Owners of Claymore bungalow plots sitting on potential goldmine

Owners of Claymore bungalow plots sitting on potential goldmine
The three plots could fetch $400m if they are sold, say property consultants
By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent
THREE adjacent homes - one of them unoccupied - could fetch a staggering $400 million if they all went on sale.
But these are anything but ordinary homes. They are the last three bungalow plots at a prime location smack in the heart of the Orchard Road district.

The spotlight has swung to the three bungalows - surrounded by condominiums and malls - after one of them, at 11 Claymore Road, was put up for sale at $115million amid a booming property market.

Assuming all three plots were sold at that level - although the indications are that at least one is not up for sale - they could fetch almost $400 million and be redeveloped into a luxury condominium, consultants said.
More foreigners apply to buy landed homes
Applications rise 30% in 2006 thanks to strong sentiment and Sentosa Cove

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

(SINGAPORE) The number of applications by foreigners (including permanent residents) seeking approval from the government to buy landed properties in Singapore rose 30 per cent in 2006 against the preceding year, according to Singapore Land Authority.

‘This was possibly due to the strong economy, a favourable property market and interest in Sentosa Cove,’ an SLA spokeswoman said.
Foreigners including PRs face restrictions in buying landed properties in Singapore and need prior approval from the authorities before they can purchase such properties. Foreigners have to be PRs before they can receive permission to buy landed homes on mainland Singapore; Sentosa Cove is the only location where foreigners who are not PRs are allowed to purchase landed property.
Apart from an applicant’s PR status, sanction to buy landed property depends on his qualifications and economic contributions to Singapore, SLA’s spokeswoman stressed.
SLA declined to say how many applications were made by foreigners/PRs to buy landed property, and how many were approved.
However, based on DTZ Debenham Tie Leung’s analysis of caveats captured by the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Realis database, foreigners including PRs bought 93 landed homes or 8.4 per cent of the total 1,108 landed homes transacted in Q1 2007, covering both primary and secondary markets, as well as completed and uncompleted properties.
These figures are higher than those for Q1 2006, when foreigners including PRs bought 43 landed homes, or 6.1 per cent of the total 706 landed homes that were transacted. During Q2 1996, at the height of the 1990s property bull run, PRs/foreigners purchased 31 landed homes, or 2.6 per cent of the total 1,188 landed homes that changed hands during the period.
DTZ’s analysis showed that for Q1 this year, PRs bought 86 landed homes while non-PR foreigners purchased seven such homes. The most popular landed homes among foreigners as a whole were terrace houses (45 units), followed by semi-detached (26 units) and detached houses (22 units).
Private apartments/condos - a class of properties where there are no restrictions on purchases by foreigners/PRs (unless they want to buy up an entire development) - made up the majority of private homes bought by foreigners in Q1 this year. In all, foreigners/PRs bought 2,008 non-landed private homes, accounting for 30.3 per cent of the total condos/apartments bought in the period.
In Q1 this year, foreigners/PRs bought 27.2 per cent of the overall 7,731 private homes (comprising both landed and non-landed homes) that changed hands. This share is almost double their 14.1 per cent share back in Q2 1996, when foreigners/PRs purchased 975 of the total 6,932 private residential properties transacted.
DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah said the growing foreign buying of landed homes in Singapore reflects that many foreigners/PRs are raising their families here.
‘They may find that condos are too small. Very often they buy landed homes in locations close to the foreign/international schools that their children attend, for instance, in Lorong Chuan, where the Australian International School is located, and in the West Coast near the Japanese School,’ she added.
‘Many of these foreigners and PRs say Singapore is a very ‘liveable’ place. If they believe in the future of Asia, they’d want to raise their families in Asia, and Singapore is a good location, from which they can get exposure to China and India because of our connectivity,’ she added.
Since 1973, foreigners (including PRs) have been prohibited from buying landed property without prior government approval. All would-be buyers must seek permission from the Land Dealings (Approval) Unit under the SLA. Typically, it takes about four weeks for approval to be granted, but in the upscale waterfront locale of Sentosa Cove, the time has been fast-tracked to less than 48 hours.
Whether on mainland Singapore or Sentosa Cove, foreigners including PRs can at any one time own only one landed home in Singapore and must occupy it themselves rather than rent it out.
However, being a PR does not automatically mean one’s application to buy landed property will be approved. For instance, if the PR does not have the recognised qualifications or expertise/working experience required by Singapore or has not made any investment in the type of industry/service sector being promoted in Singapore, the application may be turned down. Even PRs who have set up businesses promoted by Singapore may find their applications rejected if their company’s paid-up capital and turnover do not meet certain requirements.

