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HAVE you been feeling under the weather lately? Have you been having trouble sleeping because you keep dreaming of sheep jumping over your head while bleating, ‘one million, two million . . . ‘? Do you drive past old condos chanting to yourself, ‘80:20, 80:20′? Not to worry. You’re not alone. You’re just suffering from a modern-day malady called en-bloc fever.

En-bloc fever is an epidemic that occurs every property cycle. It starts with some fairly innocuous symptoms. One of them could be a slight case of light-headedness brought on by the appearance of a property agent from a leading realtor at your door, brandishing leaflets with the words ‘How to be an En-Bloc Millionaire’. Such light-headedness can easily escalate into feelings of false optimism as visions of flying first class and being personally greeted at Hermes dance in your head.

Such light-headedness can continue temporarily, especially during early meetings with your still-friendly neighbours who are equally afflicted and hence too busy with their personal visions to remember that they had yelled at you for dripping water on their laundry just the other day.

This light-headedness will soon give way to varying levels of migraine. This usually happens when it is time to decide how to apportion the expected proceeds of the en-bloc sale. This may or may not be accompanied by slight diarrhoea or stomach upset caused by the questionable quality of the fishballs and other snacks available during such meetings. Note that the quality of the snacks may improve or decline depending on the chances of the en-bloc’s success.

Depending on whether you are for or against the en-bloc, you may find yourself seeing your neighbours in a very different light. Some of you may experience a vague paranoia that your neighbours are whispering nasty things about you behind your back, while you wonder if the sudden death of your pet cat was due to a bad tin of tuna or someone who didn’t like your suggestion that you will not sign unless you get an extra $50K.

If you’re not careful (or reasonable), the migraine could lead to arrogant and hostile behaviour - and not necessarily on your part. You will only notice this when you wake up one morning to find scratches on your car. In severe cases of paranoia, you will spend sleepless nights wondering which neighbour is going to trick you out of your fair share of the proceeds, or which side of your car is going to be scratched next.

Other symptoms could also include feelings of claustrophobia, especially when word of your possible en-bloc sale gets around and relatives you did not know existed suddenly show great interest in your well-being. You may also experience some pangs of guilt as you wonder why these same relatives, seemingly in good health themselves, suddenly need money for immediate medical care.

So how do you treat the symptoms of en-bloc fever? The oft-recommended treatment is to let the fever run its course. Unfortunately, in some cases, it can last a few years. But not to worry. Eventually you will return to your old self again. But the risk of a relapse is there, especially when you hear of another en-bloc sale in your neighbourhood - where the owners got a lot more than you did.

Source : Business Times - 17 Mar 2006

ANOTHER property owned by the former boss of troubled electronic waste recycler Citiraya has been put up for auction.

Investors who missed out on Ng Teck Lee’s bungalow at Paya Lebar Crescent when it was auctioned last month can now bid for his Good Class Bungalow (GCB) at 49A Binjai Park.

The freehold property is being sold by a mortgagee bank, said to be HSBC. Sources put the likely price at $13 million - $376 per sq ft of land area.

Mr Ng left Singapore as Citiraya was hit by a scandal involving millions of dollars of bribes and a scam to re-sell obsolete electronics equipment that was meant to be destroyed. His whereabouts are unknown.

He is understood to have bought the Binjai Park property in July 2004 for $9 million but never lived in it. The property, about 10 years old, is being sold at an auction conducted by Colliers International on Wednesday, March 29, at Amara Hotel at 2.30 pm.

The two-storey house with basement has eight bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, an entertainment room, a games room, two maids’ rooms, a garage and a swimming pool.

Mr Ng’s two-storey freehold bungalow at 97 Paya Lebar Crescent was sold to the owner of a neighbouring property at a Knight Frank auction on Feb 28 for $3.08 million. The final transacted price, reached after 38 bids, was higher than the mortgagee bank - reportedly United Overseas Bank - expected, according to an earlier BT report.

