Posted by luxuryasiahome on August 28, 2008
The Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel in Singapore is being offered for sale by international tender.
The sale is managed by Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.
The 476-room hotel is located on the banks of the Singapore River and is within walking distance to the city’s business and financial districts.
Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels expects investor interest in the property to be strong from regions such as Europe and the Middle East, as well as from markets in Asia.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 28 Aug 2008
Posted in General, Hotel | Tagged: Clarke Quay, Hotel For Sale, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, Singapore Hotels, Singapore River, Swissotel Merchant Court | Leave a Comment »
Posted by luxuryasiahome on August 28, 2008
Swissotel Merchant Court in Singapore is being offered for sale by international tender through Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.
The 476-room hotel also has three food & beverage outlets, conference facilities and an Amrita Spa and fitness centre.
‘The incoming purchaser will also have the opportunity to further enhance the asset through the redevelopment of the prime riverfront space overlooking Clarke Quay,’ said Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels senior vice-president Tom Oakden.
‘The Hotel’s ground floor space offers the ideal location for a new state-of-the-art indoor/outdoor food & beverage facility, tying in well with plans to revitalise the riverfront precinct and new signature events such as The Singapore River Festival,’ he added.
Source : Business Times – 28 Aug 2008
Posted in General, Hotel | Tagged: Clarke Quay, Hotel For Sale, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, Singapore Hotels, Swissotel Merchant Court | Leave a Comment »
Posted by luxuryasiahome on August 28, 2008
Foreign equity investment (FEI) in Singapore reached $365.9 billion as at end 2006, 15.5 per cent higher than that recorded a year earlier, the Singapore Department of Statistics said on Thursday.
The latest survey was carried out in 2007/08 for reference year 2006.
The bulk (90.2 per cent or $330.2 billion) of total FEI was in the form of direct equity investment while the remaining 9.8 per cent (or $35.6 billion) were in the form of portfolio equity investment.
Both components of FEI (direct and portfolio equity investment) recorded positive growth in 2006. While portfolio investment grew significantly by 74.3 per cent in 2006, the expansion of direct equity investment was more moderate at 11.5 per cent.
Singapore’s stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) rose by 12.4 per cent to $363.9 billion as at end 2006.
Direct equity investment accounted for the bulk (90.7 per cent or $330.2 billion) of FDI while the remaining $33.7 billion was derived from net lending from foreign parent companies.
Both direct equity investment and net lending from foreign parent companies registered double-digit growths in 2006.
Foreign investors in Singapore were mainly attracted to financial services and manufacturing sectors.
Source : Business Times – 28 Aug 2008
Posted in All Singapore, General | Tagged: Foreign Direct Investment, Foreign Equity Investment, Foreign Investments, Foreign Investors, Singapore Foreign Direct Investment | Leave a Comment »
Posted by luxuryasiahome on August 28, 2008
Of all the Singaporean companies in Vietnam, few have more confidence in the long-term future of Indochina’s largest country than Keppel Land (KepLand), the property arm of one of the island’s largest conglomerates, Keppel Corporation.
It’s putting its money where its mouth is with its plans to invest $1 billion in Vietnam’s tallest building, an 88-storey complex of shops, offices and residences in the commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City.
It is, by far, the biggest Singapore-based landlord in Vietnam, with more than 25,000 homes in the pipeline in not only Ho Chi Minh, but also in Hanoi and elsewhere in the country of 86 million people.
“Vietnam is where China was 10, 15 years ago; a country with a rapidly growing middle class,” says Mr Linson Lim, KepLand’s chief representative in Vietnam.
Like many others, Mr Lim thinks the current slowdown of the Vietnamese economy is a temporary phenomenon and that the long-term picture is still bright.
“Much of the weak sentiment is due to the high inflation, but the government appears to have inflation under control now. In the last few weeks, the stock market has shot up quite a bit, with the VN Index rising from about 430 points to about 580 points now,” said Mr Lim.
The Vietnamese stock market was the world’s fourth-worst performer this year, with the VN Index falling from 900 points at the end of last year to just over 366 points on June 20 of this year.
Stock market guru Mark Mobius is also optimistic about the Vietnamese market and was reported to have said at the opening of his Templeton Asset Management’s office in Ho Chi Minh last week: “Vietnam’s stock market now is down, so there are more opportunities … The market will go up and will be much more valuable in about three years.”