Source : The Business Times, 14 July 2007

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Owners of Claymore bungalow plots sitting on potential goldmine

Owners of Claymore bungalow plots sitting on potential goldmine 
The three plots could fetch $400m if they are sold, say property consultants
By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent 
THREE adjacent homes - one of them unoccupied - could fetch a staggering $400 million if they all went on sale.
But these are anything but ordinary homes. They are the last three bungalow plots at a prime location smack in the heart of the Orchard Road district.

The spotlight has swung to the three bungalows - surrounded by condominiums and malls - after one of them, at 11 Claymore Road, was put up for sale at $115million amid a booming property market.

Assuming all three plots were sold at that level - although the indications are that at least one is not up for sale - they could fetch almost $400 million and be redeveloped into a luxury condominium, consultants said.

On Monday, Credo Real Estate put 11 Claymore Road up for sale at $2,815 per sq ft of potential gross floor area, inclusive of a development charge of $26.67 million. It is currently rented to Pat’s Schoolhouse childcare centre.

A British pre-school chain, Modern Montessori International Group, leases one of the other bungalows at 15 Claymore Road.

The third bungalow, at 9 Claymore Road, is believed to be vacant, though recently renovation work has been started on it.

It is the biggest of the three plots and could fetch $151.5 million, if there is a buyer at the asking price of its neighbouring plot.

Next to 15 Claymore Road is The Tate Residences, which is being developed. One of the condominiums at the rear, The Ardmore, was recently acquired for $262 million or a record $2,338 psf of potential gross floor area.

The owners of two of the bungalow plots declined to comment, while the owner of the third plot was not contactable.

According to a search done by The Straits Times, the freehold plots are all registered under Chinese names, two of which are believed to be family-owned businesses. The other is an individual.

Kok Kim Chuan Co owns 11, Claymore Road. A company search showed that it was registered in 1970. Then, it was described as being a real estate agent. It also handled the retail sale of motor vehicles except motorcycles, and was into chartered bus and excursion bus services.

Mr Karamjit Singh, the managing director of Credo Real Estate, which is handling the sale of 11 Claymore Road, said the Kok family did not wish to comment.

The founder of Pat’s Schoolhouse, Mrs Patricia Koh, said the childcare centre has been leasing the Claymore Road property for the past six to seven years. Prior to that, it was used as a family residence.

At the start of the lease, she dealt with the late Mr Kok Kim Chuan and now deals with his son.

Teo Soo Chuan Realty, registered in July 1985 as a holding company, owns 15 Claymore Road. It is believed to be a family business of Mr Teo Soo Chuan, who did not wish to comment.

When asked, Mr Singh said the owners of 15 Claymore Road said they have no intention of selling.

Mr Teo is a director of Ngee Ann Development, Singapore Clan Foundation and The Singapore Sugar Traders Association, among others.

He once held directorships at a host of companies and organisations, including Singapura Finance from 1981 to 2002.

From 1965 to 1988, he had been the managing director of See Hoy Chan Singapore, founded by his father. He became a director when the company became See Hoy Chan (1988), a rice-trader.

Modern Montessori International is believed to have occupied 15 Claymore Road for nearly six years. Another childcare centre occupied the site previously.

