A Build Up To The Top: Property Investments Here Set For Record 2007

Source: Weekend Today, 23 Jun 2007

Investors have spent $21.4 billion on property for the first half of this year. And the momentum is set to continue, breaking the record $30.51 billion set last year, said real estate firm CB Richard Ellis.

These total investment sales figures for properties above $5 million are already 48 per cent higher than the value that was achieved for the same period last year.

At this halfway point, there is every reason to expect that investment sales for the whole of 2007 will surpass last year figures, and may hit $35 billion,?said Mr Jeremy Lake, executive director of investment properties, CB Richard Ellis.

For the first quarter of this year, investment sales reached $11.7 billion for land sales, en bloc sales and the purchase of strata-titled units.

The second quarter has recorded $9.67 billion to date, 16 per cent higher than the same period in 2006.

The private sector chalked up 86 per cent of the total figure, or $18.5 billion; with the public sector land sales chipping in the remaining $2.9 billion.

Some notable transactions include the $225 million Government sale of Tampines Grande to City Developments and the Carlton Group's purchase of a hotel site at Gopeng Street/Tanjong Pagar Road for $123 million.

Transactions for the residential sector in the first half of the year hit $14.6 billion, or 68 per cent of the total investment sales figure. This figure includes deals involving good class bungalows.

The first half of the year also saw 67 collective sales totalling $7.92 billion as developers rushed in to build up their land banks.

These include the record $835 million that GuocoLand paid for Leedon Heights, and SC Global's purchase of The Ardmore for $262 million ($2,338 per square foot per plot ratio).

The investment sales market will continue to perform well in the second half of 2007. In particular, sales from the public sector will contribute significantly, given the recent release of sites under the Government Land Sales Programme (GLS),?said Mr Lake.

Another $2 billion could be added to the figures in the coming quarter, with GLS tender sites at Beach Road and Marina Bay expected to attract both local and foreign investors