This confidence is boosted by the continued flood of foreign direct investment promises, which totalled over US$40 billion ($56.6 billion) in the first seven months of the year.
Despite the weaker property market, Keppel is not delaying any of its projects in Vietnam.
The showflat for KepLand’s The Estella development, which is expected to yield up to 1,500 high-end apartments, was fairly teeming with young potential buyers during a visit to the site a fortnight ago. The company has sold more than half of the 500 units of its first phase it put up for sale a month ago at prices between US$2,000 and $2,300 per sq m.
Singapore developers like KepLand are known for putting up quality projects – KepLand’s sold-out gated waterfront project called Villa Riviera, which is in the choice District 2 sector and comprises 101 villas. Prices are now double what they were in 2007 when the project was completed.
With a presence in Vietnam since the early 1990s, KepLand has built up a vast landbank of choice projects, including a 64-hectare site in the heart of Ho Chi Minh called Saigon Sports City, which will be home to a fully integrated residential, commercial and sporting complex with about 3,000 high-rise apartments. One of the conditions imposed on the site was that KepLand use 14 hectares of the land for a public sports complex. “It’s also our way of thanking the Vietnamese people for their hospitality,” Mr Lim said.
“Leveraging KepLand’s first-mover advantage and established network, we have built up a sizeable portfolio of residential developments and townships for a strong pipeline of homes to meet genuine demand for quality housing in Vietnam. They are all on track and in various stages of development. In fact, we have obtained investment licences for our Dong Nai Township and residential developments in Districts 7 and 9, for which we hope to launch the first phases,” Mr Lim added.
In fast-growing Dong Nai Province, KepLand is developing a township on a vast 509-ha site. Leveraging on a 2km frontage along the Dong Nai River will be 14,000 homes with commercial and public amenities.
The current shortage of office space has spurred the company to embark on two huge multi-purpose towers, one 88-storeys high and the other 66-storeys high, adjoining its Saigon Centre in Ho Chi Minh’s central business district. “There’s a severe shortage of Grade-A office space in Saigon with rentals now at up to US$60 per sq m,” says CB Richard Ellis (Vietnam) managing director, Mr Marc Townsend.
In the southern city of Vung Tau, 130km from Ho Chi Minh, KepLand has built the 10-storey PetroVietnam Towers, which has attracted office tenants from the petrochemical, oil and gas and finance industries.
Apart from homes and offices, KepLand also operates its Sedona serviced apartments in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.
“Keppel Land is one of the few foreign developers with a proven and successful track record in Vietnam for a diverse portfolio of properties ranging from residential, serviced apartments to international standards office developments. This stands us in good stead to continue to be the developer of choice amongst home buyers, international tenants and customers,” Mr Lim noted.
Source : Today – 28 Aug 2008
Posted in Developer News, General, Overseas Property | Tagged: Developers, Kepland, Keppel Land, Vietnam Property | Leave a Comment »
Posted by luxuryasiahome on August 28, 2008
SINGAPORE is the best, based on how the Republic is perceived in leading international media.
This is according to a global survey of 200 countries conducted by Washington-based East West Communications, a company which helps countries improve the way they are viewed by the world.
All 192 members of the United Nations were included in the survey. The remaining eight were major non-members and territories, including Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Hong Kong and Malaysia were ranked second and third respectively.
The bottom three countries were Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
In its press announcement earlier this week, the company said it hopes that these results will encourage countries to strive for a better ranking in the future.
The current results are valid only for the second quarter of this year. The first full-year Global Index 200 will use the same methodology to cover this year, and the results will be published early next year.
‘Using our reports, governments can address their branding and messaging weaknesses, and build on their strengths,’ said Mr Thomas Cromwell, president of East West Communications.
The company analysed five million references to the 200 countries or regions in ‘38 leading publications and other news sources in the United States and worldwide’, from April 1 to June 30 this year, to compile the survey.
Based on the number of country references or mentions alone, Singapore was ranked 17th while the US came first.
However, the survey also used a text-analysis system developed by Ohio’s Perception Metrics – which comprises a dictionary of 16,000 words and phrases – to determine positive and negative messages in any given text.
From the analysis of these positive and negative messages, and the number of times a country is mentioned, a score was calculated for each country.
Branding expert and author of the book Corporate Image Management, Mr Steven Howard, attributes Singapore’s high ranking to the positive news the country generates.