Meanwhile, sources have told BT that boutique developer BS Capital yesterday picked up a 92,664 sq ft freehold vacant industrial site at 8 Tagore Drive for $14.88 million at a Colliers auction yesterday. It was the sole bid at the auction. The price works out to a land cost of $80 psf of potential gross floor area. The property has a 2.0 plot ratio - the ratio of potential gross floor area to land area - and is zoned for ‘Business 1′ use. The seller was mortgagee bank OCBC, BT understands. Colliers auctioneer Grace Ng declined to confirm the identity of the buyer when contacted.

Analysts estimate breakeven for a new light industrial or warehouse project on the site at about $230 psf of net lettable area. This will be BS Capital’s first industrial project.

Its earlier projects are mostly residential. In 2003 it bought a 276,112 sq ft GCB site at Bishopsgate for $69.8 million from HSBC and subdivided it into 16 lots, which it has since sold. In 2004, BS Capital bagged the Falcon Crest site in the prime Draycott area through an enbloc sale. It is redeveloping the site into a luxury apartment block, The Arc at Draycott, which is now being marketed. Last year, BS Capital bought HMC Building in Mistri Road off Shenton Way, which it plans to redevelop into a 43-storey apartment project.

BS Capital’s major shareholders include former Citiraya director and co-founder Raymond Ng Ah Hua - brother of Ng Teck Lee. Raymond left Citiraya in March 2004, several months before the company came under investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau and the Commercial Affairs Department.

Source : Business Times - 16 Mar 2006

Developer asks for this on grounds that new DC bill came after its offer

IN THE first such case since the recent hikes in development charges (DC), Centrepoint Properties, which is keen on buying former Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDC) estate Minton Rise, has asked the owners to absorb the extra $5.6 million charge.

The 342 owners of the 99-year leasehold development at Lorong Ah Soo, who each stand to lose out on $16,370 or 3 per cent of their sale proceeds, are now reconsidering the collective sale.

DC rates are what developers pay to the state to develop or redevelop a site to enhance its value.

The Government raised DC rates for commercial and residential sites on March 1 to reflect the recovery in the real estate market.

While it reviews DC rates every six months, the latest review saw some of the highest hikes in six years.

For Minton Rise, the changes to DC rates were bad news.

The estate had been put up for a collective sale and Centrepoint emerged the only firm bidder in January.

But as Centrepoint’s offer of an average $540,000 per unit was way below the reserve price, Minton Rise owners had to go back to the drawing board to get the requisite 80 per cent approval within the estate.

Before they could do so, the new DC rates kicked in.

Centrepoint now stands to pay a $95.3 million DC bill to the Government to intensify the use of the 472,378 sq ft site, compared to $89.7 million before the March 1 hike. The site’s current plot ratio is just 1.53, compared with the maximum of 2.8 it can be developed to.

The developer is understood to have asked the owners to bear the additional costs, on the grounds that its offer was made before the new DC rates kicked in.

Some Minton Rise owners are upset by this new development, even though they still stand to get more than what their flats are worth individually. Recent transacted prices for the estate range between $370,000 and $385,000.

One owner said: ‘We were told that because we didn’t say ‘yes’ to their offer rightaway, we have to pay the difference between the new and old DC rates. With the money I get, I will not be able to get an apartment of the same size.’

Minton Rise owners are not the only ones affected by the DC hikes.

Property experts say that as developers look to offset the higher DC rates, they are likely to cut what they offer to home owners.

‘The higher the absolute DC, the lower the price owners get,’ said Mr Karamjit Singh, executive director of Credo Real Estate which specialises in collective sales.

At Haig Gardens near Haig Road, the development charges have risen from $9.3 million to $10.3 million.

The $1 million rise means the 54 owners would each get $18,500 less on average.

Developments with higher DC quantums vis-Ã -vis their land values would be more affected, property consultants said.

‘If the DC component is 20 to 30 per cent or more of a development’s land value, any increase in DC would be significant to the developer,’ said property consultancy Colliers International’s director of investment sales, Mr Ho Eng Joo.

‘The developer would adjust his tender bid unless he is very bullish.’

Take the 618-unit former HUDC estate Farrer Court whose owners are contemplating a collective sale.

The development charge for this under-utilised site rose 4.5 per cent to slightly over $300 million. In comparison, the estate’s land value is estimated at $500 million to $600 million.

