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

Published January 28, 2011

CapitaLand buys Marine Point

By EMILYN YAP


CAPITALAND has signed a sale and purchase agreement to buy Marine Point en bloc and redevelop it into a 150-unit condominium.


It will pay $100.68 million for the freehold site, and an estimated development charge of $12.8 million. The total acquisition cost works out to $1,056 per square foot per plot ratio.

The deal is subject to the Strata Titles Board's approval and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.

Marine Point, located along Marine Parade Road, sits on a 51,185 sq ft site and has a maximum gross floor area of 107,488 sq ft.

It was put up for collective sale in October last year with a $110 million price tag.

CapitaLand plans to redevelop the site into a condominium with one-bedroom plus study and two-bedroom apartments. The project should be ready for launch in the first half of next year.

'For the new development, we will be maximising its height to approximately 19 storeys. This will give the majority of the apartments a good view of the surrounding skyline and the sea,' said CapitaLand Residential Singapore CEO Wong Heang Fine.

'We are confident that we will see strong buyer support from young families as well as professionals who have grown up in the area.'

Marine Point is opposite Parkway Parade shopping mall and is within walking distance of East Coast Park. It is also near schools such as Tao Nan School and CHIJ (Katong) Primary School.

Next to the estate is Parc Seabreeze, where units changed hands at $1,256-$1,430 psf between October and November last year, based on caveats lodged.

The purchase of Marine Point will bring CapitaLand's pipeline of homes in Singapore to over 2,600 units.

CapitaLand lost four cents yesterday to end trading at $3.65.


Source; www.businesstimes.com.sg

05:55 AM Jan 28, 2011

SINGAPORE - CapitaLand has agreed to buy Marine Point for $100.68 million through a collective sale, the developer said yesterday.

Inclusive of an estimated development charge of $12.8 million, the total acquisition cost works out to $1,056 per sq ft per plot ratio.

CapitaLand plans to redevelop the site into a condominium with 150 units, comprising one-bedroom plus study and two-bedroom apartments, bringing its pipeline of homes in Singapore to a total of over 2,600 units.

Located along Marine Parade Road, Marine Point sits on a 51,185 sq ft freehold site with a maximum gross floor area of 107,488 sq ft. There are 32 apartments in the existing development. The completion of the transaction, expected to take place in the third quarter of the year, is subject to the approval of the Strata Titles Board.

CapitaLand Residential Singapore chief executive Wong Heang Fine said: "For the new development, we will be maximising its height to approximately 19 storeys. This will give the majority of the apartments a good view of the surrounding skyline and the sea. We plan to have the new development ready for launch in the first half of 2012."

Source: www.todayonline.com

Published January 15, 2011

CapitaLand chief expects home prices, sales volume to fall

By UMA SHANKARI

CAPITALAND chief executive Liew Mun Leong expects private home prices and sales volume to fall following the latest round of government measures to cool the property market.

But he said he is 'not too unhappy' with the measures as it will make it easier for the group to win land parcels in government tenders.

Describing Thursday's measures as 'incremental', Mr Liew, who helms Singapore's largest listed property group, said some developers are driving up land prices by bidding very aggressively. He was speaking at a lecture at the National University of Singapore yesterday.

'We are amazed at the prices that come out (in government land tenders),' he said. 'Not that we are jealous ... but when we look at the numbers, we know that we can't do it ... So in a way, we agree that there is some speculative chasing for land.'

CapitaLand will go ahead with its plans to launch 1,700 mostly upmarket homes in 2011 as it will be 'business as usual'. The units will come from five projects - The Nassim, Urban Resort Condominium, The Interlace, d'Lee-don and the residential component of a new development at Bedok Town Centre.

The group last week said it expects private home prices to rise by 5-10 per cent in 2011 after climbing 17.6 per cent in 2010. In the high-end segment, prices could climb by 10-15 per cent this year, it said. But yesterday, Mr Liew said prices will fall following the new measures. However, he is still upbeat about the high-end and luxury market, which draws cash-rich investors.

Looking ahead, he said the measures will separate serious developers from speculators: 'These types of measures will differentiate the real estate developers who helped with Singapore's urbanisation from the speculators, who build shoebox apartments.'

But he added that he hopes that just as the government has been quick to act in a property upcycle, it will also work to fine- tune its policies in a down-market when demand tapers off.


Source; www.businesstimes.com.sg

Published January 10, 2011


CapitaLand to launch 1,700 mostly upmarket homes
It expects prices of high-end units to rise 10-15% this yr

By UMA SHANKARI

(SINGAPORE) Property group CapitaLand will launch around 1,700 new homes in Singapore this year as it plans to ride on an expected 10-15 per cent growth in high-end home prices.