Mr Howard, who has lived here for 28 years, said: ‘Singapore is strong in terms of business growth, manufacturing productivity and government initiatives.
‘It is well known globally as a leader in implementing innovative concepts, ranging from Singapore Airlines being the first to fly the Airbus 380, to being the host city for the world’s first night Formula One race.’
A country’s brand is much more difficult to manage, he added. ‘It is created by an amalgamation of everything that is linked to that country.’
The managing director of branding consultancy BrandStory Inc, Ms Reene Ho-Pang, said that people’s perception of a brand is what makes it successful.
‘A brand rests in the minds of the people. What people around the world say and share about Singapore is extremely important and reflected in the media,’ she said.
But Ms Ho-Pang hopes Singaporeans will not get complacent about managing the country’s brand image.
‘We must continue to do the right things for our brand, to evolve and make it relevant to the world.’
TOP TEN (East West branding survey, Q2 2008)
1. Singapore
2. Hong Kong
3. Malaysia
4. Taiwan
5. Australia
6. United Arab Emirates
7. Qatar
8. Monaco
9. Canada
10. United Kingdom
Source : My Paper – 28 Aug 2008
Posted in All Singapore, General | Tagged: Corporate Image Management, Country Branding, East West Communications, Global Index 200, Perception Metrics, Steven Howard, United Nations | Leave a Comment »
Posted by luxuryasiahome on August 28, 2008
Japan Land urged its shareholders to reject the takeover bid launched by tycoon Oei Hong Leong as advised by its independent financial advisor (IFA) DMG & Partners Securities.
Its IFA has advised Japan Land directors to reject the offer, saying ‘there are insufficient compelling reasons to accept the offers and the options proposal.’
‘Accordingly, our recommendation to the independent directors of the company in respect of the offers and the options proposal is that they should recommend the shareholders to reject the offers and/or the options proposal.’
Mr Oei, who currently owns a 4.01 per cent stake in Japan Land, launched a voluntary takeover bid earlier this month for the shares in Japan Land that it doesn’t already own at 60 cents a share. It also made an offer for all of Japan Land’s outstanding warrants at 0.1 cent in cash.
He also made an offer to Japan Land’s optionholders allowing them to either subject to the terms of Japan Land’s ESOS, exercise their options and accept the share offer in respect of the new shares to be issued following this exercise, or accept the terms of options offer.
Under the options offer, Mr Oei will pay to optionholders a cash amount for not exercising any of such options into new shares and not exercising any of their rights as optionholders.
Source : Business Times – 28 Aug 2008
Posted in General, Overseas Property | Tagged: DMG & Partners Securities, Japan Land, Oei Hong Leong | Leave a Comment »
Posted by luxuryasiahome on August 28, 2008
Developers not exposed to mortgage crisis in US but investors still wary
There is no link between the deepening mortgage crisis in the United States and Singapore property counters, but try telling that to investors.
Real estate counters have taken a beating recently despite enjoying one of the biggest run-ups in prices in both the office and residential sectors last year.
And prices in the local property market are generally not exposed to the kind of bust-ups seen in the US.
Look at the bigger picture and one can see that industry heavyweights like CapitaLand have little exposure to the American market, as their overseas operations are focused mainly on high-growth economies such as China and Australia.
Yet despite all that going for it, the FTSE ST Real Estate Index – which tracks 43 property counters – has plunged 30.4 per cent since January, although it was up 0.2 per cent yesterday. The Straits Times Index (STI) has fallen 22 per cent this year.
The market yesterday reflected the downbeat mood in property. CapitaLand ended flat at $4.40 after falling to a 30-month intra-day low of $4.23, while Keppel Land closed five cents down at $3.86 and SC Global lost one cent to 81 cents.
But City Developments (CDL) bucked the trend and rose 10 cents to $10.50, on four million shares traded.
The broad market, meanwhile, was in a slumber, with the benchmark STI closing just 2.1 points down at 2,705.09.
Overall market volume slipped back to early 2006 levels, with 759.8 million shares worth $905.79 million changing hands.
Property is becoming the compelling story, with about half of the FTSE ST Real Estate Index’s fall coming in the past five weeks.
Some will say that it is unusual for property counters to come under such heavy selling pressure, given that private home prices still managed to inch up 0.17 per cent in the second quarter.
But one trader said: ‘The bullish comments from property developers are not worth anything. Most property counters are down sharply from their peaks. This is a good indication of what investors really think of property prices.’
