Singapore MM Lee receives successful treatment for abnormal heart rhythm at SGH

Singapore MM Lee receives successful treatment for abnormal heart rhythm at SGH

By Ca-Mie De Souza,

SINGAPORE: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was admitted to the Singapore General Hospital for atrial flutter on Saturday.

This is an abnormal heart rhythm which can occur in people of his age.

A statement from the Minister Mentor’s Office said he underwent successful treatment and is resting comfortably.

He is expected to resume his normal schedule within the next few days.

The Minister Mentor turns 85 on Tuesday.

- CNA/ir

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 14 Sept 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com ( email me )

Dr Doom says Singapore will ride out global turmoil

Dr Doom says Singapore will ride out global turmoil

By Ng Baoying,

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s economy will not boom over the next few years due to the global economic slowdown, but it will not go bust either, according to Swiss economist Marc Faber.

Faber, who is also known as Dr Doom after he accurately predicted earlier stock market crashes and other financial disasters, was speaking at OCBC’s Global Treasury Regional Economic and Business Forum on Friday.

Faber thinks that “among all the disasters in the world, Singapore is one of the smallest disasters”.

He believes the Singapore economy will survive the current economic turmoil, but is not ruling out turbulence ahead.

He said: “Singapore will just do fine, but it doesn’t mean that property prices can’t go down 20 per cent or more, or the share market goes down further.”

This is because the country’s open economy exposes it to fluctuations in the global market. But he is quick to add that keeping funds in Singapore is one of the better alternatives.

“I own some REITs in Singapore because they have a high yield, but I don’t think they’ll go up anytime soon. I think they’ll still go down, but at least I get dividend yield of at least five per cent, and the likelihood they will cut the yield is not very high,” he added.

For now, he is hesitant to invest directly in Singapore properties.

Faber also holds Singapore dollars and owns shares in counters like OCBC, UOB and Singapore Airlines. And while he does not expect the shares to go up, he feels Singapore stocks are unlikely to plunge very much further.

He also expects the STI to settle within the range of 2,000, to 2,500 points.

This year, Singapore’s economy is expected to grow at the lower end of the government’s four to five per cent range. That compares to a 7.7 per cent clip in 2007. - CNA/vm

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 13 Sept 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com ( email me )

Singapore Developers appeal to Govt over bay window ruling

Singapore Developers appeal to Govt over bay window ruling

By Jessica Cheam

THEY might look innocuous, but bay windows and planter boxes have become a hot topic of discussion between property developers and the Government.
The talks centre on a controversial decision by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to include the area of such design features in gross floor area (GFA) calculations.

Bay window and planter boxes, which often make up about 5 per cent of a condo’s saleable area, used to be exempt from GFA calculations. But buyers paid developers for this area as it was provided with the unit.

The URA caught the industry by surprise on July 7 when it stated that the revised guidelines would take effect from Oct 7. It was reported at the time that the move would close a ‘loophole’ that developers had been exploiting.

Planter boxes were originally introduced to provide greenery and visual relief to high-rise condos.

However, the URA said feedback and its own investigations found extensive unauthorised conversions of planter boxes into balcony space or extensions of the living room - which defeated the original purpose.

This also led to the buildings being less energy efficient, said the URA.

But developers said yesterday it was a ‘misconception’ that they were profiting from it.

UOL Group chief operating officer Liam Wee Sin told The Straits Times that contrary to general perception, developers did not ‘have it free’.

‘There’s a reason why it’s there in the first place,’ he said. ‘It costs money to construct these features, and it is not given to us free.’

It is part of the ‘residual land value’ and developers factor this when bidding for a site, he said.

A Lianhe Zaobao report quoted market sources who suggested the change might lead developers to pay less for land.

It cited the sale of a site next to Tanah Merah MRT station that was awarded recently at $282 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr). This was 11 per cent less than the $318.50 psf ppr attained by a neighbouring site before the GFA change was announced.

The president of the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas), Mr Simon Cheong, said he could not comment further because talks were ‘in process’.

Mr Cheong, who was speaking at Redas’ annual Mid-Autumn Festival celebration, said that developers were cautious in their short-term outlook due to high construction costs.

‘Hopefully in 12 months’ time, we’ll be in a better state than now,’ he said.

