SGHOUSING.COM 新加坡房地产网

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) yesterday said it is offering six state properties solely for lease as offices - the first time the government body has done so.

The move, which is in line with the government’s recent initiative to make more office space available, means a total of 43,000 square metres (sq m) will be made available for offices in the first half of 2007. Related article: Click here for Singapore Land Authority’s press release

The sites come with a range of tenures from three to nine years. SLA said it will assess the market response and take-up rate for the properties before deciding whether more properties dedicated to office use should be released in the second half of 2007.

Of the six properties, three - the 12,200 sq m former police headquarters and the 700 sq m former CID training centre at Pearls Hill Terrace; and the 4,400 sq m former River Valley Primary School in River Valley Road - are located within the Central Business District (CBD).

The other three properties are the 4,400 sq m former Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau building in Cantonment Road; the 1,000 sq m former CAAS office in Upper Changi Road North; and the 20,300 sq m former ITE Pasir Panjang in Alexandra Road.

SLAS said the properties will help meet current strong demand for office space and provide options for office users in and outside the CBD.

‘These state properties were selected to help ease office space crunch and optimise the use of vacant state properties at the same time,’ said SLA’s director of land operations Simon Ong. ‘The six state properties that we have identified have good locations - some are in prime CBD areas, with large space and purpose-built facilities. Depending on the demand, we will continue to work with the relevant agencies to identify more sites dedicated to office space in the second half of the year.’

The first site to be released is the former police headquarters in Pearls’ Hill Terrace. The public tender, launched on Jan 30, closes on Feb 13.

Market watchers said SLA’s move is a measured and prudent response to the immediate tight office situation. ‘However, given the nature of the buildings and locations involved, this small contribution towards future additional office supply will only meet a limited pool of occupier requirements, and will not offer opportunity to many of the more sophisticated occupiers,’ said CB Richard Ellis executive director for office services Moray Armstrong.

Source : Business Times - 6 Feb 2007

It signs put and call option agreements with Flextronics

ASCENDAS Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit) will acquire five industrial properties for $63 million, taking the total value of acquisition and development projects it has announced so far this financial year to $488 million spread across 20 buildings.

The Reit’s manager, Ascendas-MGM Funds Management Ltd (AMFML), yesterday said that it has signed separate put and call option agreements with electronics player Flextronics Group to buy five buildings.

Flextronics will lease back the properties for seven years with stepped annual rental increases and an option to renew for a further 10 years.

AMFML chief executive Tan Ser Ping said: ‘Given the strategic locations and the versatility of the properties, there could be opportunities to enhance and reposition the properties in the future.’

The properties are Flextronics Changi, Flextronics Kallang, Flextronics Woodlands Loop and Flextronics Woodlands Terrace, which comprises two buildings.

Flextronics will be responsible for rent, property tax, maintenance and utilities while A-Reit will pay lease administration fees. A-Reit will also incur acquisition costs amounting to $0.87 million, of which $0.63 million represents the acquisition fee payable to AMFML.

The acquisition of the properties will be accretive to A-Reit’s distributable income per unit.

The pro forma effect for the financial year ended March 31, 2006 will be an additional 0.05 cents per unit.

A-Reit has a portfolio of 76 properties in Singapore with a book value of about $3.1 billion.

At the end of the trading day, A-Reit closed at $2.55 per unit, up seven cents or 2.8 per cent from the previous day.

Source : Business Times - 2 Feb 2007

The former Changi Hospital will undergo a $20-million makeover to become a rustic spa and resort for Singaporeans and budget travellers by year’s end.

Property company Bestway Properties, which won a recent tender to lease the Halton Road site, wants to create an ‘ecologically sensitive’ 50-room retreat.

The old Changi Hospital, formerly a military hospital, was vacated in 1997 following its merger with Toa Payoh Hospital to become Changi General Hospital in Simei.

Bestway won the tender for the three 70-year-old buildings through its subsidiary, Premium Pacific. It will lease the site for an initial three years, renewable up to 2016 in three-year blocks.

A director of Bestway, Mr Anthony Tan, told The Straits Times in Mandarin that his company chose the site for its heritage value, seeing as how there were ‘too many run-of-the-mill buildings’ nowadays.

Two of the three buildings there are conservation buildings. Their facades and major structures cannot be altered, although their internal spaces may be reconfigured for new uses.

Mr Tan said the resort will have fine-dining options aside from the 50 rooms, half of which will be naturally ventilated to take advantage of the lush greenery in the area.

His company will be investing about $10 million to refurbish the place, and looking to rope in partners willing to put up the remaining half of the money.

The sleepy hollow of Changi Point has of late been jazzed up with a refurbished hotel, a new ferry terminal and a coastal boardwalk.

Another property in the area could be in for a makeover. This is a wooden kampung-style structure in Lorong Bekukong, next to Changi Point Ferry Terminal.