Even the research houses, which had cheered the property sector’s bull run last year, have turned dour on the sector recently.
UBS Investment Research predicted last Friday that office prices might fall by a cumulative 34 per cent over the next four years as demand for space weakens.
It noted that while real estate investment trusts (Reits) and developers have fallen by 32 per cent and 45 per cent respectively since the middle of last year, ‘direct real estate appears not to have priced in the pessimistic outlook for global gross domestic product growth’.
The research house also cut its ratings on Allgreen Properties and CapitaCommercial Trust from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral’ and Macquarie Prime Reit from ‘buy’ to ’sell’.
And Merrill Lynch noted on Tuesday that it is too early to buy niche developer SC Global, even though it is trading at a 7 per cent discount to its distressed valuation of 91 cents.
‘Until there is concrete evidence of a turnaround in the high-end residential segment, it may be too early to turn bullish on the stock,’ it added.
Merrill also cut its call on CDL from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral’, noting that while the stock ‘ranks highest on liquidity and financial stability, it is unlikely to be spared from the unfavourable sector dynamics’.
Source : Straits Times – 28 Aug 2008
Posted in Developer News, General, Market Reports | Tagged: Developers, FTSE ST Real Estate Index, Property Shares, Singapore Property | Leave a Comment »
Posted by luxuryasiahome on August 28, 2008
Like medical and legal services, we must engage trained and reliable property professionals
Many people praised the Competition Commission of Singapore’s recent decision to have the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA) remove its commission guidelines for property agents.
The common reason given was that many felt property agents played a minor role in their transaction and hence did not deserve what the customers felt was a hefty commission. Others still complained of the shoddy service they had received and felt that the removal of commission guidelines would only make property agents work harder for their commissions.
That is true to an extent, but unscrupulous agents will always find ways to use the non-existence of commission guidelines to their advantage. And that is why, like medical and legal services, it is necessary to engage professionals who are both trained and offer reliable services when dealing with a property transaction.
In truth, the real estate industry has long been an unregulated one. That’s because the IEA’s commission guidelines were just that: Guidelines. Property agents in general were still free to negotiate their own commissions with clients.
Recently, there has been a lot of negative press on property agents, revealing long-held public sentiments of the real estate industry. Following the removal of similar guidelines for the Singapore Medical Association and Singapore Law Society, it was only to be expected that the Competition Commission would do the same for the real estate sector. It was only a matter of when, not if.
It was also timely that we had, in recent months, changed our direction to reflect our new tagline: Service You Trust.
With this shift in focus on quality service rather than the quantity of agents, we had already put in place a number of initiatives to reflect our service reliability. The Competition Commission’s announcement merely complemented our measures, which had taken months of careful planning and development.
These measures are more than just a paradigm shift in our services; they are also timely solutions for the consumers. Because, while removing the commission guidelines is a step towards healthy competition, that same removal is also a further deregulatory leap in an already unregulated industry.
Thus, there was a need to improve the standards of the real estate industry and the public’s perception of the industry, starting with our own agents.
The first major step in our housekeeping was to amicably terminate 2,800 of our own inactive agents. It was only after retaining our active agents that we could more easily implement our service-enhancing initiatives.
These initiatives tackle the issue of customer care from various angles. At the end of the day, all our initiatives come back to our main aim: Adding value to our customers’ lives.
With regards to our own competency, we instituted our own set of commission guidelines, which we placed on our website so that the consumer and associate alike would have a benchmark to refer to.
We also implemented a PropNex Proficiency Certificate and a PropNex Professional Practitioner’s Certificate. The first requires all new and long-serving but inactive agents to answer correctly at least 75 per cent of a multiple-choice test, which covers topics on the private and public housing markets, as well as the code of conduct and ethics.
The second requires agents to get professional indemnity insurance coverage and show their commitment to continual professional development by attending career-enhancing programmes.
To take care of the customer, we set up a customer support centre to answer consumers’ concerns, carry out customer surveys after each transaction, and set up in-house mediation and disciplinary boards to settle client-associate issues.
In terms of self-regulation as an industry, associations need to implement mandatory certifications that ensure successful applicants have comprehensive working knowledge of the market.
Naturally, these qualifications need to be recognised by the governing authorities such as the Housing and Development Board and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. This would at least ensure that all property agents have an adequate working knowledge of the industry.
