Cliveden At Grange: CityDev, Wachovia In $432m S'pore Property Deal

Source : The Business Times, November 5, 2007

Singapore's City Developments said on Monday it will sell two luxury apartment blocks in Singapore for $432.4 million (US$298.6 million) to a joint venture between itself and US-based Wachovia Group.

The joint venture, which is 60 per cent owned by Wachovia, will buy 44 units of Cliveden at Grange, a development off Singapore's Orchard Road shopping belt, at a price equivalent to $3,750 per square foot. -- REUTERS

公寓住户做布条 拒绝集体出售

Source : 《联合早报》Nov 5, 2007

担心公寓被迫集体出售，一群住户花了60元做布条，写上“我们不要集体出售”，挂在公寓大门上。

位于东海岸路上段，靠近勿洛军营的Springwell Mansions公寓有7个篮球场大，但只有六个单位，其中三个单位在上个月被一名发展商及他的两个朋友买下，其中一人将单位出租给一群外劳。

另外三户人家担心他们的公寓会被集体出售，也认为这些新邻居有这个意图，因此，他们便把“我们不要集体出售”的布条，挂在公寓大门上。

其中一名住户符秀兰说：“他们花了百万元，却不自己住，我们担心他们是要一间一间买下，然后强迫整栋公寓集体出售。”

这些居民喜欢这里的环境，并认为其他地方已买不到这样的屋子了。

不过，买下单位的发展商李先生受访时表示，他当初以为这栋公寓有集体出售的潜能，自己和两个朋友才来买。

如今，公寓大门却挂上“我们不要集体出售”的布条，令他和朋友感到很为难。

竞标加冷体育城 新构思包括可开关屋顶

Source : 《联合早报》Nov 5, 2007

阿尔皮内财团（Alpine consortium)的投资合作伙伴是Alpine Bau Gmbh、Babcock & Brown(澳洲)私人有限公司和本地建筑与土木工程承包商和合（私人）有限公司（Woh Hup Pte Ltd)。

财团提出的发展构思包括拥有1200个停车位的购物商场、6间戏院、大型超市、健身院及多用途室内运动场等。

和合有限公司的董事杨康荣说，财团是请德国建筑师Tim Hupe和本地建筑设计公司RSP共同设计加冷体育城。

另两个竞标财团是：新加坡金财团(Singapore Gold consortium)、新加坡体育城财团(Singapore Sports Hub)。成功竞标结果将在明年1月底公布。

Singapore CDL Forms JV With US Bank To Buy Over Its Own High-End Apartments

Nov 5, 2007

Singapore property developer City Developments (CDL) and U.S bank Wachovia Corp have formed a joint venture to buy two high-end apartment tower blocks at one of CDL's projects for $432.4 million.

CDL said the two blocks, consisting of a total of 44 units, are at the Cliveden at Grange along Grange Road.

The average price for the units purchased work out to $3,750 per square foot.

Under their agreement, Wachovia will own 60 per cent of the venture while CDL owns the rest.

CDL Executive Chairman Kwek Leng Beng said in a statement the deal is in line with CDL's business strategy of leveraging on the capital appreciation potential of its developments.

Ascendas腾飞江苏科技园开幕

Source : 《联合早报》Nov 5, 2007

腾飞集团(Ascendas)在中国江苏省的首个科技园——南京腾飞创造中心(iHub)日前正式开幕。

南京腾飞创造中心位于江苏省的讯息科技和微电子中心江宁经济技术开发区(JNDZ)，共拥有五幢高科技大楼，可提供5万2000平方米的办公面积，预计可容纳5000名业务流程外包(BPO)、信息技术外包(ITO)和科研发展领域的专业人士。

腾飞创造中心提供了优良的环境、高质量的设施和齐全的设备。目前中心的租户包括了深圳发展银行和普洛斯投资(Prologis Investment)。

腾飞中国总裁郑永吉表示，集团在江苏省有超过10年的经验，对市场的了解和所建立的人际关系都能让集团帮助南京发展成为业务和信息技术外包中心。南京是中国政府指定的11个全国业务流程外包中心之一，现驻有900多家软件公司。

