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Archive for July 16th, 2008

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Hiap Hoe puts in top bid of S$73.3m for Balestier Road hotel site

Posted by luxuryasiahome on July 16, 2008

Property developer Hiap Hoe has put in the top bid of S$73.3 million for a hotel site at Balestier Road and Ah Hood Road.

The price works out to S$172 per square foot per plot ratio for the 99-year leasehold site.

Consultants CB Richard Ellis said the bid is relatively low compared to other hotel sites.

The site has a maximum gross floor area of 425,942 square feet, which can potentially yield some 675 hotel rooms.

A hotel built on the location can capitalise on the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall which is located nearby.

An upcoming Zhongshan Park, spanning 4.6 hectares, will be within the proposed development.

4,844 square feet of space in the public park can be used for outdoor refreshment areas and tea pavilions.

All in, there were three bids for the hotel site, with Garden City Hotel bidding S$53 million, while Park Plaza put in an offer of S$35 million.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority will announce the award of the tender later. – CNA/ms

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 16 Jul 2008

Posted in General, Land Sales | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

CapitaLand sets up US$1b fund to invest in China

Posted by luxuryasiahome on July 16, 2008

Southeast Asia’s biggest property developer, CapitaLand, has set up a US$1 billion private equity fund to invest in mixed-use commercial properties in China.

The size of the fund could be increased to US$1.3 billion by the end of this year.

The Raffles City China Fund is the first for CapitaLand in China and also the largest in value it has ever managed.

The fund will target prime mixed-use commercial properties in key gateway cities in China.

CapitaLand will own 50 per cent of the fund, while the rest will be held by institutional investors from Asia, Europe and North America.

It may reduce the stake to 45 per cent if there is strong investor demand.

The fund intends to acquire CapitaLand’s effective 55.9 per cent stake in the completed Raffles City Shanghai and 100 per cent of the other three Raffles City projects under development in Beijing, Chengdu and Hangzhou.

Currently, the assets are valued at about US$2 billion.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 16 Jul 2008

Posted in Developer News, General, Overseas Property | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

CapitaLand sets up US$1b China pte equity fund

Posted by luxuryasiahome on July 16, 2008

CapitaLand, Southeast Asia’s biggest property developer, said on Wednesday it had established a US$1 billion private equity fund in China to acquire property assets and to invest in new projects.

The fund has the option of a final closing by the end of December, which could boost its size to US$1.3 billion, it said in a statement.

CapitaLand, which would indirectly hold a 50 per cent stake in the fund, may reduce its stake to 45 per cent if there is strong investor demand, it said. — REUTERS

Source : Business Times – 16 Jul 2008

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CapitaLand sets up US$1b China pte equity fund

Posted by luxuryasiahome on July 16, 2008

CapitaLand, Southeast Asia’s biggest property developer, said on Wednesday it had established a US$1 billion private equity fund in China to acquire property assets and to invest in new projects.

The fund has the option of a final closing by the end of December, which could boost its size to US$1.3 billion, it said in a statement.

CapitaLand, which would indirectly hold a 50 per cent stake in the fund, may reduce its stake to 45 per cent if there is strong investor demand, it said. — REUTERS

Source : Business Times – 16 Jul 2008

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CapitaLand sets up US$1b China pte equity fund

Posted by luxuryasiahome on July 16, 2008

CapitaLand, Southeast Asia’s biggest property developer, said on Wednesday it had established a US$1 billion private equity fund in China to acquire property assets and to invest in new projects.

The fund has the option of a final closing by the end of December, which could boost its size to US$1.3 billion, it said in a statement.

CapitaLand, which would indirectly hold a 50 per cent stake in the fund, may reduce its stake to 45 per cent if there is strong investor demand, it said. — REUTERS

Source : Business Times – 16 Jul 2008

Posted in Developer News, General, Overseas Property | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

CapitaLand sets up US$1b China pte equity fund

Posted by luxuryasiahome on July 16, 2008

CapitaLand, Southeast Asia’s biggest property developer, said on Wednesday it had established a US$1 billion private equity fund in China to acquire property assets and to invest in new projects.

The fund has the option of a final closing by the end of December, which could boost its size to US$1.3 billion, it said in a statement.

