Singapore likely to issue record citizenships

Singapore likely to issue record citizenships

(SINGAPORE) Singapore awarded 7,300 citizenships in the first six months of this year, the government said yesterday, as the city-state turns to immigration to boost its labour force. The Ministry of Home Affairs said that Singapore issued 13,200 citizenships last year and 12,900 in 2005. In the first nine months of this year, the city-state also issued 46,900 permanent residential rights to foreigners living in the country, the ministry said. The country welcomed 57,300 permanent residents for the whole of last year.
If the trend continues, Singapore will issue a record 14,600 citizenships this year, compared to an average 8,000 citizenships issued in the previous four years, The Straits Times newspaper said. Singapore is fighting an ageing population and a low birth rate, and the government wants to rely on immigration to boost the South-east Asian city-state’s shrinking work force.

Singapore wants to grow its population by adding 1.8 million people to the island of 4.7 million over the next 40 to 50 years. The immigration plan will boost Singapore’s population by about 40 per cent to the point where those born in the city-state will barely form a majority in their own country.

Foreigners living in Singapore make up 30 per cent of the population today, up from 14 per cent in 1990. Among the foreigners, 110,000 are professional expatriates and 646,000 are lower-paid workers including domestic helpers and construction workers, the government said. — Reuters
Source : Business Times - 10 Nov 2007

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Successful application for Alexandra Rd condo site - Singapore

Successful application for Alexandra Rd condo site - Singapore

Developer agrees to bid not less than $220.7m for the 99-yr leasehold plot
By KALPANA RASHIWALA

DEVELOPERS continue to trigger the release of sites from the Government Land Sales programme’s reserve list.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday announced a successful application for a 99-year leasehold condo site on Alexandra Road near Redhill MRT Station and next to CapitaLand’s Metropolitan project.

The developer who made the application - who was not identified - has agreed to bid not less than $220.7 million, or $489 per square foot (psf) of potential gross floor area.

The site will be launched for tender in about two weeks.

The 92,127-sq-ft plot can be developed into a new condo with about 400 units averaging 1,200 sq ft.

‘My take is that the site could fetch a premium of within 10 per cent of the reserve price,’ said CB Richard Ellis executive director Joseph Tan.

‘Even at the reserve price, the breakeven cost for a new condo would be close to the $850 psf average price at which units of The Metropolitan condo have been selling in recent months.’

A 10 per cent premium to the site’s $489 psf per plot ratio (ppr) reserve price works out to $540 psf ppr.

Savills Singapore’s director of marketing and business development Ku Swee Yong estimates the site will fetch $550-$600 psf ppr, reflecting a breakeven cost of $850-$900 psf.

He reckons a condo on it could command about $1,000 psf on average if launched in 12-15 months.

‘This is one of the better sites on the reserve list, near an MRT Station and on the fringe of the CBD,’ he said.

‘It should attract five to eight bids. We’re not going to see the one to two bids that some Government Land Sale sites have been attracting lately,’ he added.

CBRE’s Mr Tan predicts at least five or six bids.

‘This is in a sector of the market that lacks supply and developers will be keen to bid for it,’ he said.

Market watchers believe a new condo near Redhill MRT Station should be able to tap demand from HDB upgraders given the high value of HDB resale flats in the area.

So far this year, 10 reserve-list sites on the Ministry of National Development’s slate of private residential, commercial and hotel sites have been triggered for launch.

Separately, URA yesterday awarded a residential site at Enggor Street behind Icon to Far East Organization unit Bishan Properties.

The company was the higher of two bidders the 99-year leasehold plot attracted at a tender that closed on Nov 1.

Its bid of $233.8 million or $851.66 psf ppr was 55 per cent higher than the only other offer of $150.98 million or about $550 psf per plot ratio by Guoco-Land.

A tender for the residential site next door closes on Nov 15.
Source : Business Times - 10 Nov 2007

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Gardens to do a Garden City proud in Singapore

Gardens to do a Garden City proud in Singapore

Marina South phase to cost $900m, entire project could draw 2.7m visitors a year
By NISHA RAMCHANDANI
(SINGAPORE) The Gardens by the Bay project - comprising three themed gardens at Marina South, Marina East and Marina Centre - is expected to draw 2.7 million visitors a year and contribute around $1 billion of tourism receipts over 10 years.
Gardens by the Bay will be a national garden set in the heart of Singapore on prime waterfront land. It will offer a compelling leisure experience for Singaporeans and visitors alike, and add value to the surrounding real estate.
But the 101 hectare project will not come cheap. The first phase - the 54-ha Gardens at Marina South, slated for completion by end-2010 - will cost $900 million. Development of the 32-ha Marina East and 15-ha Marina Centre gardens will take place later.

Highlighting the intangible value of the gardens, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that their worth cannot be measured in dollars and cents alone.

