SINGAPORE: New record price has been set residential site on Sentosa

SINGAPORE: A new record price has been set for a 6,600-square- metre residential site on Sentosa.

The Green Collection, Sentosa Cove’s only strata landed housing
development, has fetched a bid of more than S$78 million or S$1,099
per square foot per plot ratio.

Boutique developer Elevation Developments submitted the highest of
eight bids received at the close of an Expressions of Interest for
the site last month.

Sentosa Cove says this surpassed the last en bloc sale price of Sandy
Island at $771.25 psf per plot ratio in March this year by 42.5%.

The Green Collection is the only land parcel on Sentosa Cove to have
the flexibility to design and develop either strata terrace, semi-
detached or detached houses with shared recreational facilities.

With a plot ratio of one, it can allow up to 20 homes with shared
facilities such as a swimming pool or gymnasium to be built.

With the relaxation of foreign ownership of landed homes in Sentosa
Cove, foreigners will be eligible to buy these strata landed homes.

Sentosa Cove is situated on the eastern end of Sentosa Island.

When completed in 2010, the sprawling 117-hectare development will
see a total of 2,500 homes.

Elevation Developments is a boutique developer of landed residential
property in Singapore.

It is associated with upmarket Good Class Bungalows including some 20
current projects in prime areas of Swettenham Road, Nassim Road and
Gallop Road. - CNA/ir

Source : CNA/ir - 25 sept 2007

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Singapore Second transitional office site released

Singapore Second transitional office site released

By UMA SHANKARI
THE government yesterday launched for sale its second transitional office site in a bid to improve the supply of office space.
The upcoming office building will be within walking distance of the Tampines MRT station and bus interchange.

Market watchers estimate that the 1.2 hectare site in Tampines could fetch about $100 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) - which works out to some $12.4 million in total.

The land parcel is the second transitional site offered by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) as office rents in Singapore continue to climb amidst a supply shortfall.

Transitional office sites are expected to help tide over the space shortage until new supply starts to kick in from 2009 onwards.

URA in August awarded the first transitional office site at Scotts Road. That site attracted 11 bidders, with the winning bid coming to $37 million, or $219 psf ppr.

The new site, which has a maximum gross floor area of 124,000 sq ft and a 15-year lease, is expected to fetch a lower price as it is not in the central area.

‘The Scotts Road site can fetch rents of between $7 and $8 psf per month, while this site will be able to get only about $4-$5,’ said Ku Swee Yong, director of marketing and business development at Savills Singapore.

Some experts were more bullish, however.

Knight Frank director of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak expects the site to fetch between $200 and $260 psf ppr, similar to the Scotts Road site. That price works out to $24.8-$32.2 million.

‘With the current absorption rate of office space at 91.9 per cent, coupled with a shortage of Grade A office space in the prime area, demand for suburban offices with good location and well-developed infrastructure is in strong demand,’ said Mr Mak.

‘The office space that will be developed on this site is likely to be attractive to banks and financial institutions to house their backroom operations.’

The land parcel is located at Tampines Concourse/ Tampines Avenue 5 - within the established Tampines Regional Centre.

The upcoming office building will be within walking distance of the Tampines MRT station and bus interchange.

The building is expected to be a low-rise development of about three storeys that can be built quickly in about a year, URA said.

Source : Business Times - 25 sept 2007

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Sale of Seletar Garden could fetch up to $75m Singapore

Sale of Seletar Garden could fetch up to $75m Singapore

This works out to $683-$733 psf ppr inclusive of DC for the 73,099 sq ft site

SELETAR Garden, a mixed development at Yio Chu Kang Road, is up for sale by tender with the estimated price of between $70 million and $75 million.
Reaping profits: Based on the indicative collective sale price, each owner could make a premium of at least 80 per cent over the open market price
This works out to be $684-$733 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) inclusive of development charge (DC) for the 73,099 sq ft site.

The property is being marketed by PropNex, whose head of investment sales Charles Chua says there is also a possibility of the alienation of three parcels of adjoining remnant state land at an estimated additional $8.3 million. This will bring the total site area to over 100,000 sq ft and with a possible gross floor area (GFA) of over 140,000 sq ft.

Together with the state land, the site could cost between $555 and $590 psf ppr. Mr Chua believes the site, which is within a 15-minute walk of the Yio Chu Kang MRT offers potential for a boutique serviced-residence or condominium and food-and-beverage centre.

Mr Chua estimates that the current open market value for the residential units at Seletar Garden is between $850 and $850 psf.

