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A LAWYER convicted of fraud has now been barred from practising.

Mr Tan Sok Ling, 41, was the first lawyer to be struck off the rolls this year.

He did not appear before the Court of Three Judges yesterday to contest the application by the Law Society to dismiss him from the profession.

Last November, Mr Tan, a lawyer since 1993, was sentenced to jail for 11 months for forgery and giving false information.

In March 2006, he had inflated the stamp duty payable for a Thomson Park house that his client bought by $5,400.

And in July 2003, Mr Tan lied to a police officer that he lived in Bukit Timah when he actually lived in Tanah Merah in order to secure a spot in a prestigious all-girls school in Bukit Timah for his daughter.

He is believed to be out of jail as a notice to attend court for yesterday’s hearing was personally served on him at his home on July 26.

Before his conviction, he had also been suspended from practising by the Law Society for a year in March last year for not keeping proper accounts as the sole proprietor of the now-defunct Tan S.L. Partners.

Following his conviction, the Law Society began proceedings to remove him from the Bar as his offences involved fraud and dishonesty - flaws which the legal profession does not accept.

The hearing yesterday took all of 10 minutes.

Another lawyer Low Yong Sen also faced the Court of Three Judges yesterday for allegedly overcharging a married couple for expenses incurred in a property deal.

He had allegedly charged his clients three times more than what was deemed by a disciplinary committee as fair when he billed his client $4,300 in expenses.

Mr Low, who represented himself, told the three judges that he was mainly a family lawyer who rarely did conveyancing deals.

The property transactions he handled mainly involved HDB flats and this was his case which involved a private property, he said.

Mr Low, a lawyer for 15 years, said he had engaged a legal secretary to help him with the work and had billed his clients that much based on that secretary’s claims.

He did not stand to benefit by overcharging the couple, Mr Low told the court.

His case was adjourned to a later date as the judges asked for a point of law in his case to be clarified.

Last year, two lawyers were disbarred - fugitive David Rasif, who has fled the country after allegedly pocketing more than $11 million of his clients’ money, and Mr Edwin Tay, who did not keep any books of acounts of his clients for the entire year of 2004 for the law firm he then owned.

Source : Straits Times - 31 Jul 2008

It was caused not by ajump in demand, but bya contraction in supply

LAST week, I suggested that the private housing oversupply may have been understated.

This is because units that have been bought by investors can still be considered as part of the housing supply until they are resold or are tenanted. If the rental income cannot cover the mortgage payments and if the owners are highly geared, then they will have to sell the units sooner or later. If a greater proportion of owners are in the same predicament, the competition to sell will result in lower prices.

But surely, finding a tenant cannot be a problem.

After all, was it not so long ago that we heard complaints of unreasonable hikes in rentals. Between the third quarter of 2006 and the second quarter this year, the official rental price index went up by a hefty 69 per cent. This is almost 10 per cent each quarter.

What were the factors responsible for this? Many attributed it to higher demand. It could not have been anything else. But was this really the cause?

Amid the euphoria and excitement of the construction of the two integrated resorts and the anticipation of the tremendous spillover effects, the market misread the cause.

Many attributed it to the surge in foreign talent arriving on our shores. For sure, more expatriates were coming but were their arrivals in such large numbers so as to cause rents to escalate to such dizzy heights?

Even the new plans to prepare Singapore to accommodate up to 6.5 million people were loosely bandied around as proof that Government officials shared the same view. Investors bought the story and snapped up apartments at prices which presupposed a continuation of that strong upward trend.

However, official figures showed the number of rental contracts actually contracted by 17.6 per cent in 2006 andremained flat last year.

On the other hand, the average cost of rentals rose by 15 per cent in 2006 and43 per cent last year. So, where are the missing expatriate households?

Certainly, the high rents did cause some to leave Singapore, others - especially Permanent Residents - to purchase, and for those without a generous budget, to rent HDB flats.

But there should have been at least a substantial - if not dramatic - nett increase in rental contracts. After all, they were supposed to have come in droves.

