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HOLLAND Hill Mansions has been put up for collective sale with an indicative price of $272.7 million or $700 psf per plot ratio.

The property sits on a 243,525 sq ft site with a plot ratio of 1.6 and 12-storey height restriction. No development charge is payable for maximising the allowable plot ratio.

Tang Wei Leng, director of investment advisory services at DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, also the marketing consultants for the site, says that assuming a building efficiency of 90 per cent and average unit size of about 1,600 sq ft each, the site can yield about 220 residential units.

Ms Tang also estimates that the breakeven price works out to $1,165 psf.

Currently, Holland Hill Mansions comprises a total of 116 apartments, one penthouse and one shop unit. Based on the projected selling price, the owners can expect an average of 60-80 per cent premium over current market prices.

Prices for residential projects in the area vary. Viz @ Holland was selling at an average $730 psf in December 2005. The Duet at the junction of Holland Road and Farrer Road was launched at an average $790 psf in January 2005. Other new developments nearby include Botanika on Holland Road.

Source : Business Times - 25 Oct 2006

INDUSTRIAL property fund Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit) has bought two properties from Super Coffeemix for $49 million.

It will pay $33.5 million for Super Industrial Building at No. 2 Senoko South Road and $15.5 million for 26 Senoko Way.

Both properties are light industrial buildings located within the designated food zone in Woodlands East Industrial Estate.

A-Reit will lease the assets back to the mainboard-listed 3-in-1 instant coffee-maker for seven years with an option to renew for an additional seven years, it said in a statement yesterday.

The fund will also pay $820,000 in acquisition costs.

The deal is expected to increase A-Reit’s distributable income per unit (DPU), the fund said.

Assuming the acquisition had been made earlier and the properties held for the whole financial year ended March 31 this year, it would have boosted A-Reit’s DPU by 0.04 cent for that time, said the trust.

Its DPU for the second quarter ended Sept 30 was up 8.6 per cent over the previous year to 3.2 cents.

This latest acquisition comes after A-Reit announced four proposed investments earlier this year, worth $180 million in total, that have yet to be completed.

Super Industrial Building, a seven-storey property sitting on a 101,040.8 sq ft site, has a 60-year lease that took effect on June 1, 1996.

The other building, 26 Senoko Way, is on a 100,319.6 sq ft plot. It also has a 60-year lease, which started on Sept 16, 1992.

Super Coffeemix intends to use the proceeds from the sale to fund future acquisitions, said company chairman David Teo in a statement.

The deal ‘would boost our war chest by $49 million and we are on the lookout for potential acquisition targets that will add synergies to our current operations’, he said.

These include companies in Asia and Europe with established food and beverage brands, Mr Teo added.

He also said that the purchase is in line with the group’s ‘asset-light strategy’ and will increase its competitiveness.

$49m acquisitionA-Reit will pay $33.5 million for Super Industrial Building at No. 2 Senoko South Road and $15.5 million for 26 Senoko Way.

It will lease the assets back to the mainboard-listed 3-in-1 instant coffee-maker for seven years with an option to renew for an additional seven years.

Source : Straits Times - 24 Oct 2006

Address: 24, 37 and 161 Halton Road

Type of building: Pre-war

Proposed use: Bed-and-breakfast, chalet, resort or spa

Size: 12,400 sq m site, about 7,600 sq m gross floor area

History: Built in 1930s for use as British military hospital, was in use as Changi Hospital until 1997 when it moved to its current Simei site

Attraction: Colonial-style architecture

Length of lease: Nine years

Address: Lorong Bekukong

Type of building: Kampung-style, wood and brick

Proposed use: Restaurant, cafe or shop

Size: 1,200 sq m site, about 200 sq m gross floor area

History: Used to be a seafood restaurant

Attraction: Located near Changi Point Ferry Terminal and waterfront park

Length of lease: Nine years

Address: 23 Turnhouse Road

Type of building: Single-storey art-deco bungalow with open verandah

Proposed use: Restaurant, cafe or spa

Size: 850 sq m site, about 400 sq m gross floor area

History: Built in 1934 by the British, may have been used for recreational purposes

Attraction: Surrounded by heritage trees like Malayan Rengas and next to new fitness park and carpark

Length of lease: Nine years

Address: 1 Fairy Point Hill, off Cranwell Road

Type of building: Neoclassical two-storey building with Doric columns

Proposed use: Recreation club, holiday chalet or hotel

Size: 4.1 ha site and 16,661 sq m gross floor area

History: Built in 1935 by British Royal Engineers. Used in 1970s as a retreat venue and later became headquarters of Commando Battalion of Singapore Armed Forces

Attraction: Hilltop location affords view of Serangoon harbour and Johor Strait. Surrounded by heritage trees like Chinese Olive

Length of lease: 30 years. Property is on Reserve List, which means site will be released for sale only if a developer submits an application for site to be put up for tender with an offer at minimum purchase price acceptable to Government

Source : Straits Times - 23 Oct 2006

SINGAPORE Telecommunications has sold its Robinson Road building, formerly known as Crosby House, for $163.4 million in cash to a joint venture between Lehman Brothers and the Asian arm of Japan’s Kajima Corp.