‘Gardens by the Bay will be a national garden set in the heart of Singapore on prime waterfront land,’ he said in his speech at the ground-breaking ceremony yesterday morning. ‘Gardens by the Bay will offer a compelling leisure experience for Singaporeans and visitors alike. It will add value to the surrounding real estate.’

According to Mr Mah, the Gardens will boost Singapore’s international standing and differentiate it from other emerging cities.

Gardens at Marina South will boast two cool conservatories - a 1.4 ha ‘cool dry’ conservatory and a 0.9 ha ‘cool moist’ one - that will exhibit flowers and plants from the Tropical Montane and Mediterranean environments.

The National Parks Board (NParks) is looking into sustainable energy and water technology for the gardens. A commissioned study showed that cooling technology can cut energy consumption for each conservatory to less than that of a comparable commercial building in Singapore of similar size.

NParks adviser and project director for Gardens by the Bay, Tan Wee Kiat, said: ‘Singapore is a garden city of perpetual summer. We are bringing spring into the picture. On top of that, the challenge to our staff is to use as many species of plants that are seldom seen in our other parks. Not only that, we want to use them in very creative ways.’

Visitors can also look forward to horticultural show gardens, ‘edu-tainment’ gardens, a flower market, a space for events and SuperTrees.

SuperTrees are steel structures 25 to 50 metres high that will act as vertical gardens. They will feature tropical flowering climbers, epiphytes and ferns, as well as a canopy to provide shade. At night, the canopies will feature lighting and projected media.

‘The most exciting part is this is the most precious part of modern Singapore,’ said Dr Tan. ‘If you’re very pragmatic, that is sold to the highest bidder. Yet this piece of territory belongs to everybody in Singapore.’

Source : Business Times - 10 Nov 2007

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Singapore Suburban malls go for smarter look to seek fatter rents

Singapore Suburban malls go for smarter look to seek fatter rents

Renovation work at 14 malls to keep downtown threat at bay
By UMA SHANKARI

(SINGAPORE) Suburban malls across Singapore are getting multimillion-dollar facelifts in a bid to improve their bottom lines. They hope to attract more visitors in a competitive retail environment and collect higher rents from their tenants.

Data compiled by BT shows that at least 14 suburban malls have either undergone renovation and repositioning exercises over the past year, are doing so now or plan to do so in the future.

Work on these malls is estimated to cost their various owners close to $500 million in all.

Market watchers said that with Singapore’s main shopping belt Orchard Road all set to get three new malls in a few years’ time, suburban malls have to try to differentiate themselves and become attractive alternatives to heading into town.

Experts also said that upgrading works are necessary before increasing rents at these malls, as they are away from Singapore’s key shopping belts.
‘Suburban malls will continue to play a key role in the local retail scene as they will continue to remain distinct from the downtown malls in Orchard Road and Marina Bay.’

- Stephanie Ho,
assistant general manager of AsiaMalls Management, which manages five malls in Singapore

‘Suburban malls will continue to play a key role in the local retail scene as they will continue to remain distinct from the downtown malls in the Orchard Road and Marina Bay areas,’ said Stephanie Ho, assistant general manager of AsiaMalls Management, which manages five malls in Singapore.

For example, AsiaMalls’ Pasir Ris mall, White Sands shopping centre, recently underwent a $25 million rebranding and expansion exercise, and is now positioning itself as an ‘active lifestyle’ mall.

AsiaMalls hopes that White Sands will cater to holiday-makers staying at chalets and families frequenting entertainment attractions in Pasir Ris and the East Coast areas - in addition to Pasir Ris residents.

Elsewhere, AsiaMalls’ Hougang Mall is also now touted as ‘a mall for the whole family’ after a $13.5 million revamp.

The company is also in the process of improving Tiong Bahru Plaza and Century Square.

Other mall operators with suburban malls in their portfolio are going down the same route. Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) will reopen Anchorpoint as a ‘village mall’ once its $12 million repositioning exercise is completed by end-November.

‘It (Anchorpoint) was a little bit dated and its positioning was wrong,’ Christopher Tang, chief executive of FCT’s manager, said recently. ‘We decided to reposition it in May.’

In addition to enhanced food & beverage offerings, Anchorpoint will also offer factory outlets, he said.

Next up is Northpoint, which will undergo a $30 million asset enhancement exercise starting from the first quarter of 2008.

FCT also has similar plans for Causeway Point in Woodlands further down the road, said Mr Tang.

FCT’s parent company, Frasers Centrepoint, also hopes to start work on one of the malls in its portfolio - Valley Point - by the end of 2008. Rival trust CapitaMall Trust is not to be outdone; the trust will spend some $338 million in all for asset enhancement works at five of its malls - Lot 1 Shoppers’ Mall, IMM Building, Tampines Mall, Sembawang Shopping Centre and Jurong Entertainment Centre.