The mystery is solved if we realise that the spike was caused, not by a steep jump in demand as many had assumed, but by a sharp contraction in supply. The result may be the same but the implications are different.

The surge in en bloc sales had led to groups of tenants leaving their homes. The competition for homes simply drove rentals sky high.

There are no official figures but I estimate that the supply of rental accommodation to have shrunk by at least a quarter to a third of the existing stock.

Today, the rental market has stabilised. Those seeking homes would have found them by now - either by buying, downgrading or leaving Singapore.

What are the market implications?

First, there are now no hordes ofexpatriates scrambling for accommodation. This means demand will lag behind supply. Rents will decline. Lower rents translate into lower yields.

Second, for less prime units, it will come to a point when the low rents make no sense. It will be better to sell.

Recently, a consultant’s report extolled the benefits of owning a home on Sentosa Cove and a $19,500 monthly lease was reported in a the news as having been achieved.

Checks revealed that the 560-square-metre unit was sold in July last year for $8.59 million. It was probably a penthouse. This translates to a gross yield of 2.7 per cent. Does this even cover the interest on the mortgage?

Lest we forget, we have not factored in property tax of 10 per cent or maintenance charges of about $12,000 a year for a penthouse. What about the additional security cost for Sentosa homes? Or the cost of furnishings?

Eventually, the nett yield may dwindle to below 1.8 per cent - certainly a high risk to take for such a low return.

Is this situation typical of the other”investor” units completing over the next12 months? I hope I am wrong, but I fear this may be so.

The writer is the head of research at property consultancy Chesterton International.

Source : Today - 31 Jul 2008

THE public first got wind of the ambitious vision last August, when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke of giving the 56-year-old Dawson Estate a new face.

Now, the surgeons who will design its new face have been appointed, and flats could go on sale by next year.

Construction is expected to start six months after the sale and the new generation of flats would be ready by around 2014, said Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education, yesterday.

She added that since the conceptual designs from the three architects invited to give shape to the ideas had been well-received by the public, all three - SCDA Architects, WOHA Architects and Surbana International Consultants - would be appointed as consultants for the Dawson project.
The rejuvenation of Dawson Estate is part of an initiative to transform public housing into vibrant homes for Singapore. Apart from Dawson, Yishun and Punggol have also been earmarked for major facelifts.
Dawson Estate - formed by the merger of Princess and Duchess estates - was first developed in the 1950s by the Singapore Improvement Trust.
Last September, the Housing Development Board (HDB) commissioned the three architects to come up with design ideas for Dawson Estate and showcased these concepts in an exhibition called “Remaking Our Heartland”.
The majority of the 11,000 Singaporeans who visited the exhibition gave the designs a thumbs up.
As a result, the HDB decided to appoint all the three architects to regenerate Dawson Estate.
SCDA and WOHA will work on the next stage of the estate’s detailed design as the sites they would be working on are now vacant.
SCDA and WOHA told Today that they are already talking to landscapers, quantity surveyors, structural and mechanical engineers.
The HDB will appoint Surbana at a later date when the site that the firm would be working on is ready for development in 2011.
Under SCDA’s concept, residents can look forward to flats with tall ceilings in the living room. These lofts are built next to smaller flats which can function as “granny units” should the owners of the bigger flat decide to buy over the smaller unit.
Other features include a central staircase with solar panels which face the West and cascading landscaped terraces. Around 800 units will come under the SCDA’s design.
WOHA’s design is based on a concept of a “kampung in the sky” by creating a 10-storey column as the heart of each village, overlooking a village square.
“This village square has community gardens, study areas, barbecue areas and gathering spaces which will allow people to get to know the other 60 to 70 households in their village,” said Mr Richard Hassell, WOHA’s founding director.
Surbana plans to stretch a park six storeys upwards with ramps covered with greenery.
It will meander in a figure-of-eight shape around the twelve 48-storey blocks. The site includes the old Queenstown town centre.
But with construction costs going up, will all these features and amenities be included?
Mr Chan Soo Khian, SCDA’s founding principal and design director, said the firm would stick to its design and “it is up to HDB” how it wants to price these units.
Mr Chan, however, said there is a possibility that not all features - such as solar panels - will be included since they “are an economic issue”.
WOHA’s Mr Hassell said it would be working very closely with the HDB to achieve Dawson’s expected standard “at a reasonable market price”.
The HDB is inviting all Singaporeans with fond memories of Dawson Estate to contribute old photos, postcards, cinema tickets and souvenirs commemorating the estate at its “Transforming Our Dawson” exhibition, which is being held at the HDB Hub until Aug 10.
Meanwhile, another first step in remaking Singapore’s heartland was taken, when 94.1 per cent of voters in a Yishun precinct said “yes” to the new Home Improvement Programme. The nine blocks are the first to come under this scheme.

