www.shaproperty.com

SINGAPORE developers made a strong showing at this year's Prix d'Excellence awards ceremony held by the International Real Estate Federation in Bangkok last night.

The Housing Development Board (HDB) and Surbana International Consultants took all three awards in the public sector category with their projects at Marine Terrace Breeze, Goodview Gardens and Blocks 203A to 205A in Punggol West.

Singapore scored another clean sweep in the residential category, with Keppel Land winning the first prize for its Caribbean project at Keppel Bay. City Developments secured the second and third prizes with its projects at Changi Rise Condominium and GoldenHill Villas.

Keppel Land picked up a third prize in the office/industrial category with its HarbourFront Office Towers, while Far East Organization scored a third prize in the leisure category with Changi Village Hotel.

The Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore - or Redas - said that the wins continued a long tradition of Singapore successes at the Prix d'Excellence.

Last year, UOL Group was awarded the top prize in the residential category for 1 Moulmein Rise, while in 2004, Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay gained first prize in the specialise category and Keppel Land won a first in the office category for Prudential Tower.

Wong Ah Long, president of the Singapore chapter of the International Real Estate Federation, said: 'It is a tribute to the commitment Singapore developers have given to the quality of their projects. We look forward to even more awards in the future.'

JUST over 10 years to the day when the government slammed the brakes on the residential property market, industry players don't see a fresh round of curbs any time soon, despite the surge in prices and activity at the top end of the market.

'The price increase we have experienced thus far has been rather modest and market signals indicate that it is a healthy, sustainable growth,' says City Developments Limited (CDL) group general manager Chia Ngiang Hong. 'Even in the high-end segment, overwhelming demand is seen only in a handful of projects that are aimed at niche markets and are iconic and exceptional.'

Knight Frank's director of consultancy and research Nicholas Mak says there is 'little sign of speculation and overheating.' And anyway, 'having some speculation in the market is not a bad thing'.

In May 1996, the government stunned the market by announcing a package of measures to check sharp increases in prices and flush out speculators, including taxing gains from the sale of property within three years of purchase.

These measures have since been rolled back, and industry players do not see fresh curbs looming because gains in the overall market have been modest at best, with consultants looking at growth of about 5 per cent in the private mass-market segment this year.

Chesterton International's head of research Colin Tan says: 'There is a decoupling of the market, with the premium market moving on its own.' And because ordinary Singaporeans are not a buyer of the super-luxury residential projects, he believes the government may not be worried. The current situation is different from 1996 when 'you had the situation of young couples being afraid that property prices were running away'.

And as DTZ Debenham Tie Leung executive director Ong Choon Fah points out: 'Mass market residential properties are affordable now - incomes have increased but prices have not increased at the same rate. If the market is supported by fundamentals, there is no reason for intervention.'

By late-1998 after the Asian financial crisis, average prices had tumbled about 45 per cent from their mid-1996 level. And even with the recent recovery, prices on average are 34 per cent below those in mid 1996 - a slump that led to some owners being saddled with loans that exceeded the value of their properties.

Industry players believe lessons have been learned from those days. 'Developers have paced their launches so as not to flood the market, mindful of the appetite of different-tier buyers,' says CDL's Mr Chia.

For the government's part, he says the modification of the land sale programme 'through the implementation of the reserve list has helped to manage supply'. And at the same time, 'buyers have become very discerning and selective'.

At the top end of the market, projects like The Boulevard Residence at Cuscaden Walk, near the Orchard Road shopping belt, have fetched around $2,300 per square foot, and expectations are high that choice units at St Regis Residences, between Tanglin and Cuscaden roads, will fetch $2,600 per square foot or more - higher than similar developments brought a decade ago.

But DTZ's Ms Ong says the latest high end properties represent a new class of super-luxury housing - a trend seen across Asia - so the situation now and 10 years ago is not comparable.

'Singapore is moving up the scale towards being a big global city and certain residential property projects are attracting not just regional buyers but international ones from the US and the UK,' she points out.

CDL's Mr Chia says the local market has lagged neighbouring countries, and that prices are modest compared with gateway cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York and London.

THE collective sale market for prime sites continues to sizzle.

Hot property: Lucky Tower owners will receive $4.1-$4.4m per apartment, while penthouse owners will get $6m

Even as it was made official yesterday that City Developments Ltd (CDL) has been awarded the Lucky Tower site in Grange Road for $383 million, another prime site, Habitat One at Ardmore Park has been launched. The freehold site of 54,980 sq ft being marketed by Knight Frank, has an expected price of 'no less than $188 million'.

The sellers are seeking a record unit land price of $1,280 psf of potential gross floor area inclusive of an estimated development charge of $9.1 million.

If this price is achieved, each of the owners of Habitat One's 32 units will receive an average of nearly $5.9 million per unit - or over 70 per cent more than the last transaction in the estate, which was $3.3 million in August last year.

The site is zoned for residential use with a 2.8 plot ratio (ratio of potential gross floor area to land area) and 36-storey height limit. The tender for Habitat One closes on July 4.

Over at Grange Road, the sale of the Lucky Tower site to CDL confirms an earlier BT report.

The price comes out at $1,134 psf of potential gross floor area inclusive of development charges. The only other bidder for the site is said to have been Far East Organization, the original developer of the project and which retains a penthouse and a minimart in the development.

Far East, which has consented to the collective sale, will walk away with about $7.5 million for its two units in the development.