He cited Singapore’s low interest rates and upcoming events such as the Formula One race and Youth Olympics for his bullish outlook.

On the price of real estate, he said that ‘if it drops, it will not be much more’.

The replacement cost of apartments, including cost of construction, is very close to selling prices already, he added.

Mass market home prices are dependent on local demand and ‘this is subjective to how the economy is’.

Source : Straits Times - 13 Sept 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com ( email me )

Singapore slips in corporate governance ranking

Singapore slips in corporate governance ranking

HK leapfrogs Republic to take top spot in Asian study, which shows all countries except China and Taiwan scoring lower from 2005

By CHUANG PECK MING

‘THE more we look, the less we find,’ said Jaime Allen, secretary-general of the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA).

Which is one key reason why virtually all countries - including Singapore - scored lower last year on ACGA’s corporate governance rankings in Asia.

Singapore, which notched a score of 70 per cent in the previous rankings in 2005, not only saw its score fall to 65 per cent, but its position in the rankings also slipped from first to second.

Hong Kong, whose score declined just two percentage points, moved up one rung to the top of the 2007 rankings of 11 countries in the region. Except for China and Taiwan, all countries scored lower in corporate governance last year.

The lower scores were not necessarily indicative that corporate governance in Asia has declined, after making much progress in the past decade, said Mr Allen yesterday at a compensation forum hosted by Hewitt Associates, the US-based human resource consultancy firm.

A closer examination of the corporate governance practices in Asian countries uncovered many areas that were lacking, according to him. These were overlooked in previous rankings.

‘Accounting and auditing standards and practices lagged behind international norms more than expected in many of the Asian markets,’ he said.

He noted that Singapore, which has one of the best corporate governance in the region, set up the Audit Committee Guidance Committee only in January this year.

Investors are also clamouring for quick disclosure of stock-option grants, but Singapore only recently tightened its public listing rules. Hong Kong is just planning to do so.

Mr Allen said that the protection of Asian minority shareholders’ interests remains weak when it comes to privatisation and delisting.

Most stock exchanges in the region also lack the powers to enforce their own listing rules, and corporate governance codes were rarely enforced.

‘Exchanges could be more active in promoting them,’ he said. ‘Regulators could also be much more active in disclosing their enforcement actions and processes.’

Overall, there is still more room for improvement in financial reporting, shareholder rights, effective enforcement, board practices and focus on ESG (environment, social and government) matters.

Mr Allen noted that Asia has moved towards greater disclosure of the remuneration of senior executives and directors, but the privacy versus transparency issue is still contentious.

‘Rules and practices still vary considerably by country,’ he said. ACGA’s survey has found that while companies in Hong Kong and India make public the exact compensation of individual directors and senior executives by name, this was not the case in the other Asian countries.

The disclosure was ’somewhat’ made in China, Singapore and Thailand. It was ‘marginally’ made in Malaysia and not at all in Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan.

The bar was also raised in the 2007 rankings, which was another reason for the lower scores in Asia’s corporate governance. The methodology used was more rigorous than in past rankings.

Yet Mr Allen said that there were signs of complacency in some countries that led to a slip in the standards of corporate governance.

‘There were varying degrees of regulator, issuer and investor complacency in booming markets,’ he said. And this was reflected in the attitude that ‘the job is done, we now just need to refine the rules’.

Government paralysis in South Korea and political upheaval in Thailand also contributed to poorer corporate governance in these countries, he said.

Still, Mr Allen concluded that there has been considerable growth in rules and guidelines on corporate governance in the region since the 1997 Asian financial crisis - and all are converging towards global standards.

‘There is a growing focus on shareholder rights and stakeholder issues, with increased voting by institutional investors,’ he said.

Much greater disclosure of executive and director remuneration is required - and some controls have been put in place.

‘Yet disquiet remains about the stock-option policies of some issuers,’ Mr Allen said. ‘This could become a bigger issue in future.’

Source : Business Times - 13 Sept 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com ( email me )

Some developers want GFA incentives restored - Singapore

Some developers want GFA incentives restored - Singapore

By ARTHUR SIM

WITH profit margins already looking slimmer these days, some developers have decided to appeal to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to reinstate GFA (gross floor area) incentives for providing planter boxes and bay windows in condominiums.

