Singapore - Housing 01 (May 08 - Oct 08)

[-dol-]

Just TOL - Is the property market is such dire straits and the banks so desperate that they are coming out with such measures to boost consumption???

It would be interesting to see MAS' & the govt's take on this.

The banks & property developers just want to meet their revenue & profit targets. As long as consumers are able to service the loan, banks are always willing to lend. Residential property loans are one of the safest loans made by the banks in Singapore & HK. Even during the lean years of the Asian crisis & dotcom bust, most borrowers grit their teeth and faithfully paid their loans while staring at capital losses or even negative equity. It's going be the same this time (as many are hoping and believing - Asia is on a long-term growth track...Singapore remaking story... blah... blah...), unless this global unwinding of 25 years of credit expansion turn out worst than the market has thus far envision.

[ishak]

Property buyers defy Hungry Ghost taboo at auction market
August sales of $22.75m beat June's $11.35m, the next highest this year
BT, 03 Sep 2008

TYPICALLY a taboo time for property purchases, this year's Hungry Ghost Festival bucked the trend and worked up an appetite among buyers in the auction market.

The festival fell in August, which registered the highest sale value for auctions so far this year. According to Colliers International, 12 properties and sites out of 66 put up for auction were sold, fetching $22.75 million.

This surpassed the next-highest auction sale value of $11.35 million in June this year and the $9.56 million recorded during the Hungry Ghost Festival last year.

It 'confirms that buyers will defy traditional taboos and will commit to a purchase so long as the price and location - among other factors - are right,' said Colliers deputy managing director (agency and business services) and auctioneer Grace Ng.

Of the auction sale value of $22.75 million in August, 61 per cent or $13.81 million came from the sale of four residential in-fill sites at a Singapore Land Authority (SLA) auction.

If the subdued mood at the SLA auction was anything to go by however, the market has quietened from a year ago and figures indicate the same.

From January to August this year, properties sold at auctions totalled $70.79 million. Amid buoyant sentiment in the same period last year, total sale value was more than four times higher at $329.18 million.

The sluggish stock market, negative reports from the US and more conservative bank lending dragged property market activity down in the earlier part of the year, said Knight Frank executive director (auctions) Mary Sai.

Sales are taking longer to materialise in the auction market. 'We have more willing sellers with realistic pricing, but buyers are bottom-fishing,' Ms Sai said. In particular, residential property sales in the auction market have been slow, said DTZ senior director Shaun Poh.

'Some potential buyers may be waiting for more re-possessed property to come along,' he said. 'This may happen beginning next year as new developments receive their Temporary Occupation Permits and speculators from the earlier market boom lose their ability to pay the bulk of the purchase price.'

According to Colliers, commercial and industrial properties sold at auctions during the Hungry Ghost Festival this year fetched $5.42 million, exceeding the $3.52 million from residential properties.

'During market downturns, investors tend to shift their focus to non-residential properties,' said Colliers's Ms Ng. 'Commercial and industrial properties generally offer better yields than residential properties, and the limited supply has made this asset class more resilient to unattractive market conditions.'

[ishak]

Singapore property sector
CIMB, Sept 1 2008

SHARE prices of Singapore developers have fallen 33 per cent YTD versus a 22 per cent fall in the FTSE STI in the same period. As investors continue to search for the bottom amid increasingly bearish outlook in the property sector, we turn to history as guidance on current valuations. While RNAV discounts and P/B ratios of some of the small-mid cap developers are starting to enter territories unseen in the last decade, we estimate, big cap property stocks are now trading at 30-40 per cent discounts to their RNAVs, still far off from the 55-80 per cent discounts to RNAVs in 1997-98 and 45-55 per cent discounts to RNAVs in 2003.

Based on historical trough levels, we think valuations in the sector may not have bottomed out yet.

• Share prices imply hefty declines in physical prices. Assuming that: 1) commercial property values fall by 30-40 per cent to levels witnessed during 2003's Sars outbreak, and 2) physical prices in other regional markets such as China and Vietnam de-rate by another 30 per cent from current levels, we estimate that current valuations are implying a 25-60 per cent fall in Average Selling Prices.

• However, share prices may not reflect all of the bad news yet. While stock valuations have taken a beating, physical prices have remained somewhat resilient amid very thin transaction volumes.

We continue to maintain our 'neutral' stance on the sector.
NEUTRAL

[LenaHuat]

Has any1 noted unusual transactions at The Sail@Marina Bay Prices are some half of earlier units Maybe bad facing

[millionairemind]

Bad FengShui???

