Leasehold Tampines site for tender

Leasehold Tampines site for tender

By Joyce Teo

A NEW condominium with about 600 units could be built on a 3.2-ha site facing Bedok Reservoir that was put up for tender to developers yesterday.

CBRE Research executive director Li Hiaw Ho said upgraders from HDB estates in Bedok and Tampines are likely to take a keen interest in any project that is eventually built on the site.

The 99-year leasehold plot at the junction of Tampines 1 and 10 may have a maximum gross floor area of 66,655 sq m, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

It is the fourth residential site launched for sale on the confirmed list so far this year. Confirmed list sites are tendered out on scheduled dates, without the need for developers to indicate their interest.

These sites were brought back recently after a suspension to allay fears of a shortage of homes. The 10,550 units to be made available for sale in the first half of this year will be the highest number in the history of the government land sales programme.

The Tampines site is next to The Tropica condo and about five to 10 minutes’ drive from Tampines Central and Tampines MRT station. It was first tendered out in 2008, when the market was slowing. It attracted just one bid - a lower-than-expected offer of about $118 per sq ft per plot ratio, which was rejected. At the time, property consultants had tipped bids of $200 to $300 psf ppr.

This time, consultants are more optimistic, given the improved market.

DTZ expects to see bids of $350 to $400 psf for the land, with the eventual selling price of around $750 to $800 psf on average.

‘Assuming the developer launches the new condo on this site in a buoyant market in 2011, a reasonable land price could range from $410 to $470 psf ppr ($294 million to $337 million),’ said Ngee Ann Polytechnic lecturer Nicholas Mak.

Mr Li said a project on the Tampines site may fetch about $720 to $730 psf, translating to a land price of $215 million to $237 million, or $300 to $330 psf ppr.

This is based on nearby comparable projects. The tender closes on March 16.

Source : Straits Times - 03 February 2010

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The king of Orchard Road

The king of Orchard Road

Legendary property tycoon was Singapore’s richest man

By Wong Kim Hoh, Senior Writer

How to pick a winner

‘You open the map. If you can’t see the place (because it is so small) but only the name, that’s the place to invest.’

Mr Ng, on the secret to his success in property, in a 1996 interview.

MR SIMON Cheong remembers the day he was discussing the vagaries of the property market with real estate tycoon Ng Teng Fong a couple of decades ago.

‘I was a young banker then, and we were sitting in his office debating supply and demand. Mr Ng then said to me, ‘You sit there arguing with me but just look at my showroom. It is packed,” recalled the chief executive of property developer SC Global.

‘As a young banker, I was analysing things to death but he cut out all the jargon. He could see through noise and spot trends, true hallmarks of a real entrepreneur.’

Mr Cheong, 51, who is president of the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (Redas), added: ‘In land tender, he was a world leader. As a property player, he was world class. By any standard, he was clearly an icon.’

Indeed, Mr Ng - who died yesterday aged 82 after suffering a brain haemorrhage late last month - was one of the most astute property men Singapore has seen.

Ranked by Forbes for the last three years as the country’s richest man, with an estimated fortune of US$8 billion (S$11.3 billion), he founded Far East Organization, Singapore’s largest private property developer.

Survived by his wife, two sons and six daughters, Mr Ng did not have much formal education, and was comfortable speaking mainly Hokkien and Mandarin.

That did not stop him from being nicknamed the King of Orchard Road, for his properties that sprouted one after the other in the shopping strip from the 1970s.

The oldest, Far East Shopping Centre, was followed by Lucky Plaza, Far East Plaza, Pacific Plaza. The newest, Orchard Central, opened just last year.

His hotels included the Orchard Parade Hotel as well as the Fullerton Hotel, which turned the old General Post Office into a grand new landmark on the Singapore River.

With subsidiary Sino Group, Mr Ng also became the largest overseas Chinese investor in the Hong Kong property market.

In all, his property empire spanned more than 1,000 hotels, malls and condominiums here and in Hong Kong.

Elder son Robert is in charge of his Hong Kong operations, while younger son Philip oversees Singapore.

In the mid 1990s, the late tycoon moved in to buy Yeo Hiap Seng, a household name for soft drinks and canned food, when the founding Yeo family became mired in factional squabbles.

Yeo Hiap Seng deputy chairman S. Chandra Das said Mr Ng belonged ‘to the pioneer group of Singapore businessmen who didn’t become rich overnight’.

‘He became a tycoon because of his foresight and vision,’ he said.