‘URA checks on some completed developments had shown that on average, only about 10 per cent of the approved planter boxes within residential units were used for planting.’

Urban Redevelopment Authority

However, while sources say this is unlikely, an extension of the deadline for the approval of projects based on the old planning guidelines on planter boxes and bay windows may be given.

In July, the URA announced that from Oct 7, bay windows and planter boxes, which can contribute up to around 5 per cent of a condominium’s saleable area, will no longer be exempt from GFA calculations.

Until now, developers were nevertheless able to charge home buyers for this extra GFA. But most developers do not see the GFA exemption as an incentive. City Developments group general manager Chia Ngiang Hong explained that it is common practice for developers to price in the exemption of GFA for planter boxes and bay windows when calculating the residual land value, especially for public tenders of state land. ‘With the GFA exemption, most developers would have been able to allow for a wider margin,’ he added.

It is understood that developers were not consulted before the change in the planning guidelines on planter boxes and bay windows was revised, with many of them taken by surprise.

That developers who bid for and were awarded land parcels based on prices that took into account the GFA incentive should now feel they could have overpaid, is likely to be a sore point.

Still, design of future condominiums is also an issue.

The guidelines on bay windows and planter boxes were first introduced in 1989 and 1993 respectively, ostensibly to encourage interesting designs for condominiums.

United Overseas Land (UOL) has built award-winning developments, such as 1 Moulmein, that feature bay windows. And its Group COO, Liam Wee Sin, feels that the guidelines have had a positive impact on the ‘articulation of facades’.

One of the winning design features of 1 Moulmein - designed by WOHA Architects - is the introduction of a ‘monsoon window’ which operates on a horizontal plane to allow natural ventilation even during a storm.

‘We need to have some flexibility so that architects can experiment,’ said Mr Liam.

Mr Liam concedes that some developers may have exploited the GFA exemption by maximising planter boxes and bay windows without pure architectural intent, but added that this could be addressed in ways that did not sacrifice the incentive. ‘Such guidelines can determine a whole generation of architecture,’ he said.

On the rationale for the change in guidelines, URA said that its checks on some completed developments had shown that on average, only about 10 per cent of the approved planter boxes within residential units were used for planting.

It also said that many bay windows were now designed to be used no differently from the rest of the floor space of a residential unit and for all intent and purposes, were ‘part and parcel of room space’.

‘Over time, the bay window designs have become a predominant feature for majority of the newer residential developments,’ it added.

Singapore Institute of Architects president Tai Lee Siang says that it is still not clear how the change in guidelines will affect the design of condominiums but ’standardisation’ inevitably sets in after time.

Architecture, however, needs to be responsive, so Mr Tai believes that it may be useful to ‘re-visit’ the guidelines if these prove useful in addressing aspects of tropical architecture in the future.

Source : Business Times - 13 Sept 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com ( email me )

Singapore Home prices near replacement cost

Singapore Home prices near replacement cost

So they are unlikely to fall by much, argues Redas chief

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

REAL Estate Developers Association of Singapore (Redas) president Simon Cheong says private home prices are unlikely to drop much from current levels as selling prices are close to replacement costs, inclusive of construction costs.

FESTIVE CHEER
At the Redas Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration at Orchard Hotel are (from left) MND permanent secretary Tan Tee How, Redas president Simon Cheong; Law Minister K Shanmugam, former Redas president Kwee Liong Keng and Singapore Land Authority chairman Greg Seow
Also, developers had a good year last year and ‘a lot of buffer’, he added, suggesting that they will be under less pressure to lower prices to chalk up further sales. ‘So I don’t anticipate that the drop will be too severe if there is one,’ Mr Cheong told reporters on the sidelines of Redas’ Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration yesterday.

However, some market watchers point out that developers are not uniform in financial strength.

DTZ senior director (research) Chua Chor Hoon agreed that the established developers who have made supernormal profits in the last few years have more holding power. ‘However, some new players who bought sites at high prices last year may not have enjoyed big profits. And there are smaller developers who may need to roll projects one after another to generate cashflow,’ she said.

Analysts say weaker players may be more inclined to trim prices if necessary to dispose of their projects. Another factor affecting price levels is the secondary market, including subsale transactions.