另外，集团目前正在发展大连腾飞科技园和新加坡杭州科技园。

Singapore's City Developments, Wachovia Group Team Up To Buy Residential Project

Source : AFX News Limited, Nov 5, 2007

SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Singapore property developer City Developments Ltd (CDL) and US-based financial services company Wachovia Group have teamed up to acquire two tower blocks of a luxury residential development project called Cliveden at Grange.

Wachovia (nyse: WB - news - people ) Development Corp controls 60 percent of the joint-venture company, Grange 100 Pte Ltd, while CDL, through City Venture Properties Pte Ltd (CVP), holds the remaining 40 percent.

Grange 100 will buy the two tower blocks comprising 44 apartment units for 432.4 million Singapore dollars from CDL.

The acquisition cost translates to an average price of about 3,750 dollars per square foot (psf) for the project.

'The purchase of two towers by a global property investment powerhouse attests to the high investment potential of Cliveden at Grange, and CDL is very pleased to partner Wachovia in this acquisition,' said Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of CDL.

CDL launched Cliveden at Grange, which comprises four 24-storey towers located near the Orchard shopping district, in July this year.

A total of 55 units in the other towers of the project have been sold, with the highest price of 4,162 dollars psf achieved for a four-bedroom apartment unit so far, the company said.

Over 90 percent of the units were sold to foreign buyers from the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, France, Korea and Japan, it said.

(1 US dollar = 1.44 Singapore dollars)

pearl.bantillo@thomson.com

Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

Raffles Place Faces Retail Space Crunch: Study

Source : The Straits Times, Nov 5, 2007

AS Singaporeans start to work longer hours, they also want to shop in areas where they work.

This demand is pushing up retail rents in Raffles Place, with occupancy nearing 100 per cent and ground-floor rents rising as much as 24 per cent in the past two years, according to a recent study by property consultants Cushman & Wakefield.

As there are no major retail space planned for the financial district, retail rents there will continue to go up by another 10 to 15 per cent in the year ahead, its managing director in Singapore, Mr Donald Han, told The Straits Times.

This is up from around 14 per cent in the last 12 months, he said.

The rise is relatively high, considering rentals in the traditional shopping belt of Orchard Road have been registering single-digit increases in the past few years.

Overall, rentals for prime retail space are expected to climb by 15 to 20 per cent year on year, with capital values up by 10 to 15 per cent, according to Knight Frank.

At the moment, Singapore's prime office space crunch is jacking up office rents and leading to an increased supply of new office developments.

'Most developers within the financial district prefer to maximise office use rather than retail,' said Mr Han.

'The irony is that when more offices are built, retail demand from the office population will grow in tandem.'

Most retail centres in Raffles Place such as OUB Centre, Raffles Xchange, One Fullerton and Republic Plaza are enjoying full occupancy.

Average gross rent for Raffles Place ground floor space is between $18 to $35 per sq ft a month, up from $13 to $25 psf a month two years ago.

Space in the basement levels are priced at between $12 to $25 psf a month, compared with $9 to $18 psf a month two years back.

In the upper floors, where there is less traffic, rents now hover between $8 to $14 psf a month, up from $6 to $9 psf a month two years ago.

As Raffles Place's retail rents rise, its landscape will also change to meet ready demand.

Read the full report in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.

S'pore's Inflation May Hit 4% Next Year: Economist

Source : The Straits Times, Nov 5, 2007

Citigroup forecast fans overheating concerns.

SINGAPORE'S inflation may hit a record-breaking 4 per cent in the first half of next year as a red-hot economy adds more strain to the already-tight labour and property markets.

This forecast came from a prominent local economist, who warned on Monday that the Singapore economy is at risk of overheating.

