RECALLING: July 23 2007

Tan Tong Meng Tower up for collective sale

Tan Tong Meng Tower, a condominium tower along Thomson Road distinctive for its red-and-white façade, has been put up for collective sale by expression of interest. The indicative price is $205 million, based on the most recent collective sale in the area, that of Lincoln Lodge on Khiang Guan Road, which went for $1,449 psf per plot ratio (ppr) last month. The 50,583 sq ft parcel is freehold and zoned residential with a plot ratio of 2.8 and height limit of 36 storeys. CB Richard Ellis is marketing the project. Expression of interest will close on Aug 10 at 3pm.

Strata-bungalow land parcel at Sentosa Cove

The gated residential resort of Sentosa Cove released the only strata-landed housing parcel for expression of interest last week. Developers will have the flexibility to design and develop either strata terraced, semidetached or detached houses with shared recreational facilities. Called “The Green Collection”, the 71,588 sq ft parcel overlooks the Sentosa Golf Club’s Tanjong Course. With a plot ratio of one, the site could accommodate 15 to 20 houses, with recreational facilities such as a swimming pool and a gym. Expression of interest closes on Aug 15.

Tulip Garden sold for $516 million

Located along Farrer Road, the 20-year-old, 164-unit Tulip Garden has been sold to Bravo Building Construction for $516 million, or $1,018 psf ppr. Savills Singapore brokered the sale. The breakeven cost is expected to be between $1,500 and $1,600 psf. To date, over 80% of the owners have agreed to the sale. With a plot ratio of 1.6, the 316,709 sq ft site can be redeveloped into a 253-unit, high-end residential building with units sized at 2,000 sq ft, or 316 units averaging 1,600 sq ft each.

Source: Savills

D’Oasia in Kembangan to launch end of month

D’Oasia, a boutique development along Melayu Road across from the Kembangan MRT station, will be launched for sale this weekend (July 28 and 29). Of the 32 apartments, more than half have already been sold through private previews. Prices range from $497,000 for a one-bedroom apartment to $781,000 for a two-bedroom and $957,000 for a three-bedroom. Expected completion date is Dec 30, 2010.

The marketing agent for the project is Savills Singapore while the developer is Montford Land, a company owned by Kai Lim, who has 40 years’ experience in the building industry. He also developed D’Gallery, a 21-unit project along Jalan Masjid that was completed last year and is sold out. Montford Land has also developed a 72-unit housing project in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. In the pipeline for launch is Manhattan City, a 300-unit residential project in ZhongShan, Guangzhou, China.

K-REIT Asia’s 1H2007 net profit up 55.8%

K-REIT Asia, the Singapore Exchange-listed office real estate investment trust (REIT) sponsored by Keppel Land Ltd, announced that it had achieved a distributable income of $9.5 million for the first half of the financial year 2007 ended June 30, surpassing 1H2006 by 36.8%. Meanwhile, net profit soared to $7.6 million for the same period, surpassing that of the previous corresponding period by 55.8%. Distributable income, or distribution per unit (DPU), therefore rose to 3.91 cents for 1H2007, which works out to an annualised DPU of 7.88 cents. To date, K-REIT’s portfolio remains unchanged with four office buildings: Prudential Tower (44% of the strata area), Keppel Towers, GE Tower and Bugis Junction Towers. But with 70% of the portfolio’s net lettable area due between now and 2010, K-REIT Asia can capitalise on the strong market upswing resulting from overwhelming demand and limited new supply. The group says it will continue to actively seek acquisitions of prime commercial properties in Singapore and other Asian cities.

Evergro’s 1H2007 revenue up 209%

SGX-listed Evergro Properties (the former Dragon Land and a subsidiary of Keppel Land) announced that, for 1H2007 ended June 30, group turnover was $10.8 million, a 209% jump over the $3.5 million recorded in the previous corresponding period. This is due to the $8.6 million revenue recognised from phase 1 of the residential development in Tianjin, China. Golf course operations contributed to $2.1 million.