Source : Today - 31 Jul 2008

Two award-winning private architects have been officially appointed by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Wednesday to put a new spin to the old Dawson Estate in Queenstown.

SCDA Architects Pte Ltd and WOHA Architects Pte Ltd were earlier commissioned to draw up plans for two separate public housing sites at the junction of Margaret Drive and Dawson Road.

The new flats will be launched for sale under the Build-To-Order system in the third quarter of 2009.

The 60-hectare Dawson district, which was first developed in the 1950s, will have new homes nestled among lush greenery.

SCDA’s plan features multiple layers of common spaces such as car parks, shops and facilities, while individual residential units can be combined to create lofts, which are ideal for home offices or larger families.

The 823-unit project is also eco-friendly.

Chan Soo Khian, design director, SCDA Architects, said: “All the surface runoffs will be collected in retention tanks and these will then be used to irrigate all the landscape. The staircase would be integrated with solar panels.”

At a separate site in the same district, architects at WOHA spent over four months on their work. The project will also boast sky gardens and integrated facilities.

It is expected to be home to about 1,000 households, which will have plenty of opportunity to interact.

Richard Hassell, founding director of WOHA Architects, said: “Every apartment feels like it belongs to a smaller community of about 60 or 80 homes The way we’ve done it is to make a space… so on the way from the lift to the front door, you always go through this space.”

These flats are expected to be ready in 2014 and their price tags will be unveiled next year.

To preserve the heritage of the area, HDB is also calling on the public to contribute items relating to Queenstown. These could be old photographs, postcards or even cinema tickets, which will be incorporated into the design of the new estate.

Subana International Consultants has been chosen to develop a third site in the Dawson Estate. The company will be officially appointed when the plot is cleared in 2011.

The plans will be on display at the HDB Hub from Thursday to August 10.
 
Source : Channel NewsAsia - 30 Jul 2008

Markets are unravelling at a rapid pace and sentiment is deteriorating with it, signalling more losses in the US and other parts of the world in Q3

SEVEN months after our ‘Perfect Storm’ warning (BT, Jan 16), we are now in the midst of another round of financial market turmoil. Risk aversion is surging again, with accelerated losses on equity markets, rising volatility, and widening credit spreads.

But this time around, US Treasuries aren’t doing all that well either - not on any optimism on the economic front but on fear of inflation despite flat US GDP growth.

Over March-May, stockmarkets staged a modest technical rebound, helped along by the ‘worst is over’ thesis. While we had fully expected a technical rebound - and had written about it - we were always sceptical of its sustainability. And indeed, over the months, we warned of the dangers of the ‘New Complacency’ and the likelihood of a retest by equities of their year’s lows. That retest has been completed - with failures at critical supports sending markets all over the world plummeting past prior lows.

There is a sense of dejà vu when summing up the challenges in 3Q08. They are pretty much the same set of concerns that underpinned our bearish view of financial markets in 2Q08. And they include the likelihood of more credit market losses; another spike in credit spreads; a new round of disappointment with economic data; divergence between high earnings growth expectations and disappointing reported earnings; high oil prices; and rising inflation in the face of falling economic growth. In the case of the credit markets and the global economy, it’s a case of ‘unfinished business’. In others - particularly the price of oil - it’s the same problem, magnified.