Formerly a seafood restaurant, it is now up for tender to be redeveloped. The tender closes on Feb 16.

Source : Straits Times - 2 Feb 2007

New benchmarks reached for PreparedIndustrial Land

JTC Corporation (JTC) says net allocation of its industrial facilities remained positive for a third straight year in 2006, with new benchmarks achieved for Prepared Industrial Land (PIL).

Biopolis

Net allocation - land or space leased or rented, less terminations - rose 51 per cent to 268.5 hectares, from 177.6 ha in 2005.

The performance was attributed to a 56 per cent rise in gross allocation to 317.4 ha in 2006, up from 203.1 ha in 2005.

The logistics sector accounted for 41 per cent of total gross allocation, the same as in 2005, followed by chemicals (14 per cent) and services (13 per cent).

Termination increased 92 per cent to 49 ha in 2006 versus 25.5 ha in 2005. Most terminations came from the electronics sector, which accounted for 56 per cent or 27.1 ha of total terminations of PIL.

The Specialised Parks segment grew for a third straight year, with net allocation rebounding from minus 7.4 ha in 2002, to 31.5 ha in 2004, 90.7 ha in 2005 and 158.9 ha in 2006. Net allocation for 2006 grew 75 per cent or 68.2 ha from 2005.

Gross allocation in Specialised Parks almost doubled to 195 ha in 2006 from 101.3 ha in 2005, mainly due to the strong performance of Logistics Park (42 per cent or 82.6 ha) and Jurong Island (37 per cent or 71.8 ha). Tuas Biomedical Park also performed positively, with a gross allocation of 23 ha.

Termination in the Specialised Parks segment was higher at 36.1 ha in 2006 - an increase of 25.6 ha from 2005. This was due mainly to the return of 17 ha of temporary occupation licence (TOL) space at Wafer Fab Park.

The Ready-built Facilities segment achieved net allocation of 127,700 sq m, down from 2005’s 10-year high of 179,600 sq m.

Gross allocation of ready-built facilities eased to 283,300 sq m, while termination rose slightly to 155,600 sq m.

There was a five-fold jump in net allocation of flatted factory space, from 4,000 sq m in 2005 to 21,200 sq m in 2006 - the highest figure in five years.

Gross allocation also hit a five-year high, with a 16 per cent increase from 105,700 sq m in 2005 to 123,200 sq m in 2006. Termination was 101,900 sq m in 2006, slightly higher than 101,700 sq m in 2005.

Source : Business Times - 1 Feb 2007

Net demand surges more than 50% to 268.5ha of space, says landlord JTC

The amount of vacant land taken up by businesses to build factories and warehouses rose to a record high last year against the backdrop of a booming Singapore economy.

Net demand for prepared industrial land jumped 51 per cent to an unprecedented 268.5ha of space, said JTC Corp, Singapore’s largest industrial landlord, yesterday.

The bulk of this rise in demand came from companies in the logistics, chemicals and services sector, according to JTC’s year-end report.

These companies were particularly keen on specialised parks, such as petrochemical hub Jurong Island, which saw a 75 per cent increase in the net amount of land leased.

Electronics firms, however, reduced their industrial space take-ups amid a down cycle in the industry. They returned 27.1ha of land to JTC last year, making up more than half the total 49ha that was returned.

Last year also saw a dip in the take-up rate for JTC’s ready-built facilities, including factories and business parks. About 127,700 sq m of these facilities were leased out last year, down from a record high of 179,600 sq m in 2005.

The main reason for this drop was a plunge in demand for business parks. Only 22,800 sq m of business park space was taken up last year, down from 130,400 sq m in 2005.

However, this fall was due to the fact that there was a large spike in the demand for business parks in 2005 from A*Star taking up space at Biopolis, JTC said yesterday.

Apart from business parks, demand for all other categories of ready-built facilities grew strongly.

Flatted factories, standard factories, stack-up factories and technopreneur space all remained in hot demand, with more space taken up last year than the year before.

Occupancy rates also climbed for all ready-built factories, including business parks, to 87.8 per cent last year from 83.5 per cent previously.

Despite the higher take-up, rents and prices for most of JTC’s land and facilities stayed flat.

However, consultants expect the values of industrial properties to rise this year as demand continues to strengthen, outstripping new supply.

Net new demand for industrial property last year reached about one million sq m, the highest level since 2000, said property firm Colliers International. This was most likely boosted by company expansions and a spillover effect from the crunch in office space.

In comparison, net new supply only accounted for less than two-thirds of this demand, said Colliers’ director of research and consultancy, Ms Tay Huey Ying.

She noted that the islandwide occupancy rate of industrial space breached the 90 per cent mark last year, finally hitting ‘a level capable of spurring rental growth’.

Industrial rents and prices are therefore expected to rise by 5 to 8 per cent this year, said Ms Tay.

Source : Straits Times - 1 Feb 2007