Based on the indicative collective sale price, each owner is expected to make a premium of at least 80 per cent over the open market price, Mr Chua said. He estimates that about 40 residential units of between 1,600 and 1,800 psf can be built on the site. The break-even price for the potential new development would be about $750 psf.
Source : Business Times - 25 sept 2007

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Singapore Residential property launches gathering speed again

Singapore Residential property launches gathering speed again

Ho Bee previews Turquoise, Wheelock properties to launch Scotts Square
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
DEVELOPERS are slowly stepping up residential property launches again, with Ho Bee Investments previewing its Turquoise condo at Sentosa Cove and Wheelock Properties (Singapore) holding the official launch of Scotts Square later this week.

Waterfront living: The 99-year leasehold Turquoise at Sentosa Cove will be priced at $2,500 psf on average. Ho Bee is expected to begin sales at a preview starting on Thursday
Turquoise, which will have 91 apartments, will be priced at $2,500 psf on average. Ho Bee has been conducting viewings at its showflat lately for its business associates and is expected to begin sales at a preview starting on Thursday.

The 99-year leasehold project comprises three- and four-bedroom units, and penthouses.

Ho Bee will develop the six-and-a-half storey project on Sentosa Cove’s Waterfront Collection site, which is flanked by Tanjong Golf Course and waterways.

It bought the site in a tender that closed in November last year, for $919 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr).

This will be the first condominium launch in Sentosa Cove’s Southern Residential Precinct.

Ho Bee also won another condominium site (jointly with Malaysia’s IOI Group) in March this year. The duo paid $1,361 psf ppr for the plot, dubbed The Seaview Collection, and they are expected to develop it into an eight-storey condo with about 150 units.

Ho Bee is also said to have begun marketing The Orange Grove, a 72-unit freehold condo, in Indonesia.

The average price of the 12-storey project is understood to be around $3,000 psf.

It is diagonally across the road from another condo that Ho Bee began selling around January this year - the 60-unit Orange Grove Residences. Four units are left in the five-storey freehold condo. The current price is about $2,500 psf on average.

Over in the Scotts Road area, Wheelock Properties has sold about half of its 338-unit Scotts Square at an average price of $3,983 psf since July. And although it is holding an official launch for the freehold project on Friday, the group’s executive director, Tan Bee Kim, says the plan is not to sell off all the remaining units just yet.

The developer is in the midst of deciding just how many units it will sell for now, as well as the pricing. Market watchers expect the average price to inch up to slightly above $4,000 psf.

Over in the Dunearn Road location, MCL Land has sold off all but the showflat of its 163-unit cluster terrace housing development, Hillcrest Villas, in two weeks. The average price achieved for the 99-year leasehold development was around $870 psf of strata area.
Source : Business Times - 25 sept 2007

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HPL: Horizon Towers sellers extend deadline

HPL: Horizon Towers sellers extend deadline

Buyer will now ask for adjournment of legal proceedings
By MICHELLE QUAH

(SINGAPORE) Hotel Properties Ltd (HPL) has finally secured a much-needed extension of a deadline to purchase the Horizon Towers development.
And the listed developer will now make good on its promise to apply for an adjournment of the legal proceedings it has commenced against the sellers.

HPL announced yesterday evening that the sellers of the Leonie Hill property have officially agreed - en masse - to push back the deadline by four months, to Dec 11. This will give HPL and its partners - who collectively agreed to buy Horizon Towers for $500 million in February - the time needed to push through the en bloc sale.

The deal had fallen through in August when the Strata Titles Board (STB) rejected Horizon Towers’ application for a collective sale order - on the grounds that the application was defective.

STB’s decision, which came just days before the original sale completion deadline, meant there was no time for a fresh application to be filed or for a High Court appeal of STB’s judgment to be heard.

HPL and its partners - Morgan Stanley Real Estate-managed funds and Qatar Investment Authority - needed the sellers to extend the deadline, but its repeated requests in recent weeks went unheeded. The buyers then took legal action and sued the sellers for up to $1 billion in damages.

The situation reached a turning point when HPL chief Ong Beng Seng arranged a meeting with some 40 owners of Horizon Towers, at the Hilton last week. At this meeting, Mr Ong’s lawyers Allen & Gledhill told the attendees that they would be prepared to adjourn the legal proceedings if the sellers agreed to extend the deadline - and that they would drop the lawsuit altogether if the sale goes through.

