Published February 3, 2011


Several showflats to stay open this weekend
Developers change tack as more foreigners are buying private homes in Singapore

By UMA SHANKARI

(Singapore)

A HANDFUL of developers - including Far East Organization and CapitaLand - will open showflats of residential projects they are currently marketing to prospective buyers over the long Chinese New Year weekend.


Traditionally, developers here close their showflats over the Chinese New Year holiday period as sales tend to be extremely slow. But this is now changing as more foreigners are buying private homes in Singapore, market watchers said.

Far East Organization, which is currently marketing more than a dozen residential projects, will close its showflats to walk-in visitors on Thursday and Friday, the first two days of Chinese New Year.

But the developer will host prospective buyers who have made appointments.

'Our sales hotline remains open and manned throughout this Lunar New Year holiday period. For customers interested in visiting our show galleries over the public holidays, we are happy to make appointments to host them,' said Chia Boon Kuah, chief operating officer for property sales at Far East Organization.

BT understands that some of these customers come from overseas markets - such as China - with the intention of buying property in Singapore. Far East has a sales office in China, which allows customers to make appointments to visits showflats here with little fuss. Last year, Far East also hosted overseas visitors over the Chinese New Year period.

In fact, the developer is confident that property buyers will be out in force over the long Chinese New Year weekend; it plans to officially launch its 561-unit Waterfront Isle in the Bedok Reservoir area on Saturday.

Similarly, a spokeswoman for CapitaLand also said that all of the developer's showflats will be open for viewing (but only by appointment) during the long Chinese New Year weekend.

CapitaLand is currently marketing two residential projects with more than 1,000 units each: The Interlace and d'Leedon.

City Developments will also open its showflats to prospective buyers who make appointments, BT understands.

But other developers are sticking to tradition and keeping their showflats shut on all four days of the long Chinese New Year weekend.

UOL Group, for example, said its Spottiswoode Residences showflat will be closed on all four days, from Thursday to Sunday.

One developer BT spoke to said it might make more sense for projects that target foreign buyers to keep showflats open over Chinese New Year.


Source; /www.businesstimes.com.sg

06:05 AM Feb 02, 2011

SINGAPORE - Far East Organization's sold 88 of the 132 units of its Waterfront Isle at a preview yesterday.

The units were sold at an average price of $920 per square foot, the developer said, adding that 80 per cent of the Waterfront Isle buyers were Singaporeans and permanent residents, half of whom live in eastern suburbs like Bedok and Tampines.

The 99-year leasehold project will be officially launched this Saturday, with yet another release of units from its entire stock of 561 units.

Prices will begin from $575,000 for a one-bedroom apartment at the Bedok Reservoir property. Rooms range from one-bedroom units starting from 581 sq ft to penthouse units at a maximum of 2,863 sq ft.

Far East is also offering furniture vouchers worth 5 per cent of the purchase price upon the property obtaining its temporary occupancy permit (TOP) in 2015.

The 15-storey Waterfront Isle is the last edition of the Waterfront Collection - a joint venture development between Frasers Centrepoint and Far East.

The Waterfront Collection comprises four properties fronting Bedok Reservoir.

The three other Waterfront projects met with good response, with Waterfront Waves completely sold out, Waterfront Key selling more than 85 per cent of its units and Waterfront Gold selling more than 75 per cent. - Jo-Ann Huang

Source: www.todayonline.com

Hotel, luxury apartments at Capitol site

by May Wong
05:55 AM Feb 02, 2011

SINGAPORE - By the end of 2014, the landmark Capitol site will be transformed to boast developments including a new hotel and luxury residential apartments, each costing up to $4 million.

The Capitol site comprises the Capitol Theatre, Stamford House, Capitol Centre, and Capitol Building. Work on the 99-year lease, 1.43-hectare site, will begin in the third quarter of this year. The project's investment, including the land cost of $250 million, is estimated to hit $750 million.

The consortium - led by Mr Pua Seck Guan's Perennial Real Estate, together with Mdm Sukmawati Widjaja's Top Global and Mr Kwee Liong Seen's Chesham Properties - won the tender last October. It signed the building agreement with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday.

The developers have set aside about $30 million to restore and conserve the Capitol Theatre. It will be the largest single- screen cinema-cum-performance theatre with about 800 seats. Built in 1929, the theatre screened its last movie in 1998.