Mr Ng was born in a small village in Putian, in China’s Fujian province. The eldest of 11 children, he came to Singapore with his family when he was six. He had little formal education, and at an early age was helping at his father’s soya sauce factory and even worked as a bicycle repairman for a while.

Although the family hoped that he would take over the business, the young Ng dreamt of building and selling houses.

By 1962, he had saved enough money to develop a small housing estate behind Serangoon Gardens - 72 single-storey terrace houses which he sold at $20,000 apiece.

He never looked back.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has held him up as a role model for entrepreneurs.

‘Ng Teng Fong never went to university (but) I think he has a pretty powerful computer up there when figures are concerned,’ said Mr Lee in 1996.

GK Goh Holdings chairman Goh Geok Khim remembers Mr Ng as someone ‘who spent a lot of time just looking at properties in Singapore’.

‘He lived, breathed and dreamt property. Architects who expected to go for dinner after showing him plans…ha ha…no such thing. He would go over everything with them with a fine tooth comb,’ he said.

Tycoon Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of the Hong Leong Group, said he used to be active with Mr Ng in Redas in the 1980s.

‘He was a man who worked extremely hard, day and night,’ he said in a statement. ‘We used to study the property market together at his office while we were dealing with property matters.

‘More often than not, we would find that we were still deep in discussion long after the official Redas meetings were over and everyone else had left.’

In fact, Mr Ng was so passionate about his business that he not only worked 18 hours a day, but also reportedly would take a penlight along when he went to the occasional movie with his wife so that he could do his planning and calculations in the dark.

Fellow hotel and property developer Ong Beng Seng said that although Mr Ng lacked formal education, he made up for it with business acumen and gut feel.

‘He was a legend in property and real estate development and left behind a great legacy.’

Mr Cheong agreed. ‘He went into the Hong Kong property market in a big way in the 1970s when even Hong Kong players dared not.

‘They thought he was crazy. Today, just look at what he owns in Tsim Sha Tsui,’ he said referring to Sino Group’s string of properties in one of Hong Kong’s busiest tourist belts.

Mr Ng was a tycoon who guarded his privacy jealously, and never liked to have his picture taken. As he told The Straits Times in 1981: ‘I’m an ordinary working man. And I often take my $2 mee from the Newton hawker centre after work.

‘If my picture appears in the papers, people will know who I am. I am rich and someone may kidnap me.

‘If someone kidnaps me and I’m killed, all my companies will collapse. And what will happen to my family? I have my worries.’

He had a penchant for racehorses and Rolls-Royces, but he rarely granted interviews. When he did speak to reporters, he delivered piquant quotes.

In a 1996 interview with Apple Daily, the Hong Kong Chinese-language newspaper, he was asked to explain his unerring property picks.

His response: ‘If you want to be in the property business, it is not possible to invest in every region.

‘You open the map. If you can’t see the place (because it’s too small) but only the name, that’s the place to invest in…Singapore and Hong Kong are the best examples.’

On an earlier occasion, in 1984, he said he was not a risk-taker, but ‘a long-term entrepreneur’.

He said he did not believe in developing projects only when the property market was buoyant and laying off people when it was down.

‘It is like saying Singapore Airlines will fly to Hong Kong only when the weather is good, and won’t fly when the weather is bad,’ he said.

His son Philip gave an insight into his father in a speech at the Global Leadership Congress two years ago.

‘My father is a mentor, but a tough one. As you know the term, tough love,’ he said.

‘When I was younger, he’d always tell me, ‘I have to tell you, even if it hurts because only I can tell you. When you’re at the position you’re in, everybody’s going to say nice things to you.”

Source : Straits Times - 03 February 2010

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Residential plot at Tampines put up for sale

Residential plot at Tampines put up for sale
Fourth such site this year seen fetching between $300 and $460 psf ppr

By UMA SHANKARI

A RESIDENTIAL plot at Tampines was put up for sale by the government yesterday - the fourth so far this year.

In January, the government released three residential sites - including two for executive condominiums - for sale through its confirmed list.

Interest in the latest plot, at the junction of Tampines Avenue 1 and Avenue 10, is expected to be strong. Analysts say it could fetch anything between $300 and $460 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The site was first put up for tender in June 2008. But the government decided not to award it then because the sole bid of $118 psf ppr was deemed to be too low.

Bids will certainly be higher this time, analysts say. CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) reckons the site could fetch $300-330 psf ppr, while DTZ has a more positive estimate of $350-400 psf ppr. Others put the figure as high as $500 psf ppr.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak said: ‘Assuming the developer launches the new condo on this site in a buoyant market in 2011, a reasonable land price could range from $410-$460 psf ppr. But one or two very bullish bidders could bid as high as $500 psf ppr.’