The DC bill for Farrer Court, said property agents, is too big an amount to ignore and would cut deeply into what the owners will get.

But experts added that while higher DC rates are a fly in the ointment, the current collective sales fever is likely to continue.

‘Although the recent DC hikes may make collective sales a bit less attractive, it will not derail the current momenum,’ said property consultancy Knight Frank’s research director, Mr Nicholas Mak.

joyceteo@sph.com.sg

Revised rates

Centrepoint now stands to pay a $95.3 million DC bill to the Government to intensify the use of the 472,378 sq ft site, compared to $89.7 million before the March 1 hike.

The site’s current plot ratio is just 1.53, compared with the maximum of 2.8 it can be developed to.

The 342 owners of the 99-year leasehold development at Lorong Ah Soo, who each stand to lose out on $16,370 or 3 per cent of their sale proceeds, are now reconsidering the collective sale.

Source : Straits Times - 16 Mar 2006

AFTER two earlier attempts at a collective sale in 1997 and 2000, the owners of Duchess Court in the Bukit Timah area are once again teaming up to sell their homes. This time, the price tag is lower, with marketing agent Credo Real Estate saying the expected figure is $100 million to $108 million.

This compares with price tags of $130 million in 2000 and and an even higher $160 million during the first attempt in 1997.

Based on the current price expectations, the land price for the 999-year leasehold property works out to between $563 and $601 psf of potential gross floor area including an estimated $20 million in development charges. ‘At this price, the developer should be able to break even at about $880 to $925 psf or so for a new condo development on the site,’ said Credo executive director Karamjit Singh.

The site is zoned for residential use with a 1.4 plot ratio and a five-storey maximum height. Mr Singh drew attention to two nearby low-rise units at Astrid Meadows on Coronation Road West which changed hands in December and January for $1,000 psf and $1,020 psf respectively - which he described as ‘an impressive feat for a 16-year-old development’.

Assuming Duchess Court fetches $108 million, owners of the 36 townhouses and maisonettes stand to receive between $2.58 million and $3.5 million each - or about 75 per cent more than the $1.45 million to $2 million that they will individually fetch.

Given that Duchess Court has 36 owners currently, the 152,250 sq ft land area of the property works out to an average of 4,230 sq ft per owner. ‘That’s almost equivalent to the minimum size required to build one detached house and must make it among the highest land area per owner ratios among recent collective sales,’ said Mr Singh.

The tender closes on April 18.

Source : Business Times - 16 Mar 2006

IN A SIGN of growing confidence among property developers, two prime sites in the Orchard Road belt have been made available on the market and another site opposite Tanah Merah MRT station has been released for public tender.

Both the Orchard sites are close to Somerset station.

The larger one, located just above the station, will be released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) via the Reserve list this month.

Mr Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development, revealed this at the signing ceremony for the Orchard Turn build purchase agreement between CapitaLand, Sun Hung Kai Properties and the government yesterday.

The site can potentially be developed into 23,300 sq metres of gross floor area of retail space and 160 apartment units, said the Ministry of National Development in an announcement in November last year.

Meanwhile, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will also release a site at the junction of Orchard Road and Cairnhill Road next month. The site has a 20-year short term lease.

Dr Chan Tat Hon, STB’s assistant chief executive (Leisure) said yesterday that the move is ‘part of the vision and plan to rejuvenate Orchard Road into one of the world’s greatest shopping streets’.

Earlier, another prime site, the former Glutton’s Square next to Somerset MRT Station, was sold to Far East Organisation, which made a bid of $421.1 million. Far East plans to build an all-retail project on the site with about 270,000 to 280,000 sq ft net lettable area.

Meanwhile, the minimum bid for another URA reserve site has been triggered - the 99-year residential site opposite Tanah Merah MRT station.

On Feb 28, URA said it received an application from a developer to put the site up for public tender. The developer has committed to bid at least $130 million for the site, which has an area of 21,876.8 sq metres, It can be developed into apartments with a total maximum gross floor area of 61,255 sq metres. The tender will close on April 11.

Source : Straits Times - 14 Mar 2006