The restored Capitol Theatre will see it hosting local theatre and dance groups for half the season. Cinema operator Golden Village will make use of the theatre for the remaining half to screen blockbuster movies.

Capitol Centre will be transformed into a new 15-storey building. It will house eateries, retail shops and up to 70 residential units. The two- to four-bedroom apartments will cost over $2,500 per sq ft and it could be launched as early as the third quarter of this year.

The apartments, industry watchers say, will have no shortage of buyers. Dr Chua Yang Liang, head of research, South-east Asia, Jones Lang LaSalle, said; "It's probably a good size in terms of market demand there. And being large units, again, they are pretty attractive."

Source: www.todayonline.com

Published January 29, 2011

Q4 new office demand surges to 3-year high
It wraps up the total for 2010 to 1.65m sq ft, a sharp reversal of negative demand of about 236,806 sq ft in 2009

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

NET new office demand surged to 753,473 square feet in the fourth quarter of 2010, the highest quarterly take-up since Q1 2007, according to latest government numbers.

The fourth-quarter take-up was triple the 258,334 sq ft for the preceding quarter and took the total for 2010 to 1.65 million sq ft, a sharp reversal of negative demand of about 236,806 sq ft in 2009.

'This once again demonstrates the fast recovery in the office market and the voracious appetite of office occupiers for expansion space whenever the economy picks up,' said CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) executive director Li Hiaw Ho.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority's islandwide office vacancy rate, which had spiked to 13 per cent at end-Q3 2010 (from 12.3 per cent at end-Q2) eased to 12.1 per cent at the end of last year - as tenants moved into recently completed office projects.

Most of the new project completions last year took place in the first three quarters, such as Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) Tower 1 in Q1, Mapletree Business City in Q2 and MBFC Tower 2 in Q3.

The islandwide stock of office space rose 2.6 per cent to nearly 76 million sq ft at the end of last year, from about 74 million sq ft at end-2009.

URA's office rental index rose 4.7 per cent quarter on quarter in Q4, slowing from the 6 per cent gain in Q3. For the whole of last year, the index appreciated 12.6 per cent, a marked turnaround from a drop of 23.6 per cent in 2009. The latest index, however, is nearly 20.2 per cent below its previous peak in Q2 2008.

According to CBRE's numbers, the average gross monthly rental value for Grade A office space climbed 22.2 per cent last year to $9.90 per square foot (psf) but is still 47.3 per cent shy of the recent high of $18.80 psf in Q3 2008.

Property consultants are generally predicting an increase of around 15 per cent in Grade A office rents this year.

Agnes Tay, Savills Singapore director (commercial leasing), said that over the next two years, there would be considerable secondary office stock being returned to the market as occupiers vacate existing premises to move to newly completed office developments.

'However, the impact of secondary stock is likely to be cushioned by a reduction in supply from demolition or refurbishment of a number of older office blocks. On the demand side too, a healthy 54 per cent of the new office space to be completed in the CBD in 2011-2012 has already been pre-committed.

'Savills has identified an inflection point appearing in late 2011 when the return of secondary stock will impact the market. At this point, we expect to see a greater spread in rents between the international Grade office space and the rest of the market.'

URA's shop rental index recovered 2.9 per cent last year, against a 7.4 per cent drop in 2009.

Amid Singapore's economic recovery, the rental indices for flatted factory and warehouse space appreciated 11.7 per cent and 17.7 per cent - against respective declines of 12.1 per cent and 15.6 per cent in 2009.


Source: www.businesstimes.com.sg

Published January 29, 2011


8,430 new private homes set to be completed in 2011
URA data also shows nearly half of them will be in the core central region

By UMA SHANKARI

CLOSE to half of the estimated 8,430 new private homes that are slated to be completed in 2011 will be in the upmarket core central region, according to fresh data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday.

The government agency has also bumped up its estimate for the projected supply of private homes due to be completed this year by 25 per cent from three months ago. In October 2010, URA estimated that 6,766 new private homes will be completed in 2011.

Sources told BT that URA has been surveying developers more closely over the last few months in a bid to compile more accurate pipeline supply figures. The agency computes the estimated supply of private housing units in the pipeline through a quarterly survey of developers.

In response to a query from BT, URA said it will continue to work closely with developers to ensure that they submit up-to-date estimations of the expected completion dates of their projects.