The site area is about 3.2 ha and, with a maximum gross floor area of 717,500 sq ft, can yield about 600 housing units. It is the biggest of the eight residential sites up for sale in the first half of this year.

Two new projects at Bedok Reservoir Road - Waterfront Waves and Waterfront Key - are being marketed at $700 and $760 psf respectively, said Li Hiaw Ho, executive director OF CBRE Research.

And in the resale market, units in The Tropica, Aquarius By The Park and Baywater were sold at between $640 and $670 psf in the fourth quarter of 2009, he added.

‘Based on these comparables, we expect a new 99-year leasehold project in this location may fetch around $720-$730 psf,’ Mr Li said. ‘This will translate to a land price of $215-$237 million, or $300-$330 psf ppr, for the site.’

DTZ’s South-east Asia research head Chua Chor Hoon said that homes on the development could go for between $750 and $800 psf.

In a statement, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said that another four private residential sites will be released for sale via the confirmed list in March and April.

Together, these eight sites - including the newly launched parcel at Tampines - can yield about 2,925 residential units. This is close to the highest-ever potential supply of about 3,000 units - in the H2 2007 government land sales (GLS) programme - from the confirmed list since the reserve list/confirmed list system started in the second half of 2001.

In addition, there are another 18 residential sites on the reserve list - including three executive condominium plots and two mixed-use sites.

‘The total supply quantum of 10,550 units from the confirmed list and reserve list for the H1 2010 GLS programme is the highest in the history of the GLS programme,’ URA said.

It added: ‘The government will continue to monitor the property market closely. If necessary, more supply can be injected via the second half 2010 GLS programme to ensure property prices are in line with economic fundamentals.’

Source : Business Times - 03 February 2010

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Property was always on his mind

Property was always on his mind

Industry veterans recall his drive and industrious streak

(SINGAPORE) The late Ng Teng Fong, billed as Singapore’s richest man by Forbes Asia magazine last September, rose from humble beginnings.

In tribute: Wreaths at the late Mr Ng’s residence in Watten Estate yesterday. The tycoon rose from humble beginnings to build his Far East Organization into the biggest private property developer in Singapore today.
He was just six years old when his family migrated to Singapore from Putian, a village in China’s Fujian province. His father set up a soya sauce factory and had a grocery shop in the Jalan Besar area stocking dried goods, preserved and specialty foods from their village.

Mr Ng was inducted at a young age to help out in the family business and did not acquire much formal education in Singapore, according to a short biography of the property tycoon released yesterday by his Singapore-based Far East Organization.

As the eldest of 11 children in the family, expectations were high that Mr Ng should carry on the family business. But he disappointed his father when he decided to strike out on his own in the 1950s, when he was in his 20s.

Mr Ng’s first property project back in 1962 was a 72-unit terrace housing development at Jalan Pachelli in the Serangoon Gardens area. In 1969, he developed Watten Estate in the Bukit Timah area. In the 1970s, Mr Ng developed Far East Shopping Centre and Lucky Plaza along Orchard Road, followed by Far East Plaza on Scotts Road in the early 1980s. Since then, the group has developed Orchard Parksuites serviced residences and Orchard Central.

Mr Ng’s Far East Organization group is the biggest private property developer in Singapore today. It comprises over 180 private companies and two listed entities - Orchard Parade Holdings and Yeo Hiap Seng.

In the 1970s, Mr Ng entered the Hong Kong property market. Today, the business there is under the Sino Group, which includes public-listed Tsim Sha Tsui Properties, Sino Land and Sino Hotels. Mr Ng was the only Singaporean businessman invited to the historic signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration by Margaret Thatcher and Zhao Ziyang in December 1984.

Mr Ng’s property empire today comprises not only property trading (such as developing apartments for sale) but a sizeable property investment business (comprising completed properties held for recurring rental income).

For instance, Far East is the largest owner-operator of serviced residences and corporate housing in Singapore with 2,400 apartments in its inventory. Far East and Sino have a dozen hotels here and in Hong Kong with over 4,700 rooms. The flagship is The Fullerton Hotel Singapore.

Those who knew Mr Ng recall his industrious streak. ‘He was a man who worked extremely hard - day and night,’ says Hong Leong Group executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng.

Back in the 1980s when the two men were active in the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore (Redas), ‘we used to study the property market together at his office . . . more often than not, we would find that we were still deep in discussion long after the official Redas meetings were over and everyone else had left’, Mr Kwek said.