This meeting was followed by a second meeting at the Raffles Town Club the next day, which was attended by owners of 135 units of Horizon Towers. These owners decided to push back the collective sale deadline to Dec 11 and to do everything ‘reasonably necessary’ to effect the collective sale.

They told BT after the meeting that they would be reaching out to the owners of the remaining 42 units - who did not attend the meeting - to seek their support. Their efforts have apparently succeeded, judging by HPL’s announcement yesterday.

HPL also told BT now that it has received official confirmation of the sellers’ decision to extend the sale completion deadline, it would honour its promise to apply for an adjournment of the legal proceedings it has filed against the sellers. This means a Thursday court showdown between the buyers and the sellers will be averted. Up next is Friday’s High Court hearing of the appeal against STB’s decision.
Source : Business Times - 25 sept 2007

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Foreigners snap up 87% more Singapore landed homes in first half: DTZ

Foreigners snap up 87% more Singapore landed homes in first half: DTZ

Companies make 265 buys in H1 2007 vs one in H1 2006
By KALPANA RASHIWALA

(SINGAPORE) Foreigners, including permanent residents, bought 232 landed homes here in the first half of this year, up 87 per cent from the same period last year, according to DTZ Debenham Tie Leung’s analysis of caveats.
But foreign buyers’ share of total caveats lodged for landed homes in H1 2007 was about 7.6 per cent, down slightly from a 7.9 per cent share in the same year-ago period.

Nearly 90 per cent of these foreign buyers in the first six months of this year were Singapore permanent residents.

Malaysians accounted for the biggest share or 23.7 per cent of foreign buyers of landed homes in H1 2007, followed by United Kingdom nationals (18.5 per cent) and Australians (7.8 per cent).

The number of landed homes picked up by Singaporeans in H1 2007 was up 76.3 per cent year-on-year, though Singaporeans’ share of total caveats for landed homes fell to 83.7 per cent in H1 2007 from 92.1 per cent in H1 2006.

The decline was due to a surge in the number of landed homes bought by companies, to 265 in H1 this year from just one in the same period last year.

In all, 265 caveats were lodged by companies for bungalows, semi-detached houses and terrace homes in H1 2007, compared with just one caveat in H1 2006. The companies include both local and foreign corporations, and could possibly reflect the effect of some investors including individuals or small groups of investors who made purchases through companies, market watchers reckon.

‘There have been small developers and contractors buying up stretches of landed houses in places like Telok Kurau and Kembangan, with the aim of tearing them down and redeveloping the site into a small block of apartments,’ says Knight Frank executive director Peter Ow.

DTZ’s analysis, which was based on caveats captured by Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Realis system, also showed that the most popular landed housing districts sought after by foreigners in H1 2007 differed from those pursued by Singaporeans.

The top location for foreigners (including PRs) who bought landed homes during the period was District 10 (which covers areas like Grange Road, Tanglin, Chatsworth, Jervois, Bishopsgate, Holland Road, Swettenham Road and Laurel Wood Avenue), followed by Districts 15, 11 and 19.

District 15 covers Katong, East Coast and the Meyer Road locations; District 11 includes the Bukit Timah and Dunearn vicinity, Gilstead Road and Gentle Drive; and District 19 includes Serangoon Gardens and Lorong Chuan. Other popular locations included Districts 21 (which covers the Upper Bukit Timah area) and 4 (Sentosa Cove)

In contrast, among Singaporean landed home buyers, the most popular district was 19, followed by Districts 15, 10, 16 (part of Bedok and Tanah Merah), 20 (including Sembawang Hills and Upper Thomson) and 28 (which covers locations like Seletar Hills and Mimosa Place).

‘Foreigners seem to be zooming in more on traditional residential property investment locations, such as prime Districts 10 and 11 and the traditionally popular District 15,’ said a market watcher.

Among companies which bought landed homes from January to June this year, District 15 was the most in demand, followed by Districts 19, 10 and 14.

The 232 landed homes that foreigners purchased in the first half was just 11.5 per cent shy of the 262-unit figure for the whole of last year. The record was set in 1999, when foreigners picked up 347 landed homes on the island.

In Singapore, foreigners have to be PRs before they can receive permission to buy landed homes on mainland Singapore, and Sentosa Cove is the only location where foreigners who are not PRs are allowed to purchase landed property. Even then, foreign would-be buyers must seek permission from the Land Dealings (Approval) Unit under the Singapore Land Authority.

Typically, it takes about four weeks for approval to be granted, but on Sentosa Cove, the time has been cut to less than 48 hours under a special fast-track approval scheme.