'URA's survey of the developers' completion (for 2011) is only starting to increase. The increase from Q3 2010's forecast for 2011 completions to Q4 2010's forecast is a significant 25 per cent. Over the next few quarters, we expect to see further upward revisions,' said Ku Swee Yong, chief executive of real estate firm International Property Advisor.

Looking at the latest completion estimates, analysts once again warned that home-buyers need to brace themselves for a very large supply of private residential units due to be completed each year from 2011 to 2015.

URA currently estimates that 8,116 units will be completed in 2012; 17,111 units in 2013; 17,421 units in 2014; and 13,453 units in 2015.

In fact, 2010's number of newly completed private homes, which stands at around 10,400 units, is already higher than the historical average annual increase in housing supply of around 6,400 private units over the last decade, Mr Ku pointed out. For 2011, a total of 3,874 homes will be added to the housing supply in the core central region, which includes the prime districts 9, 10 and 11, Marina Bay and Sentosa Cove. This will make up 46 per cent of the islandwide housing supply of 8,430 new private homes.

Another 2,265 private homes will be completed in the rest of central region, while in the outside central region, 2,291 units will be completed this year.

URA also said that as at the end of Q4 2010, there was a total supply of 65,699 uncompleted units of private housing from projects in the pipeline. Of these, 32,776 units were still unsold.


Source: www.businesstimes.com.sg

Published February 1, 2011


Ang Mo Kio industrial site up for tender
Price could exceed $130 psf ppr, say market watchers

By EMILYN YAP

THE Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday launched a 60-year leasehold industrial site at Ang Mo Kio Street 62 for sale via public tender.

Market watchers expect to see keen interest in the plot, with its price possibly crossing $120 or $130 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The 2.8 hectare site, with a maximum permissible gross plot ratio of 2.5, is on the confirmed list under the H1 2011 government industrial land sales programme.

The land parcel is near Yio Chu Kang MRT station and is zoned for Business 1 development, which makes it suitable for various uses such as light industry, clean industry or telecommunications.

Savills Singapore industrial director Dominic Peters believes that the site could be sold for at least $120 psf ppr, and five or more developers could be interested.

This is the first industrial site to be made available in Ang Mo Kio in a long time, he said. Also, with the government introducing more tightening measures to the residential property sector, 'industrial (properties) would be a target for investors'.

Capital values of industrial property rose last year, driven by strong end-user and investor interest. Developers also bid actively for state industrial sites. In August last year for instance, Oxley Rising paid $158.1 million or $169 psf ppr for a 60-year leasehold plot at Ubi Road 1.

Knight Frank director of business space (industrial) Lim Kien Kim expects the Ang Mo Kio site to fetch at least $130 psf ppr.

He said that the plot has a good location, though its large size might make it more attractive to developers with 'deep pockets'.

Also, cooling measures for the residential sector could have tamed bullish sentiment across the entire property market, he said. While some investors have switched their focus to the commercial sector, the government would also be wary about commercial prices rising too quickly as that would affect Singapore's competitiveness, he pointed out.


Source: www.businesstimes.com.sg

Published February 2, 2011


88 Waterfront Isle units sold at preview

FAR East Organization and Frasers Centrepoint have sold 88 units in their 561-unit Waterfront Isle development in the Bedok Reservoir area over the last few days.

The developers released 132 units in the 99-year leasehold project at a preview which started on Jan 28. Of these units, 88 units (67 per cent) have been sold at an average price of $920 per square foot (psf).

Waterfront Isle will be officially launched on Feb 5, the third day of Chinese New Year.

Far East Organization, which is marketing the project, said prices will start from $575,000 for a one-bedroom apartment - excluding an additional 5 per cent cost which will be returned to buyers in the form of furniture vouchers once the development obtains its temporary occupation permit (TOP) in 2015.

Including the extra cost for the vouchers, prices at the project will start from $605,000.

Far East said that the furniture vouchers were being given to 'build a stronger base of long-term buyers'.

Waterfront Isle is the last project in the Waterfront Collection, a master-planned joint venture development between Far East and Frasers Centrepoint. The entire collection comprises four developments fronting Bedok Reservoir.

Units in the first three projects in this master-planned development are mostly sold. Waterfront Waves is 100 per cent sold, Waterfront Key is more than 85 per cent sold and Waterfront Gold is more than 75 per cent sold.

Singaporeans and permanent residents make up 80 per cent of the buyers of Waterfront Isle. About half of the buyers are residents now living in the east in estates such as Bedok and Tampines, Far East said.


Source: www.businesstimes.com.sg