SGHOUSING.COM 新加坡房地产网

43-storey exclusive devt will have gross floor area of over 660,000 sq ft

MEDIA group Singapore Press Holdings is planning to build a 43-storey upmarket condominium on its Thomson Road freehold site, just across from the Polo Club.

It has obtained provisional permission for the development of the 20,638 sq metre site, now occupied by Times Industrial Building, from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

The exclusive development to be launched next year will have a gross floor area in excess of 660,000 sq ft, an SPH statement said, but provided no details of the number of units and apartment sizes.

‘The 43-storey condominium will offer unparallelled views of MacRitchie Reservoir and the city. Proximity to MRT stations and premium schools are additional advantages,’ SPH said.

‘Developing the site is expected to yield higher profits than an outright sale,’ said SPH, adding: ‘This is more attractive in enhancing shareholders’ value. Subject to market conditions, the income stream is expected to be earned over the projected time frame.’

Said SPH chairman Tony Tan: ‘This is an opportunistic project in view of the sustained recovery in the property market and our prior experience in redeveloping The Paragon, the prime shopping complex and office building in the heart of Orchard Road. The current market sentiment bodes well for this project and we are confident that there will be a strong demand for the units at this development.

‘The development will be in a class of its own, catering to the needs of affluent homebuyers who value the fantastic view, surrounding greenery, lush landscaping and top-notch design.’

According to property observers, condominium units in the area currently fetch between $800 and $1,000 per sq ft.

While SPH owns several bungalows in Yarwood Avenue and Nassim Road, and other properties elsewhere, the Thomson Road site is the only piece of residential property which can be developed into a condominium. SPH said it has no plans currently to acquire new development sites.

The company had previously said that the Thomson Road property was worth some $200 million, carried in the books at $11 million.

SPH had been evaluating options for the site, which was one of its lowest yielding properties.

It said yesterday that board member Sum Soon Lim has been appointed chairman of wholly owned subsidiary Times Development Pte Ltd, which was newly incorporated with an issued capital of $2.

SPH shares ended two cents up at $4 each at the close of trading yesterday on the Singapore Exchange.

Yesterday, SPH Magazines Pte Ltd, the magazine publishing unit of SPH, said three of its major publications - Her World, Shape and Citta Bella - have managed to increase circulation sales despite the stiff competition.

The No 1 status of these publications in their respective lifestyle categories has been further confirmed by ACNielsen’s Media Index, an annual readership survey done independently by ACNielsen.

Her World is the clear No 1 women’s magazine with a monthly readership of 199,000.

Get the link to SPH’s press release at business-times.asia1.com.sg

Source : Business Times - 2 Sept 2006

Big increases, of up to 38%, reflect the rising value of properties in the area

THE Orchard Road area is hot whether it’s for homes or shopping centres.

Just how hot the area has become lately is clear from the big increases unveiled yesterday in a government charge which closely mirrors property values.

There was a jump of up to 38 per cent in the charge imposed on developers when they build a new bigger condominium or an extension of one.

This so-called development charge is what developers pay the Government when they enhance the value of a site.

The charge for commercial sites in the same area when, for instance, a shopping centre is expanded, rose 22 to 26.7 per cent. A key factor was a record $617 million bid for the Somerset Central shopping centre site.

Property consultants worry that these sharp increases could cool some property sales.

This is how it works: This year, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of collective sales, where the owners of old condominiums agree to sell to a developer.

Some of these sites have fetched record prices - especially around Orchard Road, such as the Ardmore Park area.

The developers involved want to build bigger, more profitable condominiums. But as part of the cost of enhancing the value of a site for a new condominium, they must pay the development charge - designed to reflect property values in a given area.

With prices rising so fast around Orchard Road, the charge was bound to jump.

Take this example: the estimated charge for the 36-unit Horizon View in Cairnhill Road will rise from $1.1 million to $1.23 million, a jump of 11.8 per cent.

Other areas have also seen increases. Yesterday, the Goverment raised the development charges by an average of 8.8 per cent for non-landed homes and 1.1 per cent for landed homes. This compares with the average rise of 9.3 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively six months ago.

Sentosa - on which Sentosa Cove homes have continued to break price records - saw a 17.5 per cent increase for landed homes, though this was down from the 29 per cent rise previously.