Elsewhere, Jurong Point is adding a new extension which will be ready in about a year’s time.

Managers of malls where revamp works have been completed report increased foot traffic and better rents.

At White Sands, average monthly footfall increased by 33 per cent post-revamp to 800,000, while at Hougang Mall, monthly shopper traffic has increased from an average of 870,000 in 2005 to 1.2 million in 2007, AsiaMalls.

And with Anchorpoint’s repositioning exercise, rental rates have gone up about 40 per cent, said FCT’s Mr Tang.

Source : Business Times - 10 Nov 2007

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Singapore Alexandra housing plot up for tender soon

Singapore Alexandra housing plot up for tender soon

By Tan Hui Yee, Housing Correspondent

A DEVELOPER has agreed to pay at least $220.7 million for a residential site on Alexandra Road, in what is seen by some observers as a bullish move in light of recent property market caution.
This has triggered a tender for the 0.86ha plot, on which 360 to 400 homes can be built. It is a short walk from Red-

hill MRT station and the upcoming Metropolitan condominium.

The 99-year leasehold site has a maximum gross floor area of 451,428 sq ft and can hold a condominium of up to about 40 storeys high.

Under the reserve list system, a plot is put up for tender by the Government when a developer commits to bidding an acceptable minimum price.

In this case, the minimum bid price works out to about $448 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), considered a bullish bid by some analysts in view of the caution among developers, after the Government scrapped the deferred payment scheme recently.

Knight Frank’s director of research and consultancy, Mr Nicholas Mak, said the trigger price was ‘quite aggressive’.

He estimated that the eventual winning bid for the plot would end up in the range of $500 to $600 psf ppr. This will push selling prices of condo units there to between $1,000 psf and $1,050 psf.

The regional director and head of investments at Jones Lang LaSalle, Mr Lui Seng Fatt, expects an even higher winning bid of $650 to $800 psf ppr, which will work out to between $300 million and $380 million.

Meanwhile, the Urban Redevelopment Authority has awarded a 0.3ha residential plot in Enggor Street to Far East Organization’s Bishan Properties at a price of $233.8 million, or $852 psf ppr.

The tender, which closed on Nov 1, attracted only two bids. Far East is reportedly expected to build about 200 apartments at the location.

Source : Straits Times - 10 Nov 2007

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Singapore Estate agents’ group objects to new regulatory scheme

Singapore Estate agents’ group objects to new regulatory scheme

CONSUMERS looking forward to greater regulation in the real estate industry might have to wait a bit longer, as the process has just hit a snag.
A group of property agencies is questioning a move by the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA) to launch a ‘practising certificate’ for its members, as there is already an accreditation scheme in place.

Launching the certificate back in September, IEA president Jeff Foo said it aimed to boost agents’ credibility and give homebuyers more confidence in their professionalism.

This was supported by the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case), which called for more regulation in an industry facing a rising number of complaints against agents amid the property boom.

IEA, representing about 1,000 agents, said its members were bound to adhere to the organisation’s strict guidelines and code of conduct.

But a separate group of agencies representing about 10,000 agents, including Knight Frank, HSR Group, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung and Global Real Estate, issued a statement yesterday that they were ‘most concerned about the state of affairs’ over the certificate. They have called a press conference today.

The Singapore Accredited Estate Agencies (SAEA) scheme, launched in November 2005 by IEA and the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers (SISV), seeks to raise the industry’s level of professionalism.

Agents have to pass a professional test and are held to a code of conduct. Agencies were meant to have all their agents accredited by next year.

When contacted, Dr Tan Tee Khoon, director of KF Property Network, Knight Frank’s agency division, told The Straits Times that IEA’s efforts were commendable, but questioned the certificate’s wording, which states that an agent is ‘hereby authorised to practise as a real estate agent in Singapore’.

‘This has a ring of legality to it, and will confuse the public. The industry should stand together and support one same scheme,’ he said.

The chairman of SAEA’s accreditation board, Dr Lim Lan Yuan, told The Straits Times that IEA’s latest move ran ‘counter’ to SAEA which IEA had co-launched.

It gives the wrong impression to the public that IEA is issuing licences, he said.

Dr Lim, who is also president of valuation and general practice at SISV, said more than 7,000 agents - out of an industry of about 30,000 - are now accredited under SAEA.

Mr Foo countered that IEA was moving towards self-regulation, and was entitled to issue certificates to its members, who would have to pass tests on property-related matters such as financing, law and codes of conduct.

PropNex chief Mohamad Ismail, who is IEA’s vice-president, added that no authority has made either test compulsory in order to practise.

‘We will be supportive of any licensing authority, or any scheme, that the Government mandates.’

Source : Straits Times - 10 Nov 2007

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