Foreigners, including PRs, can at any one time own only one landed home in Singapore and must occupy it themselves rather than renting it out.
Source : Business Times - 25 sept 2007

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Second short-term office site released at Tampines - Singapore

Second short-term office site released at Tampines - Singapore

By Fiona Chan, Property Reporter
THE Government has released a second temporary office site for sale, this time at the Tampines Regional Centre.
This followed the strong response to a similar plot along Scotts Road last month, which drew a better-than-expected 11 bids.

The two sites are the first plots of office land to be offered in Singapore on 15-year leases as part of the Government’s efforts to ease an office crunch that has sent rents and prices soaring.

The Tampines plot ‘will continue to help meet the demand for office space in the short to medium term’, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said in a statement yesterday.

Located at the corner of Tampines Concourse and Tampines Avenue 5, the 1.15ha site can be built up to a maximum gross floor area of about 124,000 sq ft.

A low-rise development of about three storeys can be built on the plot ‘quickly in about a year’, the URA said.

expect a good level of interest in the Tampines parcel, property consultants said competition for it is likely to be less keen than that for the Scotts Road plot.

The 1.04ha site, next to the Newton MRT station, drew a top bid of $37 million, or $219 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr).

Mr Donald Han, managing director of property firm Cushman & Wakefield, said the Scotts Road site was hot due to its prime location.

In contrast, the Tampines plot is in the suburbs. It will also be competing with nearby sites at the Changi Business Park, which are sold on short-term, 30-year leases.

Mr Han expects five or six bids for the site, which are likely to be lower than the price fetched for the Scotts Road plot. Offers could range from $140 to $160 psf ppr, or about $17.3 million to $20 million, he said.

‘On top of everything, the market now expects that more transitional sites will be released,’ Mr Han added.

Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank, predicted, on the other hand, that while the Tampines site would fetch fewer bids than the Scotts Road plot, the bid levels would be the same.

‘Suburban offices with good locations and well-developed infrastructures are in strong demand,’ he said.

His estimate for the site: $24.8 million to $32.2 million, or $200 to $260 psf ppr.

Source : Straits Times - 25 sept 2007

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HPL to ask to adjourn Horizon Towers hearing on Thursday

HPL to ask to adjourn Horizon Towers hearing on Thursday

Decision follows official confirmation of extension of sale deadline to Dec 11
By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent
THE move by the Horizon Towers sellers to extend the sale deadline of their estate has succeeded in fending off Thursday’s High Court hearing.
Hotel Properties (HPL) said yesterday that it will apply to have the hearing adjourned. This came after it received official confirmation of the extension from the condominium’s sale committee.

Law firm Tan, Rajah & Cheah informed HPL that the estate’s new committee had extended the time for obtaining a collective sale order to Dec 11. The seven-member committee represents owners of 177 units. These are the majority owners who have signed the agreement to sell en bloc.

HPL and its two partners, the intended buyers of the Horizon Towers, are suing the sellers of the 99-year leasehold estate for an alleged breach of contract.

The sale committee, the third at the Leonie Hill estate since the saga began a few months ago, was formed last Thursday. That was when almost all who were at a meeting voted to extend the deadline to Dec 11. Sellers of 135 units - out of 177 units which signed the sale agreement - attended.

This option to extend by four months was part of the original sale agreement. The owners also agreed to do everything ‘reasonably necessary’ to effect the sale.

Those owners who organised the meeting were believed to have stated in a circular that absent owners were deemed to have agreed with the majority decision made at the meeting.

All eyes will now be on another legal front - Friday’s High Court hearing over the sellers’ appeal to quash the Strata Titles Board (STB) ruling last month that aborted the collective sale deal.

STB dismissed the Horizon Towers case over a procedural error and not over any arguments put up by a group of owners opposed to the sale. That deal lapsed as the sellers did not extend the Aug 11 deadline.

Last Friday, the HPL-led consortium filed an affidavit asking that it be allowed to participate in Friday’s appeal, claiming that the issues would be more effectively adjudicated with its involvement. A decision will be made on Friday.

If the appeal succeeds, the case could go back to the STB. But a negative verdict could end the Horizon Towers deal once and for all.

If it goes back to the STB, the minority owners who object to the sale will resurface issues such as the contract’s apparently low price and the unusual fact that the commission for the estate’s marketing agent will be paid by the buyers, not the sellers.

HPL said earlier that it will drop its lawsuit if a collective sale order is obtained. Its group wants Horizon Towers for $500 million, the price inked in February.
Source : Straits Times - 25 sept 2007

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