The level of the charges is reviewed every six months by the Ministry of National Development, in consultation with the Chief Valuer, after taking into account current market values.

Said an industry source: ‘Collective sale projects in those areas with the 30 over per cent rise in the development charge will definitely be affected. This is because prices there have risen too much and owners may have to accept less proceeds.”

Higher rates are set to affect the owners of developments which have not been launched for collective sale.

‘Developers would have to set aside an additional amount for the higher development charge, even though their eventual selling price may stay the same,” said another source. ‘If not, they may cut the proceeds meant for the owners.”

Still, other property experts remain optimistic that the collective sale market will be ruled by strong demand and supply. ‘When developers bid, they would have already worked in the higher DC rates,” said Mr Li Hiaw Ho of property consultancy CB Richard Ellis.

In the commercial sector, the average rise in the charge was about 2.3 per cent, with most of the rises in Raffles Place, Shenton Way and the City Hall areas.

Source : Straits Times - 1 Sept 2006

Goal is to make managing agents more professional, reduce disputes

A NEW national standard for property managing agents has been introduced. This is to give condominium owners a better yardstick to judge the performance of those who oversee their estates.

The standard offers condo owners a sample contract in simple terms. This contract can be used when hiring professionals to run their estate.

Among other things, the contract states that the managing agent has to respond promptly to calls and e-mail from condo owners. It lays out in clear terms the circumstances in which owners can terminate the services of an agent without a general meeting of condo owners.

The voluntary standard, designed for strata residential properties, was developed by the Building and Construction Authority and standards board Spring Singapore, together with managing agents and owners.

It aims to make managing agents more professional and reduce the chances of disputes between them and condo owners, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of National Development, Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman, said at the launch yesterday.

Managing agents in Singapore are mostly unregulated. Fewer than a quarter of the 130 companies are accredited by either one of the voluntary schemes run by the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers (SISV) together with the Association of Property and Facility Managers (APFM), or by the Association of Management Corporations in Singapore, which represents many condo owners.

One condo owner, Mr Lim Tat, felt the three-year-old accreditation schemes have made little impact. Mr Lim served as a secretary to the management council of Yong An Park for about 10 years.

Speaking in his personal capacity, he said that condo owners were more likely to ‘go for the big companies because you know they can perform, or you go for someone recommended by someone you know you can trust’.

Dr Lim Lan Yuan, who heads APFM which has accredited 27 companies, said: ‘Unless you make the accreditation scheme compulsory, you can’t really do very much.’

But he said that the SISV-APFM accreditation scheme will adopt the new standard, which is an improvement on the one it currently uses.

Source : Straits Times - 1 Sept 2006

In tandem with rising land values over the past six months, the government yesterday raised development charge (DC) rates for non-landed residential use by as much as 38 per cent in the Nassim/Orange Grove, Chatsworth, Leonie Hill and Oxley areas.

It also jacked up the rate for the Ardmore/Draycott area by 36 per cent. Some of these areas have seen collective sales at bullish prices over the past six months or so - like Eng Lok Mansion, Nassim Park, Lucky Tower, Habitat One, Furama Tower and Hilton Tower.

Likewise, the commercial DC rate in the Somerset area was raised 27 per cent following the recent sale of the plum Somerset Central commercial plot at a record unit land price of $1,455 psf per plot ratio. And given the bullish mood this bid created for the prime Orchard Road belt, the government also took the opportunity to raise the commercial DC rate around Orchard MRT - where the landmark Orchard Turn site was sold in December - by 22 per cent.

DC is payable for enhancing a site’s use or for building a bigger project on it. DC rates, which are revised twice yearly on March 1 and Sept 1, are specified according to land use and location.

>From today, the average DC rate for non-landed residential goes up by 9 per cent, that for commercial use by 2 per cent, and for landed residential use by one per cent. The rates for hotel, industrial and other uses were left unchanged by the Ministry of National Development, which revised the rates in consultation with the Chief Valuer taking into account current market values.

DC rate changes are tracked in property circles because they reflect values and can affect the break even costs of developers seeking to redevelop sites. They also affect en bloc sales deals that have a significant DC component.