Based on CDL's $1,134 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr) unit land cost for Lucky Tower, its breakeven cost for a new luxury condo could be about $1,650 to $1,700 psf, say market watchers. Right next door is Spring Grove condo, an award-winning project also developed by CityDev.

CityDev has yet to develop the Kim Lin Mansion site diagonally across the road, which it snapped up for $996 psf ppr including development charge in late 1999 during the last collective sale boom.

The Lucky Tower site has a freehold land area of 169,189 sq ft and is zoned for residential use with a 2.1 plot ratio and 24-storey height limit. The site can be redeveloped into a new condo with about 175 units averaging 2,000 sq ft each.

CityDev group general manager Chia Ngiang Hong described Lucky Tower as an 'exceptional quality site that will add outstanding value to CDL's landbank'.

The group's other sites in the area include the 130,535 sq ft former Boulevard Hotel site.

The existing Lucky Tower has 90 apartments and a minimart. Jeffrey Goh, head of investment sales at Newman & Goh, which brokered the sale of Lucky Tower, said that owners will receive $4.1 million to $4.4 million per apartment, while penthouse owners will get $6 million each.

These sums are at least 80 per cent more than what the apartments could have fetched if sold on an individual basis, he said. The minimart receives $1.5 million.

The $383 million price for Lucky Tower is shy of the record $385 million set last week for the collective sale of Waterfront View facing Bedok Reservoir, bought by a joint venture between Frasers Centrepoint and Far East Organization.

Nonetheless, Lucky Tower has achieved the highest absolute price for a freehold collective sale site. The Waterfront View site is on a site with a remaining lease of 78 years which its developers will seek to top up to the original 99 years.

(SINGAPORE) Including yesterday's Lucky Tower deal, 26 collective sales have been transacted for a total of about $3.5 billion so far this year, surpassing the $2 billion for the whole of last year, although that was for 36 sites, the latest figures from CB Richard Ellis show.

What is more interesting is the broad spectrum of buyers in the current wave of en bloc deals that kicked in last year.

From property giants like Far East Organization and City Developments to mid-size players like Ho Bee, relatively new entrants like Aspial and construction and property groups like Chip Eng Seng, Sim Lian and Hoi Hup, just about every player in town seems to have netted at least one prime district site - or more. Even Hotel Properties, which had not made a major purchase since the Asian financial crisis of 1997, was lured recently by Beverly Mai at Cuscaden Road.

Can property agents continue to whet the appetite of developers as they keep rolling out prime district collective-sale sites at current prices?

'After you've eaten something you're less hungry and tend to be more choosy about what you're going to eat next,' is how DTZ Debenham Tie Leung director Tang Wei Leng puts it.

Agreeing with this, a fellow property consultant notes that the number of bids for recent en bloc tenders has fallen compared with, say, six months ago.

However, taking a more positive view, CB Richard Ellis executive director Jeremy Lake says the broad spectrum of buyers for collective-sale sites - with buying not just confined to just a few players - suggests that if some drop out and decide to take a break for the time being, others can replace them.

But the jury is out on where luxury land prices are headed. Some industry players reckon they have plateaued, while others believe they can head further north because developers need to keep replenishing their landbanks with prime district sites on the back of strong purchases of luxury homes driven by foreigners.

Says a developer who has been buying prime en bloc sites: 'I think prices have levelled off. If prices were to come down, a lot of prime Orchard Road sites would not be available in the market as the prices would not be enough to entice owners to sell.

'But by the same token, over the past three months, everyone has bought at least one piece of choice land. When you're full and look at the dessert menu, it doesn't look so interesting. So that will provide a stalemate in land prices, I think.'

However, others beg to differ. 'St Regis Residences will be the litmus test for luxury residential prices. And that will provide the base for further increases in high-end residential land values,' suggests Knight Frank executive director Foo Suan Peng. Sources say Hong Leong Group has begun to sell the luxury housing project at Tomlinson/ Cuscaden roads at average prices of about $2,500-2,600 psf, although some choice units have achieved much higher prices.

Even taking into account the project's unique factors, the pricing reflects values above the current market, Mr Foo notes.

Luxury home prices in Singapore still lag those in major cities and are attractive to foreign buyers. 'Increasingly we are seeing regional and international property buyers who are looking for a place to park funds being drawn to Singapore because it's a wealth management hub and enjoys a safe haven status,' says Mr Foo.

'This will continue to provide the momentum for developers to replenish prime sites. If developers buy predominantly high-end sites, this will create upward pressure on prime land prices.'

A list compiled by CBRE of collective-sale transactions since June last year shows the big buyers include Hong Leong Group, which includes listed City Developments. The group has spent $726.5 million on four acquisitions including the $383 million purchase of Lucky Tower.

Another big buyer has been fellow property giant Far East Organization, which has bought four properties totalling $715 million, including the $385 million purchase of Waterfront View with Frasers Centrepoint.

Bukit Sembawang Estates broke an eight-year hiatus in land buying when it snapped up Woodleigh Grove in July last year, and followed up with four other collective-sale purchases.

Distinguished by its near trapezoidal, this commercial and residential site nestles between Robin Drive and Robin Lane in the popular Bukit Timah district. The purchase consists of 45 residential units with a strata floor area of 35,166 sq ft and seven commercial units with a strata floor area of 9,397 sq ft. The average per square feet of net sellable area is $673.

Francis Koh, executive director of Koh Brothers Development, said given its prime location, freehold status and easy accessibility to the city centre, the company is confident that the site will appeal to both local and foreign buyers. 'We look forward to receiving positive responses from buyers who appreciate the exclusivity and prestige offered by this prime site,' he said.