CapitaLand, which would indirectly hold a 50 per cent stake in the fund, may reduce its stake to 45 per cent if there is strong investor demand, it said. — REUTERS

Source : Business Times – 16 Jul 2008

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Route, stations for Downtown Line 2 unveiled

Posted by luxuryasiahome on July 16, 2008

RESIDENTS in north-western Singapore now have an idea of how the Downtown Line 2 (DTL2) will run through their part of the island after its rail alignment and station locations were announced yesterday.

The 16.6km second stage of the Downtown Line will provide rail access to the Bukit Timah Corridor.

It comprises one depot and 12 stations, including three interchange stations at Little India, Newton and the Botanic Gardens linking to the North-east Line (NEL), North-south Line (NSL) and Circle Line (CCL) respectively.

The update on DTL2 was given by Minister of Transport Raymond Lim during a site visit to the Circle Line’s Esplanade Station yesterday.

According to the Land Transport Authority, DTL2 will offer many connectivity benefits when it is completed in 2015.

One of them is the significant time savings for commuters, said LTA chief executive Yam Ah Mee. ‘For example, the current one-hour journey from Bukit Panjang to the city centre will be reduced by a third to approximately 40 minutes,’ he said, adding that accessibility to other parts of Singapore will also be improved as commuters can transfer to other MRT lines at the three DTL2 interchange stations. In addition, DTL2 will link them directly to the commercial, residential and entertainment developments in the Marina Bay area.

‘DTL2 will support the growth of these new developments, and more importantly, make public transport a more viable commuting choice,’ said Mr Yam.

LTA said that land acquisitions for DTL2 will be minimal and limited to a two-storey building at Halifax Road and two strips of land at Upper Bukit Timah Road. The land to be acquired was gazetted yesterday by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

The government announced its decision to build the $12 billion DTL in three stages on April 27 last year. Since then, LTA has called the tender for the civil construction of DTL1.

Source : Business Times – 16 Jul 2008

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12 MRT stations for Bukit Timah by 2015

Posted by luxuryasiahome on July 16, 2008

180,000 rides expected on the underground line

A DOZEN new MRT stations will come up in the Bukit Timah area as part of Stage 2 of the Downtown Line.

They will serve several schools such as Singapore Chinese Girls’ School, National Junior College, Hwa Chong Institution, Nanyang Girls’ High, Raffles Girls’ Primary, and Assumption English School.

This phase, to be completed by 2015, will give Bukit Timah residents access to trains for the first time. They are now served only by buses.

The stations will also serve the Toh Yi and Bukit Panjang Housing Board estates, and take commuters to shopping malls such as Serene Centre, Beauty World and Ten Mile Junction.

The Downtown Line is being built in three stages and will have 40 stations, with trains running from the north-western and eastern areas of Singapore to the Central Business District and Marina Bay.

Stage 2 will intersect other MRT lines at Little India, Newton and the Botanic Gardens.

Details of this phase were announced yesterday. This section spans 16.6km, from Rochor in the south to Bukit Panjang in the north.

Taking the train is expected to shave travelling time from Bukit Panjang to Marina Bay by almost half an hour.

Major construction on the line is expected to start in the middle of next year, and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said very little land acquisition will be needed.

LTA deputy chief executive Lim Bok Ngam said builders will face new challenges.

For one thing, the area’s rocky soil, unlike the marine clay encountered in most previous lines, is hard, so tunnel boring will be slower.

The all-underground line will also go under the Rochor Canal, which will have to be diverted during construction.

The line is expected to be well used, said LTA chief executive Yam Ah Mee. He expects it to account for 180,000 rides a day – more than a third of the $12billion Downtown Line’s anticipated total ridership of 500,000.

Besides giving Bukit Timah residents quicker access to the city, the line will bring another benefit: The values of their properties are expected to rise.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s head of research (South-east Asia) Chua Yang Liang said: ‘Typically, properties within walking distance of MRT stations would see an enhancement in value.’

But Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank, said the completion date is a long way off. In that time, ‘the economy and financial market will have a stronger effect on property prices’.

Stage 1 of the Downtown Line is a 4.3km stretch with six stations. It will be completed in 2013. Stage 3, spanning 19.1km with 15 stops, will be ready by 2016.

When the line is completed, a commuter can travel from Bukit Panjang to Tampines in 65 minutes.