In an analysis released last night, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) said that for non-landed residential use, DC rates were increased in 64 of the 118 geographical sectors or locations across Singapore.

Fifteen locations saw hikes of 30 per cent or more. These include Tanglin/Cuscaden, One Tree Hill, Paterson/Lengkok Angsa and River Valley/Kim Yam - all popular en bloc sale locations. Other popular en bloc haunts like Cairnhill and Newton saw DC rate hikes of 11.8 per cent and 11.1 per cent respectively, according to JLL.

The rate for Sentosa went up 27.3 per cent - not surprising given continued strong interest in Sentosa Cove as seen in the recently launched Oceanfront condo by City Developments, said JLL’s regional director and head of investments, Lui Seng Fatt.

Colliers International director for research and consultancy Tay Huey Ying said that ‘in general, the new DC rates are now more aligned with current market values’ and close the gap between recently transacted land values and land values implied by DC rates. For landed residential use, the biggest increase of 17.5 per cent was on Sentosa, which last week saw record land bids for bungalow plots at Sentosa Cove.

Rates for Good Class Bungalow areas on the mainland like Holland/Sixth Avenue, Chatsworth/Bishopsgate, Ridout and White House Park also saw double-digit increases. Knight Frank director Nicholas Mak noted that GCB prices in some of these locations have appreciated on average by 15-20 per cent in the past six months. In all, landed residential rates went up in 12 locations and remained unchanged in the other 106.

Commercial DC rates were raised between 2.9 per cent and 26.7 per cent in a total of 34 locations and held constant in the other 84 areas. The rate for the Raffles Place/Golden Shoe area went up 9.8 per cent, while rates in Marina Bay and Bayfront rose 9.3 per cent. The Harbourfront area saw a 14.3 per cent increase, probably reflecting higher commercial values with the impending opening of Vivocity mall.

The DC rate in Selegie was raised 10 per cent, perhaps due to the sale of Paradiz Centre and redevelopment of Selegie Centre, market watchers say. A 9.7 per cent hike was recorded for the Tampines area.

In absolute terms, the highest DC rates are: Ardmore/Draycott/Claymore for non-landed residential use ($6,000 per square metre of gross floor area), Nassim/Orange Grove/Ladyhill for landed residential use ($3,450 psm of GFA), and the area around Orchard MRT Station for commer cial use ($5,000 psm of GFA).

Source : Business Times - 1 Sept 2006

Boost from investment sales worth $6.2b in July and August, says CB Richard Ellis

A whopping S$6.2 billion of investment sales in July and August took total property sales in Singapore since the start of the year to S$19.3 billion, says CB Richard Ellis.

With the buoyant update for the first eight months of 2006, the firm yesterday revised its full-year investment sales forecast to S$25 billion, from a S$20 billion prediction in late June.

Big investment deals in the past two months include the sale of the Somerset Central site (S$617 million), the en bloc sale of Nassim Park (S$380 million), and the divestment of three portfolios of properties totalling S$2.6 billion relating to the flotation of Frasers Centrepoint Trust, CDL Hospitality Trusts, and Cambridge Industrial Trust.

Investment sales of property are seen as a barometer of developers’ and big investors’ mid-to-long-term confidence in the market. They refer to major investment transactions like office buildings and shopping centres, as well as sites bought for development including collective sale deals. They do not cover purchases of single property units by indivi duals.

Investment sales of property for the whole of last year totalled S$13.5 billion - a record that surpassed the previous peak of S$12.72 billion in 1996 at the height of the property boom.

However, market watchers point out that the emergence of real estate investment trusts (reits) since 2002 and their sizeable contribution to investment sales in recent years mean comparisons with historical figures may not be entirely accurate.

CBRE says the S$2.1 billion sale of the Raffles City complex to CapitaCommercial Trust and CapitaMall Trust was the biggest investment sales transaction in Asia in the first half of this year.

It was trailed by the US$796.4 million sale of a 50 per cent stake in Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, and a US$771.3 million deal on JFE Building in Tokyo’s Chiyoda ward.

Another Singapore transaction that made the list of Asia’s top 10 investment sales in the first half involved four office buildings bundled together and sold by Keppel Land to its office reit, K-Reit Asia, for US$399.2 million.

Source : Business Times - 1 Sept 2006