SingTel said it expects a net gain of $143.5 million from the sale of the seven-storey block at No 71, which has a net book value of about $19.7 million.

This week SingTel will receive $16.3 million or 10 per cent of the purchase price. The remaining 90 per cent will be paid on completion of the sale, which is expected to be in December.

The offer by Kajima Overseas Asia Pte Ltd - Kajima Corp’s Asia (ex-Japan) arm - and Lehman Brothers is more than double the $69 million price tag placed on the site for commercial development by independent valuer Chesterton International in July.

The 1950s property, which sits on a 2,279 square metre piece of land at the junction of Robinson Road and McCallum Street, is one of the last underdeveloped sites on the prime financial district street.

The site could be redeveloped to house a 35-storey office building or a 52-floor apartment block.

SingTel put it up for sale in August, appointing Credo Real Estate which had handled the sale of SingTel’s Old Holland Road and West Coast Road sites to market the property via a public tender.

The tender sale was launched on Aug 24 and closed on Sept 28.

SingTel said the property is not required for its business and that its sale will not affect the company’s other operations.

Deputy group chief executive Chua Sock Koong said: ‘This sale will allow us to free up cash resources and redeploy them in our core telecommunication business and new investments.’

Kajima Overseas Asia has about $1 billion of property investments in Singapore through stakes in the Millenia Singapore development and The Regent Singapore hotel.

In August, Kajima secured its first residential development site here through the en bloc sale of Balmoral View.

Source : Business Times - 23 Oct 2006

While they expect prices to continue rising, they say it remains to be seen if island’s homes are of good value
RESORT living in Singapore has caught on like wildfire, with land prices for Sentosa Cove doubling since the island’s first land sale in 2003.

The strong demand is expected to continue with buyers attracted to the exclusivity and waterfront living offered by the island, say property experts.

But given the rapid increase of prices at Sentosa Cove in the last two years, are homes there still good investments or are they already overpriced?

For now, prices are still on the rise: The Sunday Times understands that a bungalow plot sold on Oct 11 fetched a record price of more than $1,100 per sq ft (psf), topping the previous high of $1,093 psf set in August. This is more than double the top price of $456 psf fetched for the first batch of Sentosa Cove bungalow sites in 2003.

Each new residential project launched at Sentosa Cove is also setting new benchmark prices.

Boutique developer Ho Bee is selling the island’s latest condominium, The Coast, at an average price of about $1,575 psf - also double the $768 psf price at which Ho Bee launched Sentosa Cove’s first condominium, The Berth, in 2004.

More land plots and homes are expected to be up for sale on Sentosa in the next few years, including new developments by Malaysia’s YTL Corp and Indonesia’s Lippo Group.

But while market watchers expect prices on the island to keep increasing over the next year at least, they caution that Sentosa Cove is an ‘untested market’ for investors.

‘If you ask me whether I think Sentosa is good value, I would ask you what you think is the expected return,’ said Ms Regina Lim, a property research analyst at investment bank UBS.

‘Right now it’s impossible to tell because none of the homes are completed and getting rentals.’

She added: ‘I think developers have been able to price their unit sales at about 80 per cent more than six months ago, basically because there is no rental yet to justify either way.’

Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank, also noted that ‘people have not really started living in Sentosa Cove yet’.

‘They have not started experiencing traffic jams, which may happen because there’s only a two-lane road leading in and it’s very narrow.’

He pointed out that Sentosa Cove dwellers will have to go back to the mainland for everyday conveniences such as groceries and shopping.

‘As a weekend resort home, it’s fine. As a permanent home, I think it will face challenges,’ he said.

Another reason why Sentosa Cove may not be an attractive long-term investment is that all the land plots there have leases of 99 years.

‘Looking at the experience of other leasehold condos on the mainland, prices will decline as the condo ages, unlike for freehold,’ said Mr Mak. ‘Will the same thing happen to the properties on Sentosa? No one knows, because it’s really an untested market.’

He added that even the lauded feature of waterfront living may work against Sentosa Cove homes, as ‘the wear and tear suffered by some of these units may be greater, because they are more exposed to the sea and the elements’.

But for now, consultants agree that Sentosa Cove still presents an appealing investment option.

Buyers of Sentosa Cove homes are probably hoping for capital gains - which means re-selling the units at a profit - rather than banking on rental returns, said Mr Mak.

‘In the short term, it is still a good bet, if you buy now and sell before the project is completed.’

He expects prices on the island to rise by another 10 to 15 per cent over the next year.

‘Land prices have doubled, no doubt, but your risks have dropped by about 80 per cent,’ said Mr Ku Swee Yong, director of marketing and business development at Savills Singapore.

This is because when the first condo was launched on the island, it was ’six months after Sars, no one was confident about the property market or the economy, and there was no mention of even one casino, much less two’.

Now, with a $5 billion integrated resort to come up in Sentosa, the island presents ‘a good investment for play-safe investors’, said Mr Ku.

He predicts that condos in Sentosa Cove can hit $2,000 psf by next year, and may even reach $2,500 psf in the future, comparable to current prices at the prime Ardmore Park area.

Source : Sunday Times - 22 Oct 2006