Source : Straits Times – 16 Jul 2008

Posted in General | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

‘Realistic’ prices drive home sales

Posted by luxuryasiahome on July 16, 2008

FOR nine months over an unfolding global credit crunch, developers here held back from pushing out condominiums and houses into the market. Homebuyers found little variety in the showrooms.

But when the supply gate was unlatched in June, interest poured back in — especially into the mass-market segment — resulting in a bumper month for sales despite the recent stock market and economic gloom.

In June, 801 private residential units were sold out of 1,069 launched, according to monthly data released yesterday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

The two figures are the highest since August 2007. They also represent a surge from May, when only 476 units were launched and 453 sold.

“Developers are trying to launch their projects before the lunar seventh month. That is traditionally a very slow period for the whole market,” explained Colliers International’s research director Tay Huey Ying.

Superstitious buyers generally stay away during what is known as the Hungry Ghost Month, which starts on Aug 1.

Ms Tay said the dearth of launches before Jube had led to “pent-up demand”, which was boosted further by “realistic” prices. As the United States subprime mortgage woes weighed on buying sentiment, developers have had to ditch their “aggressive pricing strategy”, she said.

For instance, the recently-launched Dakota Residences along Geylang River reportedly drew an average price of $970 per square foot (psf), which is below the range of $1,000-$1,100 that co-developer Ho Bee Investment had expected mid-last year (2007).

Such suburban projects accounted for the bulk of launches in June. About 44 per cent of the new launches came from the Rest of Central Region, followed by 33 per cent in the Outside Central Region.

The luxury sector is seeing fewer launches, said Knight Frank’s consultancy and research director Nicholas Mak, because most of these high-end buyers are investors, not owner-occupiers. And investor sentiment is weak right now, he explained. In contrast, mass-market homebuyers are in the market for a live-in place.

June did not clock any transactions above $4,000 psf, the level generally viewed by analysts as indicative of exuberant demand. The highest price last month was $3,653 psf for a unit in Nassim Park Residences.

Asked if the fresh worries in the US financial industry would hurt property demand here in the weeks ahead, Mr Mak said July’s data should still be healthy.

August, however, may see sales volumes dip – if the worries persisted — followed by slight price contractions in the second half of the year.

“I think homebuyers will find economic problems scarier than the Ghost Month,” said Mr Mak.

Source : Today – 16 Jul 2008

Posted in General, Market Reports | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Property counters lose ground over rising costs, pricing power concerns

Posted by luxuryasiahome on July 16, 2008

CITY Developments Ltd fell the most in more than four months, leading declines by Singapore developers after Credit Suisse Group AG said that rising construction costs and an inability to raise prices will erode profits.

City Developments, Singapore’s second-largest developer, fell 58 cents, or 5.3 per cent, to $10.36 at the close of trade. CapitaLand Ltd, its closest domestic rival, dipped 21 cents, or 3.6 per cent, to $5.60, its biggest decline in three weeks, and Keppel Land Ltd, the third-largest real estate firm, lost 6 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $4.65, its weakest since Sept 13, 2006.

Singapore private home prices rose at the slowest pace in almost four years in the second quarter on concerns that the global credit squeeze will dampen economic growth. Prices of so-called mass market homes, defined as those that cost between $1,000 and $1,200 per square foot, may change ‘marginally’ this year, said CapitaLand chief executive officer Liew Mun Leong in an interview on July 10.

Developers’ profits may decline because of ‘the risk of increasing construction costs’, weaker confidence and lower ‘pricing power, even for mass-market projects’, Credit Suisse analyst Tricia Song wrote in a report yesterday.

Singapore’s private home sales rose 82 per cent as slowing price increases attracted buyers. A total of 801 residential units were sold last month, compared with 441 in May, and 284 in April, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said on its website yesterday.

Still, a higher proportion of new homes available for sale was not sold in the month, said Nicholas Mak, head of research and consultancy at Knight Frank in Singapore. ‘This would result in a gradual increase in the number of unsold properties in the developers’ inventory,’ he said.

Singapore’s biggest developers will start reporting second-quarter earnings at the end of this month. — Bloomberg

Source : Business Times – 16 Jul 2008

Posted in Developer News, General, Market Reports | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

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