Capitulation is not yet evident in many markets - but be warned, it is on the way. As painful as the recent months have been to those with unhedged equities positions, the end of the bear market is nowhere in sight yet.

With the notable exception of China - where the Shanghai Composite has seen 54 per cent downside from its October 2007 peak - we have yet to see the panic and one-sided selldowns typically associated with ‘capitulation’. But markets are unravelling at a rapid pace and sentiment is deteriorating with it. And with key US indices - the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P500 - breaking their important 200-week moving averages, an acceleration of losses in the US and in other parts of the world is likely in 3Q08.

Toxic combination

Notwithstanding the already massive losses in emerging markets, an accelerated selldown in US equities is likely to see further ‘outsized’ reactions in Asia ex-Japan and emerging market equities more broadly. Just as emerging markets outperformed on the March-May rebound in US equities, they are underperforming again on renewed US weakness. Although the emerging market economies remain pillars of global growth - and they have to date enjoyed a degree of economic resilience - instant financial contagion remains the reality.

Indeed, the growth theme and ample liquidity that once drove emerging market stocks have been displaced by a toxic new combination of inflation, rising interest rates, global deleveraging, sharply diminished risk appetites and slowing global growth.

Assuming continued selling on global stock markets in coming months - rather than a drawn-out series of counter-trend rallies - value will emerge in coming months. Although forward price to earnings (PE) valuations in the US and Europe are already at lows last seen in 1990-1991, there remains a huge question mark over the reliability of those valuations given the likelihood of downward revisions to expected earnings in coming months.

Further, even with the recent large falls on emerging markets, PE ratios are still more typical of a ‘mid-cycle’ situation than at capitulation levels. And emerging market earnings expectations are generally even higher than those of the developed markets. With rising interest rates - and they are important in the discount rates for valuation - and a rapid economic slowdown likely in the emerging markets, we would want to see emerging market forward PE multiples beaten down even further before we accept the contrarian proposition.

With the caveat of yet lower prices and cheaper valuations, there could be buying opportunities in coming months. But for now, the risk is on the downside for stock prices. We continue to underweight equities and overweight cash on a three-month view. But over a 12-month view, we have neutral weights on both cash and equities, reflecting the likelihood of stocks bottoming and then staging a modest recovery over that time frame.

Notwithstanding the likelihood of buying opportunities emerging over the next 12 months, we would prefer to err on the side of caution at the moment and remain overweight cash just a bit longer.

The bulls reckoned the ‘worst was over’ in March. Beaten and bruised, they came back again last week and argued - albeit more ’sotto voce’ - that the worst was over, although we have only seen some 22 per cent downside for US equities while bear market recessions see on average 35 per cent destruction in prices. The Savings and Loans crisis of the late 1980s, early 1990s saw $153 billion in losses while we have already seen asset write-offs by financial institutions totalling nearly $450 billion to date. There were more than 2000 financial institution failures during the S&L Crisis. We have only seen six such failures in the US this year. Little wonder the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation warns of the possibility of bigger bank failures than we have seen so far.

Equities hedge

For investors with long time horizons and an appetite for risk, dollar cost averaging is only common sense. And right now, the equities volatility index VIX is pulling back at resistance around 24 per cent. But we would not be surprised if it surges back to 35 per cent again, with another aggressive round of equities selling. So buying VIX or a delta 1 structure with VIX as the underlying could be helpful as an equities hedge. While gold remains a long-term hedge against both inflation and US dollar weakness, there is a near-term possibility of a correction after it had approached our technical forecast of $1000/oz. Indeed, the US dollar - having fallen sharply since early 2007 - could spend a bit of time trading sideways from here.

Beware getting carried away with commodities mania. While the long-term story for commodities - as a play on the emerging market giants India and China - is still valid, a correction appears to be underway with base metals already considerably off their year highs and oil easing back from its record peak. But pullbacks could be buying opportunities for diversified portfolios that do not have sufficient weighting in commodities.

Lim Say Boon is chief investment strategist for Standard Chartered Group Wealth Management & Private Bank

Source : Business Times - 30 Jul 2008