The third plot - 9 Claymore Road - is owned by a Singaporean, Mr Tan Kheng Chuan. He was appointed a manager and existing owner of the since-deregistered Hiap Ann Sago Factory in August 1940, and then a manager and owner of Hiap Ann in 1946.

A childcare teacher at Pat’s Schoolhouse said the 9 Claymore Road property is vacant, though someone pops by once in a while to collect the mail.
 

Source : The Straits Times, 14 July 2007

Property boom unlikely to hurt S’pore banks’ risk ratings: Moody’s

Property boom unlikely to hurt S’pore banks’ risk ratings: Moody’s 
By Robin Chan 
THE current property boom is unlikely to hurt the risk ratings of Singapore’s banks, according to leading ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service.
Banks are ‘not getting too involved in the property market’, Ms Deborah Schuler, a Moody’s senior vice-president, said.

She told reporters that banks in Singapore typically ‘finance only the largest developers… who have the resources to have staying power in a downturn and complete buildings’.

Banks have also been more cautious about the developers they have on their books since the last market peak in 1996, she said.

She added that banks take on mortgages that ‘tend to be very low risk’.

The biggest concern ‘would be in mortgages as interest rates in the region rise’, she said.

So far, however, ‘liquidity in the system’ has been good, Ms Schuler said.

Singapore’s banking sector won high ratings from Moody’s, while its outlook is also stable because of the strong balance sheets and improved risk management of banks.

Moody’s maintained stable or stable-to-positive outlooks for the 16 banking systems it rates in the Asia-Pacific.

Among the South-east Asian banking systems rated by Moody’s, those of Vietnam and Indonesia received positive outlooks.

The report highlighted certain potential problems that could affect the banking sector in Asia, including rising energy prices and the risk that Asia’s business cycle may reach its peak in a year or two.

In a separate report, Moody’s maintained the highest possible credit rating for the Singapore Government. The outlook for it is also stable.

This was attributed to the continued fiscal strength of the public sector and strong external balance of payments.

Source : The Straits Times, 14 July 2007

Watten Estate condo up for collective sale

Watten Estate condo up for collective sale
By Erica Tay
WATTEN Estate Condominium along Shelford Road is up for collective sale by tender with a price tag of $480 million.
If this price - it works out to a ratio of $1,550 per sq ft per plot - is achieved, the deal will become the most valuable done in the Watten area.

The freehold Bukit Timah estate is a development of 104 units made up of a block of apartments and four blocks of townhouses.

Watten Estate sits on a large piece of elevated prime land of more than 20,400 sq m. It is in a quiet enclave off busy Dunearn Road and less than 1 km from a handful of top schools.

The estate is also near the upcoming Botanic Gardens MRT Station.

‘Assuming a building efficiency of 90 per cent, the site can be redeveloped into a residential development of about 210 units with an average unit size of 1,300 sq ft,’ said DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, which is handling the sale.

Mr Shaun Poh, DTZ’s director of investment advisory services, said: ‘Watten Estate is probably the only large and elevated residential site available for sale in the Shelford Road and Watten Road area.’

The tender closes on July 31.
Source : The Straits Times, 14 July 2007

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Foreign home buyers: Time to change rules?

Foreign home buyers: Time to change rules?
By Lydia Lim
YOUNG Singaporeans like businessman Tan Sin Yat, 32, accept an influx of foreign home buyers as part and parcel of life in an open, globalised economy.
But they also know it will have an impact on their chances to move up the property ladder.

‘With more foreigners buying private property, it also means that Singaporeans, especially young professionals, will find it more difficult to get that dream condo in a good location as prices are going up faster than incomes,’ he says.

The share of private home purchases by foreigners rose to 27 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

But for luxury developments in the Marina Bay and Orchard areas, their share has now soared to around 60 per cent.

Property analysts say the surge in demand and price increases at the top end filters down to mass market condominiums, where it has an impact on middle-income Singaporeans looking to buy their first home or upgrade.

This is of concern to Mr Charles Chong, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee on National Development.

