Author: PropInvestSG

The second project to be launched after 5-Jul-18’s cooling measures, The Tre Ver, sold 140-150 units during its first weekend of launch, with average pricing of S$1,500-1,600 psf in line with our estimates and should yield a solid PBT margin of 17-22% for UOL. However, we are slightly disappointed at the take-up, given over 300 cheques collected beforehand and its competitive pricing vs. recently launched Park Colonial. We believe prospective buyers are maintaining their wait-and-see approach, with an eye on two upcoming nearby launches (Jadescape and Jui Residences) which have a lower land cost and imply an even lower...

Latest curbs could see developers lower prices up to 10% DEVELOPERS may trim prices of new launches by as much as 10 per cent from their earlier indications in response to the latest round of property cooling measures, with high-end homes likely to see bigger adjustments, analysts say. In downgrading their stock ratings across several developers, some have started pricing in a 5-10 per cent reduction in average selling prices (ASP) in their forecasts, though they note that it is too early for any developer to consider writedowns on their projects yet. Maybank Kim Eng property analyst Derrick Heng,...

MILLENNIUM & Copthorne (M&C) will continue its core strategy of owning hotels, says the company’s new group chief executive. Speaking to The Business Times days into her new role, Jennifer Fox said growth for the London-listed hotel chain will be powered by acquisitions, management contracts and improving hotel performance. M&C is also looking into acquiring hotels in what are yet untapped markets for the group, such as Australia and parts of the United Kingdom, as well as key American gateway markets such as Miami. THE timing of the additional cooling measures came as a surprise on Thursday, as developers...

The URA and HDB released flash estimates of property price changes for the second quarter 2018. URA reported that the private residential property price index rose to 149 from 144.1 in the previous quarter, or a 3.4% growth. The increase for non-landed private properties was highest compared to the previous quarter in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) at 5.7%, followed by the Outside Central Region (OCR) at 2.9% and 1.4% in the Core Central Region. Overall, non-landed prices rose 3.3% compared to the previous quarter. Compared to the same quarter last year, non-landed CCR prices rose 8.6%, RCR...

GLOBAL real estate giants JLL and Lendlease are partnering to launch an accelerator in Singapore to kickstart innovation in real estate, an industry said to have been slow to tech advancements. But unless both companies commit to a substantial investment and a long-term plan to “transform legacy businesses”, the accelerator will yield limited benefits, observers said. Propell Asia – described as the first Singapore-based regional property technology (proptech) accelerator – opens for applications on Monday. SOLAR panels are set to be installed in blocks of public flats managed by the West Coast and Choa Chu Kang town councils, in...

CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) announced this week their sale of Twenty Anson, at 20 Anson Road Singapore 079912, to an unrelated third party. At a price of S$516 million, the property is 19.2% above the property’s valuation of S$433 million. The sale price represents S$2,503 psf on the building’s net lettable area of approximately 206,000 sqft. This represents a sizable profit to CCT, considering the purchase of the property was less than 10 years ago, in 2012. On 22 Feb 2012, CCT announced the acquisition of Twenty Anson which was valued at S$431 million. Even though the absolute profit...

The en bloc market continues its run with a number of projects being marketed, latest of which is Dalvey Court which is up for S$160m. The reserve price of S$160m for the 32 unit apartment in District 10 represents a land rate of about S$2,009 per sqft per plot ratio. The project’s gross floor area of 7,401 sqm or 79,660 sqft can be redeveloped into an apartment with 93 units, each of which is assumed to have a unit size of 70 sqm. Located close to Botanic Gardens, Dalvey Court is near a stretch of high-profile schools such as...

ASCENDAS Hospitality Trust has on June 15 entered into an agreement with ES-CON Japan via Ascendas Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust (A-HReit) to acquire three hotels in Japan’s Osaka city for a purchase consideration of 10.29 billion Japanese yen (S$126.1 million). The manager of the hospitality trust said that the acquisition of the three hotels – Hotel WBF Kitasemba West, Hotel WBF Kitasemba East and Hotel WBF Honmachi – will deepen its presence in Osaka, Japan’s third-largest city with a population of 2.7 million people. The total acquisition cost is about 11.24 billion yen, comprising the purchase consideration, 102.9...

The number of new private homes sold in May jumped 53.1% compared to April and 7.9% compared to the same month last year, according to information released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday, 18 June. Developers sold 1,121 private homes in May 2018, excluding executive condominiums, compared with 732 units in April. The number of units sold was also the highest since August 2017, when 1,246 new private homes were sold. Including ECs, 1,257 units were sold in May, a slight drop from 1,328 sold in April and lower than 1,416 sold in the same month last...