Evergro operates mainly in the second-tier cities, where almost all its buyers are locals. It reported that the restriction on foreign buyers is not significant to the company. The group has 130 apartments in a residential project in Changzhou that was launched last month, and over 70% of the units have been sold. The design of the project in Jiangyin is pending approval by local authorities. Construction and pre-sales are expected to commence in 4Q2007 and early next year, respectively. As for the Tianjin project, the remaining 10 houses in Phase 1 will be launched in 3Q, while construction is scheduled for completion by year-end. Meanwhile, construction of Phase 2 is expected to start in 4Q. — Compiled by Cecilia Chow.

OFFSHORE

Ascott acquires first property in Edinburgh, Scotland

CapitaLand’s serviced apartment arm, The Ascott Group, signed a sale and purchase agreement with Gladedale Capital, a developer specialising in building quality commercial properties in the UK, for what will be its first serviced apartment project in Edinburgh, Scotland. Ascott will invest a total of £24.7 million ($76.6 million), including the purchase cost of £21.4 million, in the property.

Gladedale will construct the bare shell of a seven- storey building, after which Ascott will furnish the 107-unit serviced residence to be called Citadines Edinburgh Quartermile, located in the heart of Edinburgh’s city centre. Target date for opening is mid-2009. The project will be part of a major urban mixed-use development project called Quartermile that should be completed by 2012.

IHG’s first InterContinental in Queenstown

InterContinental Hotel Group signed an agreement with property developer, Melview Developments Ltd, to build the first InterContinental hotel in Queenstown, on New Zealand’s South Island. When completed in 2010, the 221- room hotel will overlook Lake Wakatipu. This is the second project between the two, the first being the Holiday Inn Wellington, which opened in March. Meanwhile, the Inter- Continental in Queenstown will be the second hotel managed by IHG in Queenstown, following the Crowne Plaza Queenstown.

Source: Intercon

Grand Hotel Group to sell three hotels in Australia

Australian-based Grand Hotel Group (GHG) is putting three freehold investment hotels on the market by sole marketing agent, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. The three hotels are The Marque Hotel Brisbane, The Marque Hotel Sydney and The Marque Hotel Canberra. They are under lease agreements to Rendezvous Hotels Group. GHG has assets worth $650 million, which includes four hotels under management agreements with Hyatt International. In March, Morgan Stanley Real Estate and SGX-listed Tuan Sing (GHG’s previous largest shareholder) successfully took GHG private.

Knight Frank bullish on Macau luxury residential market

Property consulting firm Knight Frank issued a release last week saying that it remains bullish on the outlook of Macau’s property market despite the recent uncertainties arising from the suspension of the investment immigration scheme and the tightening in approval of the Individual Travelling Scheme on the mainland. With 35 casinos opening by 2010, the number of hotel rooms will also triple to 40,000, and this means an influx of even more professional expatriates to meet demand for staff in the booming gaming and hotel industries. In terms of gaming revenue, Macau has already surpassed Las Vegas.

“The stock of Macau’s luxury residential properties is small,” says Xavier Wong, Knight Frank’s head of research in Hong Kong. “The existing residential units available on the market do not satisfy the accommodation requirements of expatriate professionals.” He estimates that between this year and 2009, 9,400 residential units will be completed. Of 10 projects totalling 65,000 units that have been launched, 89% were sold in the pre-sale stage, signalling strong demand. The luxury end of the market is expected to outperform the mass residential sector with luxuryend prices expected to rise 10% to 15% compared with the mass market’s estimated 5% to 8% increase in the next 12 months. The average price of new residential units is currently 30,000 patacas ($5,625) psm while new luxury properties fetch twice that at 60,000 patacas psm.

Global real estate investment hits US$382 billion in 1H2007

Jones Lang LaSalle reported last week that global direct real estate investment totalled a record US$382 billion ($577 billion) for the first six months of the year, a 16.6% increase over the previous corresponding period. Investment in Asia-Pacific rose 12% to US$55 billion, with a significant proportion representing cross-border investment. Japan, China and Singapore were the hottest real estate markets. Singapore became the hottest global market this year, with prime capital values increasing by 50% in 1H2007, fuelled by astounding rental growth and yield compression.

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