CB Richard Ellis chairman (Asia) Willy Shee said: ‘Mr Ng didn’t speak much English but was very sharp and his mind was on property all the time. Even at functions, he did not engage much in social talk but always wanted to know more about the property market and trends. There was never an idle moment for him.’

Another veteran property consultant, Knight Frank chairman Tan Tiong Cheng, reminisces about his first meeting with Mr Ng around 1981. ‘He was carrying a worn-out black book in which he was copying notes, doing his calculations,’ Mr Tan said.

‘He was always focused on property. Even when he bought into Yeo Hiap Seng, he had in mind the land bank it offered rather than just the food and beverage business,’ he added.

Source : Business Times - 03 February 2010

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Property industry loses towering figure

Property industry loses towering figure

Ng Teng Fong of Far East Organization group dies, aged 82

(SINGAPORE) Property tycoon Ng Teng Fong’s passing yesterday marks the end of an era of larger-than-life property titans.

Mr Ng: Forbes Asia ranked him in September last year as Singapore’s richest person, with a fortune said to be US$8 billion
He was one of the earliest to develop shopping centres on Orchard Road and until today, his Far East Organization group here is probably the largest property owner in the island’s prime shopping belt. In Hong Kong, he made inroads into one of the world’s most competitive property markets, battling local tycoons to establish his Sino Group as one of the biggest developers there.

Market players yesterday recalled the tenacity and resilience of a man who rose from humble beginnings to build a property empire over the past five decades, bouncing back from setbacks along the way, especially the mid-1980s property slump.

Today, Far East Organization and sister outfit Sino Group have a combined annual turnover of US$5.5 billion and total assets of over US$40 billion, according to information on Far East’s website. Last September, the Forbes Asia magazine ranked the late Mr Ng as Singapore’s richest person, with a fortune said to be US$8 billion (S$11.3 billion).

The 82-year-old suffered a brain haemorrhage on Jan 23 and underwent an operation before he died peacefully yesterday morning, a statement from Far East Organization said. He leaves behind his wife and eight children.

While Mr Ng still kept a keen interest in his business until recently - including determining prices of property launches and land bids - he had handed over the running of his business empire some time ago to his two sons. Elder son Robert is in charge of Sino Group in Hong Kong and younger son Philip oversees the Far East Organization group in Singapore.

Philip Ng, who holds degrees in civil and geotechnical engineering as well as city planning, has over the past decade or so spruced up the company in Singapore and hired many professionals. The group has developed many award-winning buildings.

Mr Ng’s wake is being held at Ng’s Mansion at 2 Watten Estate, with a nightly service at 8pm. The funeral will be on Saturday.

Many in property circles yesterday mourned the loss of Mr Ng, who they said, together with Kwek Hong Png, the late founder of the Hong Leong Group, was the pioneer of the private property market in Singapore. Mr Kwek died in 1994. His elder son Leng Beng yesterday said Mr Ng’s passing was ‘an immense loss for the industry and for Singapore’.

‘He was a doyen of the property sector. He was a proven authority with a deep understanding of real estate and an innate talent of looking at the property market in a different way.’

United Overseas Bank Group chairman Wee Cho Yaw described Mr Ng as ‘an old friend of more than 50 years’ who had ‘an intuitive flair for reading property cycles’.

CapitaLand Group president and CEO Liew Mun Leong highlighted Mr Ng’s successful entry into Hong Kong, ‘a very mature and competitive market, decades ahead of others in Singapore’.

‘Even the largest property companies in Hong Kong take their hats off to his company in Hong Kong, where it enjoys a high standing,’ Mr Liew added.

Redas president Simon Cheong said no other foreign player has entered the Hong Kong market like Mr Ng did. He said Mr Ng’s ‘master stroke’ in Tsim Sha Tsui a few decades ago, mopping up a whole stretch of properties in the district, ‘is still being talked about among market players today’.

Mr Ng entered the Hong Kong property market in the 1970s and continued to build his business there in the early 1980s when confidence in Hong Kong was shaken due to disputes on its future between the British government and China.

Admiring the late Mr Ng’s acumen, Redas CEO Steven Choo said: ‘He saw the enormous prospects for real estate in land-scarce prosperous cities like Singapore and Hong Kong. In Singapore, one of his most enduring legacies is that he laid down the foundation for Singapore’s modern shopping street - Orchard Road. We can see the Far East emblem everywhere in Orchard/Scotts roads. Some of his projects were visionary at the time.’

Dr Choo noted that ‘Far East has also helped establish condominium living in Singapore, through its continued participation in Government Land Sale tenders’.

Source : Business Times - 03 February 2010

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