He says if demand cannot be met by supply in the short-term, some tweaking of existing property regulations may be needed.

While first-time home buyers may wish for more restrictions on foreign buying, an investment bank has recently called for a liberalisation of rules on landed property for foreigners, saying this would help draw more talent here.

What, then, is the right balance to strike for a global-city in the making like Singapore?

Insight reports.
Source : The Straits Times, 14 July 2007

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Sub-sales of private homes hit 10-year high

Sub-sales of private homes hit 10-year high
Consultants say numbers are surprising, but they are not worried about Govt intervention yet
By Fiona Chan, Property Reporter
THEY have not even been built yet, but apartments at popular new projects like The Sail @ Marina Bay are changing hands at a rate not seen in almost a decade.
Sales of these uncompleted homes, known in the industry as sub-sales, almost doubled to 1,184 between April and last month for private non-landed homes, according to new figures released by property firm Savills Singapore yesterday.

Such transactions comprised 13.9 per cent of all private home sales in the June quarter - up from 6.3 per cent in the first three months of this year and the highest level in almost 10 years.

Sub-sales are often used to measure speculative activity in the private home market and as such are closely watched - now more than ever, as the Government tries to gauge how far it should go to calm the red-hot property market.

The latest figures show that more buyers are quickly reselling recently-bought homes, adding to the growing property frenzy.

But while the numbers are rising fast, property consultants are not too concerned yet.

‘It’s surprising that sub-sales have doubled in three months, but they still haven’t reached the same levels as in 1996, which triggered government intervention,’ said Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank.

At the height of the property boom in 1996, sub-sales reached 28.4 per cent of all home sales.

But Mr Mak warned: ‘If it keeps going at this rate, the authorities may step in.’

At projects such as the uncompleted Sail, sub-sales have been roaring along. There were 61 Sail units resold three times each in the last two years, according to investment bank JP Morgan.

Six more units changed hands four times, and one unit found new buyers five times.

Most of these sellers made big bucks, thanks to escalating prices - some units have tripled in price since their 2004 launch.

One buyer paid $750,000 for a unit in early 2005 and resold it for $1.8 million recently, said Savills.

But not all sub-sales turn profits.

At Icon in Tanjong Pagar, one seller made more than $314,000 in three months, while another resold his unit at a $348,000 loss after two months.

Savills, whose estimates were taken from the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s caveat database ahead of official Government figures due on July 27, pointed out that more sub-sales do not necessarily imply more speculation.

‘These sellers may not have bought their units with the intention to speculate,’ said Mr Ku Swee Yong, Savills’ director of marketing and business development.

‘But prices have risen so quickly that they are tempted to cash in.’

Indeed, projects in the prime districts - where home prices have shot up the fastest - made up the bulk of the sub-sales in April to June, said Savills.

More than half the sub-sales in the period took place in Districts 1 to 4 and 9 to 11, which cover Orchard, River Valley, Bukit Timah, Newton, Shenton Way, Marina Bay and Tanjong Pagar.

Sub-sales accounted for about one in five of all home sales in these areas. But some districts saw higher figures of up to 80 per cent.

In District 2, where Icon is located, four out of every five sales were sub-sales. In District 1, where The Sail is, the figure was 64 per cent.

The proportion of sub-sales was a lower 25 per cent in District 9 and only 11 per cent in District 10.

The Sail and Icon topped the sub-sale list in the quarter, with 81 and 71 deals, respectively. Sky@Eleven in Thomson Road was third with 51, while City Square Residences and Citylights in the Jalan Besar area saw 40 deals each.

With most of these projects due to be completed soon, Mr Ku added that the spike in sub-sales could backed by genuine buying demand from displaced collective sale sellers.

This may be a balm to the Government, which has periodically referred to low levels of sub-sales as a sign that rising property prices are fuelled by genuine home demand.

Last year, there were just 989 sub-sale deals, accounting for a mere 4.1 per cent of total private home sales.
Source : The Straits Times, 14 July 2007

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