'We remain bullish about (the prospects of) the residential market in Singapore, particularly for the segment our products are in,' said Wong Heang Fine, chief executive of CapitaLand's Singapore residential arm. He was speaking to reporters on Friday at a briefing on the unit's prospects.

CapitaLand expects private home prices to rise by a further 5-10 per cent in 2011 after they climbed 17.6 per cent in 2010. But for the high-end segment, the outlook is even brighter; the group's view is that prices in that segment could climb by 10-15 per cent this year.

This should benefit the developer, which plans to roll out another 1,700 mostly upmarket units in five different projects - The Nassim, Urban Resort Condominium, The Interlace, d'Leedon and the residential component of a new development at Bedok Town Centre - in 2011.

With the exception of the Bedok Town Centre development, the remaining four projects will all be high-end or luxury offerings.

CapitaLand has already started marketing The Nassim and Urban Resort Condominium, but will officially launch both projects in Q1 2011.

At the freehold Urban Resort Condominium, 14 out of the 64 units available have been sold as at end-November 2010, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) shows. CapitaLand expects to sell the remaining units for upwards of $3,000 per square foot (psf) each.

Sales at The Nassim, a 55-unit project at Nassim Hill on the former ANA Hotel site, have yet to start. CapitaLand declined to provide the expected pricing for the project, but said that units in other developments in the area are selling for $3,500 psf and more.

The group will also roll out more units in two developments it launched in 2009 and 2010 - The Interlace and d'Leedon - in Q1 2011. This will be followed by units in a mixed-use project at Bedok Town Centre on the site CapitaLand bought in a government tender in 2010. That project could be launched in the second or third quarter of 2011.

CapitaLand is also looking to replenish its land bank, said the group's chief executive Liew Mun Leong. He said that the group was interested in sites made available by the H1 2011 government land sales programme as well as collective sale sites.

The property group is coming off a strong 2010. Last year, CapitaLand sold 800 homes in Singapore, 33 per cent more than the 600 homes sold in 2009. The total value of sales also rose 54 per cent year-on-year to $1.85 billion.

CapitaLand shares lost 2 cents to close at $3.88 on Friday

Source: www.businesstimes.com.sg

November 25, 2010, 5.34 pm (Singapore time)

CapitaLand, HPL unveil d'Leedon at average S$1,680 psf

By ANGELA TAN


CapitaLand, Hotel Properties Limited and their partners on Thursday unveiled d'Leedon, a residential development along Farrer Road on the site of the former Farrer Court.


d'Leedon, designed by internationally-renowned Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Zaha Hadid, is being developed by a CapitaLand-led consortium that includes Hotel Properties Limited, a fund managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate and Wachovia Development Corporation (a unit of Wells Fargo & Company).

A total of 1,715 units - comprising 1,703 apartments and 12 exclusive semi-detached houses - will be built on the expansive 840,049 sq ft site. The apartments are spread over seven 36-storey residential towers.

The average price of the units is S$1,680 per square foot.

www.businesstimes.com.sg
Source:

Published November 23, 2010

CapitaLand rolls out 1,715-unit D'Leedon on Farrer Rd
Units in the District 10 project will mostly be priced north of $1,600 psf


By UMA SHANKARI

CAPITALAND has started marketing D'Leedon, the 1,715-unit, 99-year leasehold residential project it will build on the site of the former Farrer Court.

The D'Leedon showflat has been built and agents have started distributing flyers to prospective buyers.

Units in the District 10 project on Farrer Road will mostly be priced upwards of $1,600 per sq ft (psf) for the most part, BT understands.

In terms of the number of units, D'Leedon is believed to be the largest single condominium project ever in Singapore.

But CapitaLand is expected to roll out the project only in phases.

The developer paid a record $1.3 billion for Farrer Court in a collective sale in June 2007 at the peak of the property boom.

That worked out to as much as $783 psf of potential gross floor area.

In 2008, CapitaLand said the entire development would cost around $3 billion and would be in the recognised style of architect Zaha Hadid, the first female recipient of the coveted Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Patricia Chia, who was then head of CapitaLand's residential arm, pegged the project's breakeven cost at around $1,350 psf to $1,450 psf.

D'Leedon will comprise seven high-end residential towers and 12 villas.

The smallest condominium units will be about 900 sq ft, while some villas will be larger than 4,000 sq ft.

Zaha Hadid Architects' design for D'Leedon consists of seven 36-storey, 150-metre towers that will appear to 'grow' from sunken private gardens in the project's landscape.

The towers themselves are sub-divided into 'petals', according to the number of residential units on each floor.

The tops of the buildings will be a series of 'fingers' stepped at different heights.

Zaha Hadid and architectural theorist Patrik Schumacher, who are in charge of the project, have been designing in Singapore for around 10 years now.

Singaporean architecture and engineering firm RSP has also been involved in D'Leedon's design.

Source: www.businesstimes.com.sg