The median subsale prices of Citylights and The Sail @ Marina Bay eased about 2 and 14 per cent respectively in the second quarter of 2008 from the preceding quarter, according to a recent caveats analysis by DTZ.

Mr Cheong also said that high-end home prices have peaked but will probably achieve a new high ‘eventually when the sentiment improves, the economy improves, come 2010 when the integrated resorts come into play and with Singapore being a successful wealth management centre’.

Mr Cheong also said he continued to be upbeat about the Singapore property market in the long term, citing the Republic’s political stability and strong fundamentals, as well as upcoming projects/events that will further position Singapore as a global city. ‘I think when the whole storm blows over, the market should be able to accept the situation better and hopefully by next year, say 12 months’ time, we will be in a better state than now,’ he said.

Despite the generally upbeat tone of Mr Cheong’s comments, there is no denying the uncertainty in the short term.

Frasers Centrepoint CEO Lim Ee Seng, when quizzed on where the property market is headed in the next six months, said: ‘I don’t know. I hope that the market will be better. It’s all sentiment-driven. But I believe if there is good news in the market, the good sentiment will come back very quickly.’

Gwee Lian Kheng, group chief executive of UOL Group, said that there may be a tendency for some developers to slow down on the construction of their projects given that holding cost (interest cost) is 3 to 5 per cent, much lower than the 30 per cent rise in construction costs in the past nine months. ‘So there’s an advantage by slowing down.’ On a more positive note, Mr Gwee noted that prices of some construction materials like steel have started to stabilise.

Others like City Developments can ride on the advantage of having a diverse residential landbank comprising low-, mid- and high-end sites, said the company’s group general manager Chia Ngiang Hong. ‘We can pull out projects for which there is demand in the market. For the time being, the low- and mid-ends are still quite resilient,’ he added.

Source : Business Times - 13 Sept 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com ( email me )

Singapore Bus train fares to rise from Oct 1

Singapore Bus train fares to rise from Oct 1

Net increase in annual fare revenue to come to $10.1m but operators to forgo $30m a year from rebate hike

By SAMUEL EE

BUS and train fares will rise 0.7 per cent - much less than the 3 per cent cap allowed under the fare adjustment formula for 2008, the Public Transport Council (PTC) said yesterday.

From Oct 1, there will be a flat increase of four cents per ride for adult ez-link fares on buses and trains. Adult cash fares will rise 10 cents across the board.

But for 92 per cent of bus and train journeys, the actual cost can range from a seven-cent reduction to a four-cent increase. The lower fares will result from a higher transfer rebate, which will be raised from the current 25 cents to 40 cents for adult ez-link fares. Of the 15-cent increase, the public transport operators will absorb 10 cents.

Commuters who transfer between buses, or between bus and MRT, get a transfer rebate on the fare paid when boarding the subsequent vehicle. This rebate is being increased so commuters only have to pay for the extra distance travelled, instead of being penalised for making a transfer journey that can be faster than a single direct trip. The aim of distance-based through-fares is to give patrons more route choices.

Based on the current pattern of journeys made using ez-link cards, the PTC said that 64 per cent of commuters will benefit directly from the transition to distance-based through-fares.

Two-thirds of this group will see no change or a reduction in their weekly public transport expenditure. The remainder will see an average increase of 18 cents a week, or about $10 a year. As a result of the overall net adjustment of 0.7 per cent, the public transport system’s total fare revenue will rise about $10.1 million.

But the public transport operators will give up more than $30 million on an annual recurrent basis to absorb 10 cents of the 15-cent increase in the transfer rebate.

The PTC said that it considered the economic outlook and the affordability of public transport when reaching its decision. It said that the economy was growing at a slower pace of 4-5 per cent.

It added that the public transport affordability indicator has been on a downtrend for five years, falling from 7 per cent in 2003 to 6.2 per cent in 2007. This indicates that fares have remained affordable for most commuters.

To ensure that commuters’ interests are safeguarded, the PTC looked at the public transport operators’ Rota or return on total assets. In 2007, SBS Transit’s Rota was 8.6 per cent, while SMRT’s was 11.1 per cent.

Source : Business Times - 13 Sept 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com ( email me )