finishes of them are so high,” he said.

“And the buildings themselves have a lot of amenities for the residents … so people don’t want to escape their home, and it’s a very pleasant environment to be in.”

In Melbourne, rooftop gardens, pools and gyms were in the past viewed as a negative by investors who saw them as an owners corporation fees…

This article first appeared in Herald Sun Real Estate. Click here to read the full article.