[HengHeng]

no but . buyers having bargaining powers . Now must wait for condos developers to come out with lelong fire sales..

and if i'm not wrong also because of the bad direction.

[LenaHuat]

For those interested in local properties, pl check the website "Nation Property" rather than the URA site. NP is based on SLA-SISV data and so has the latest data compared to the URA's. I post this note cuz so many forumers seem to rely on URA's.

Back to The Sail@Marina Bay, I think it's oredi lelong sale.

[ishak]

MNCs snap up prime office space
TodayOnline, September 5, 2008

DESPITE the sluggish economy, downtown office rentals show no sign of budging from high, with multi-nationals seemingly largely unfazed by top dollar demands for prime space.

Yesterday, office landlord CapitaCommercial Trust (CCT) announced that mining giant BHP Billiton had renewed its lease at Capital Towers, while JPMorgan Chase expanded its premises by one-and-a-half floors in the same building.

Also, Korea’s Shinhan Bank has taken up new space at One George Street, which comes under CCT’s portfolio as well. That’s a total of 77,900 sq ft. These leases will run between two to three years.

The newly-committed, “higher end” rentals are between $16 and $20 psf per month, a CCT spokesperson said. Still, they “are in line with the rental rates achieved at comparable Grade A office buildings in the respective micro-markets”.

CB Richard Ellis reported that the average Grade A office rental stood at $18.80 psf per month in the second quarter of this year, up 15 cents from the preceding quarter.

Although it has not been unusual for office rents to hit $20 psf per month at the peak of the property bull run, “nowadays, it’s less common”, said Knight Frank research director Nicholas Mak. “You also have to look at the age and the quality of the building. Capital Tower is the newest building in that part of Robinson Road.”

Ms Lynette Leong, chief executive of CapitaCommercial Trust Management, described the latest transactions as “a vote of confidence”.

Looking ahead, analysts expect central business district space constraints to ease as more firms and Government agencies move out to cheaper decentralised areas and new supply comes on stream.

Still, Cushman & Wakefield managing director Donald Han expects rents to stay firm for the next 12 to 24 months as the market remains “fairly tight”.

[ishak]

Developers starting to preview projects
With Hungry Ghost month over, condo projects being launched to test market.
Thu, Sep 04, 2008, The Straits Times

NOW that Hungry Ghost month is over, property developers are starting to line up project previews and launches to test the market.

Keppel Land released a new high-rise tower block at its Reflections at Keppel Bay on the weekend, putting up a third of the block's 83 units for sale in Singapore and Hong Kong.

About 10 apartments have been sold since Saturday, at an average of just over $2,000 per sq ft (psf). Prices range from $1,500 to $2,300 psf, depending on the floor and the view.

A two-bedroom apartment on a low floor would cost about $1.5 million, according to property agents. Reflections has a total of 1,129 units in six high-rise tower blocks and 11 low-rise villa blocks.

Also on the weekend, Far East Organization invited interested buyers to its showflat for Miro in Lincoln Road, which sources say will be launched in about two weeks.

The freehold 85-unit development is priced at around $1,700 per sq ft (psf) on average, they said. Prices start at about $1.6 million for a one-bedroom studio loft of 990 sq ft.

Also available in the 32-storey tower are two-bedroom units of 1,302 sq ft and three-bedroom lofts at more than 1,600 sq ft.

A boutique project at nearby Moulmein Road starts previews this weekend with plans for a launch next Monday.

Mulberry Tree has 32 freehold units and a 'retro-style' facade, said an agent marketing the development. Indicative prices have been set at $1,300 to $1,500 psf. They start at less than $700,000 for the smallest apartment.

Agents said the two-bedroom flats, of about 710 sq ft each, would cost around $900,000. The project is forecast to be completed at the end of 2011.

Developer Hong Fok is expected to preview its Concourse Skyline in Beach Road later this month. Prices are likely to range from $1,600 to $2,000 psf, with two-bedroom units priced upwards of $1.8 million, The Straits Times understands.

The 360-unit development is slated to be completed in 2013.

Tat Aik Group has also started to preview its Nathan Residences, which will be developed on the former Nathan Court in Nathan Road.

Sales are expected to start this week, with prices in the region of $2,000 psf, said marketing agents. One-bedroom units will start at $1.2 million and two-bedroom apartments are likely to go for $1.6 million.

[HengHeng]

wait a little longer then can buy liaoz. . lol .. must wait until developers throw towel then a few developer bankrupt then buy