MapletreeLog pays $15m for Tuas warehouse - Singapore

MapletreeLog pays $15m for Tuas warehouse

MAPLETREE Logistics Trust Management (MapletreeLog) has bought a warehouse in Singapore for $15.2 million, marking the latest in a rapid run of acquisitions over the last few months.
Yesterday, it announced that it had bought the warehouse in Tuas from Pioneer Districentre, which will lease back the property for seven years - with an option to extend it for a further seven years.

MapletreeLog chief executive Chua Tiow Chye said that this acquisition adds to the trust’s stable core of Singapore properties which will generate long-term and stable returns for unitholders.

‘Given the tight supply situation for high quality logistics real estate in good locations, rentals and capital values are expected to remain firm,’ Mr Chua added.

Just last week, MapletreeLog said that it is investing $92 million in a distribution centre in the Kanto region of Japan, a key logistics area.

The tenant will have a lease tenure of 20 years, which the trust sees as complementing the shorter-term leases it has in its portfolio in higher-growth markets such as China, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Earlier this month, MapletreeLog completed the purchase of two properties in Selangor, Malaysia for just under RM30 million (S$13 million).

Prior to yesterday’s purchase, its most recent buy in the Singapore market came last month. MapletreeLog then bought four warehouses for $36.8 million from mainboard-listed Union Steel Holdings, which will lease them back for six years, with an option to extend for another six years.

All four properties are located in the Tuas area.

Last Friday, the Reit’s units closed unchanged at $1.17. While the share price was as high as $1.46 in May, it has since lagged behind the broader market.

It is now roughly at the same level as at the start of the year, while the Straits Times Index is still 18 per cent up.
Source : Straits Times - 24 sept 2007

Singapore Property - Buy , Sell , Rent , Invest
Mindy Yong
(+65)91002985
mindy@mindyyong.com
http://www.hotvictory.com

25% more Singapore HDB flats rented out since March

25% more HDB flats rented out since March

By Tan Hui Yee, Housing Correspondent

MORE Housing Board (HDB) flatowners are cashing in on the rising rental market by letting out their units following a relaxation of the rules on doing so.
The new rules have spurred 5,700 more people to rent out their flats over the past six months.

The latest figures from the HDB show that a total of 15,773 flats have been given the green light for rental by the middle of this month.

This is a 25 per cent jump on the total figure before the March 3 rule change. About 39 per cent of these additional homeowners would not have qualified had the rules not been eased.

Previously, flatowners could rent out their flats only five years after buying them - or 10 years if they had not paid off HDB home loans.

Now, they can do so after living in their flats for just three years - or five years if they had bought it with a government subsidy or grant. It no longer matters if the home loan has been paid off.

The change almost doubled the pool of eligible flats to 645,000, out of more than 800,000 across the island.

The relaxation was part of a series of measures to make it easier for flatowners to earn income from their units.

Besides easing subletting rules, the HDB also allowed homeowners to take out reverse mortgages on their flats. It is also looking into a novel scheme to buy back the tail-end of flats’ leases from homeowners.

Newly minted landlords included Madam Yee Kin Moi, 58. The retired hawker and her husband rented out their four-year-old flat in Choa Chu Kang just last month for about $1,000 a month, and moved in with their daughter to help take care of their 18-month-old grandson.

The rental income, said Madam Yee, covers their monthly housing instalments and helps pay daily expenses as well.

She told The Straits Times: ‘The good thing about renting the flat out is that we do not need to sell it. We can go back to live in it if our children choose to migrate elsewhere.’

According to the HDB, about 27 per cent of flats rented out after March 3 belonged to owners who were older - aged 55 years and above.

Most of those renting out their flats under the revised rules moved in with their family members. About 22 per cent now live with their children, while another 36 per cent live with their parents, siblings and other relatives.

About two-thirds of flats being rented out are three- and four-room units.

HDB statistics show that three-room flats fetched a median rental of $980 islandwide from April to June, while four-room flats fetched $1,180.

Property agents estimate that rents are up about 10 per cent to 15 per cent since then, but say demand for rental flats remains strong as tenants, deterred by rising private rentals, choose public housing instead.

Median rentals of non-landed private homes islandwide grew by 11 per cent from April to June to $31.87 per sq m per month. This means it would cost about $3,200 a month to rent a 100 sq m, three-bedroom home.

As a result, rental flats being put on the market are being snapped up within a month, said the chief executive of property agency Propnex, Mr Mohamed Ismail.

Most homeowners, though, will not rush to rent out their flats even if rental rates become even more attractive. This is simply because they would have nowhere else to live if they did.

The director of Dennis Wee Properties, Mr Chris Koh, pointed out: ‘Not every elderly couple would want to live with their children.’
Source : Straits Times - 24 sept 2007

Singapore Property - Buy , Sell , Rent , Invest
Mindy Yong
(+65)91002985
mindy@mindyyong.com
http://www.hotvictory.com