Disciplinary and enforcement measures also need to be established to penalise errant property agents. In this way, the consumers can be better safeguarded against rogue agents who may be seeking to exploit the lack of regulation. While these measures may not immediately eradicate unethical practices by agents, it would serve to discourage such behaviour.
If the industry remains unregulated, the long-term effects would inevitably lead to plummeting consumer confidence due to errant property agents rampantly practising their trade with lack of morals and integrity.
With a decreased vote of confidence from the consumers, we might see a decline in foreign investments, which would be a lose-lose situation for all concerned.
That is why it is imperative that the real estate industry acts now to enforce a higher standard of service for all consumers.
Mohd Ismail is chief executive of PropNex. The opinions expressed are his own.
Source : Today – 28 Aug 2008
Posted in Agents, General | Tagged: Competition Commission of Singapore, Institute of Estate Agents, Property Agents | Leave a Comment »
Posted by luxuryasiahome on August 28, 2008
SAIZEN Reit, which was listed on the Singapore Exchange in November last year, says it will hold out on new acquisitions for the present.
Arnold Ip, chairman of the Reit manager, Japan Residential Assets Manager Ltd (JRAM) said: ‘While there are attractive investment opportunities for Saizen Reit, the manager intends to adopt a cautious approach for the time being to conserve cash and financial flexibility, and do not envisage acquisitions in the short term.’
He added that priority will be given to financial management.
The announcement came yesterday when it also announced that distributable income for the financial year ended 30 June 2008 was $22.13 million. Distribution for the period is 4.67 cents per unit.
At the time of listing, Saizen Reit had an initial portfolio of 147 residential rental properties in regional cities in Japan. This has since increased to 166 properties in 13 Japanese cities.
As at June 30, the Reit’s portfolio was valued at $629.8 million.
Compared with FY’07, gross revenue in FY’08 increased by 87.2 per cent due to the increase in number of properties over these periods. There were 101 and 166 properties respectively at the start and end of FY 2008, while there were 62 and 101 properties respectively at the start and end of FY 2007.
Net property income increased from $18.37 million for FY’07 to $32.42 million in FY’08.
Saizen Reit did record a loss after income tax of $48.68 million in FY’08 compared with a profit of $26.86 million in FY’07. This was attributed to net depreciation in the value of investment properties of $59.8 million, one-off IPO expenses of about $10.5 million and exchange losses of around $4.2 million.
Based on the closing market price on August 26 of 50.5 cents per unit, the distribution yield was 9.2 per cent.
Raymond Wong, executive director of the Reit manager, noted that its share price had been beaten down recently – partly due to the downturn in the Japanese real estate market and news of the collapse of large Japanese developers like Urban Corporation.
But he pointed out the Reit had taken steps to strengthen its financial position to weather the next 12-months at least. ‘While also affected by the credit crunch, Saizen Reit has maintained adequate resources to repay loans falling due within the next 12 months while keeping net gearing ratio at about 36.5 per cent,’ he added.
To this end, Saizen Reit manager JRAM also announced yesterday an agreement with a European bank for a three-year term loan of $75.7 million collateralised by 38 existing properties.
Partial drawdown of the loan has taken place at a fixed interest rate of 2.67 per cent, representing a reduced rate compared with interest rate of the existing loan of 3.02 per cent.
At the operating level, occupancy rate stood at 91.4 per cent as at June 30 compared with 89.4 per cent as at December 31, 2007. Delinquency in rental collection is less than 0.03 per cent of revenue. Net property income yield is at approximately 6 per cent, providing Saizen Reit with an interest cover ratio of about 3.7 times based on its current level of borrowings.
Sean Pey Chang, CEO of the Reit manager, also said that it expects leasing activity and rental performance to be stable. Net property income in the quarter ended June 30 was $9.54 million, down marginally by 2.9 per cent from the previous quarter.
He also added that in the cities in which Saizen Reit is exposed, including Sapporo, Fukuoka and Kitakyushu, homeownership is only about 55 per cent.
Saizen Reit’s rental properties are targeted at the mass market and average rents are about US$1-US$1.50 psf.
At the end of trading yesterday, Saizen Reit’s unit price was 55 cents per unit, up 4.5 cents.
Source : Business Times – 28 Aug 2008
Posted in General, REITS | Tagged: Japan Residential Assets Manager Ltd, REITS, Saizen Reit, Singapore REITS | Leave a Comment »