To address this, the Government will need to allow the Sing dollar to appreciate more quickly and possibly defer less urgent major investment projects such as the planned Marina Bay botanical gardens.

'We maintain that overheating and inflation risks remain high,' said Citigroup economist Chua Hak Bin.

'The economy is now at full employment and the cost of hiring foreign workers has now increased considerably given higher accommodation costs,' said Dr Chua in a research report.

His view found support among some of his peers, although others reckon that a slowing world economy will keep prices here in check.

Dr Chua's report comes a month after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that while there is an office space crunch, the economy as a whole is not overheating and inflation is well under control.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has acknowledged that inflation is on the rise, due largely to a July hike in the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

It is expecting average prices to increase by 3.5 per cent in the first half of next year before moderating later in the year.

MAS has tightened monetary policy, allowing a faster strengthening of the Sing dollar, to curb inflation from imported goods.

'We are probably less sanguine,' said Dr Chua.

He said global energy and food prices are rising sharply, driven by record oil prices and adverse weather conditions in farming areas. But bigger challenges lie in the domestic property and labour markets.

Dr Chua said the consumer price index (CPI) may have underestimated the full extent of rising housing costs.

'Housing CPI costs were up 0.4 per cent in September, lagging actual steep increases in property prices and rents.'

By contrast, official indices show that residential rents surged 39 per cent in the third quarter and those for commercial space jumped 57 per cent.

Heirs Of Late Co-Tenant Lose Out Under CPF Rules

Source : The Straits Times, Nov 5, 2007

I AM the administrator of my late brother's estate. He had a 97 per cent share in a Tampines maisonette, while the co-tenant, his acquaintance, held the remaining 3 per cent. The resale flat was bought for $432,000 in 1999. My brother used some $69,000 of his CPF money while the co-tenant contributed about $17,000.

After my brother's death, when I inquired about selling the flat, HDB officers told me the proceeds from the sale would be distributed according to share ownership. We subsequently decided to sell the flat and found a buyer in June at a sale price of $380,000.

Only at the final appointment to complete the sale in late September, did I learn that the HDB and CPF Board do not take into account the big amount of CPF funds my brother used to buy the flat when computing his estate's share of the sale proceeds. Because he is dead and has no CPF account, that money is treated as if it did not exist.

To explain, after deducting some $323,000, mainly to pay back the HDB loan, the co-tenant got back all his CPF money plus interest - $21,500 - while the estate got back nothing of my brother's CPF money.

This is contrary to what I was told by HDB officers who said the sale proceeds after HDB loan repayment would be divided according to ownership, that is, 97 per cent and 3 per cent. I was told there would be no need for any refund of CPF money to my brother's account, as he is dead, and proceeds would be returned in cash. At no time was I told by these agencies that, under current procedures, they would act as if only the surviving tenant would get back what he or she had paid out in CPF money.

I have written to the CPF Board, which replied with a reiteration of the present procedure - that on a member's death, the CPF withdrawn towards an HDB flat ceases to be refundable. It did not say why this money cannot be returned to the estate in cash.

I did not know this CPF money is not refunded to the deceased's estate in cash. Thus, his beneficiaries, who may need this money to carry on, lose out.

Take another example of two people who buy an HDB flat 50-50 as co-tenants with each using $100,000 of his CPF money. One dies and the flat is sold. After repayment of the outstanding mortgage, there is a balance of $100,000. This entire amount will go to the surviving tenant as a refund of CPF withdrawn. The beneficiaries of the deceased flat owner will get nothing.

Ann Williams

SC Global's Hilltops Sold For $3,900 PSF

Source : The Straits Times, Nov 5, 2007

$7M TO $12M PER UNIT

PRICES ranging from $7 million to $12 million have been racked up for each of the 28 units at the posh Hilltops condo.

The flats were sold for an average price of just over $3,900 per sq ft (psf), which has made the Cairnhill Circle estate one of the most expensive in town.

Sources said one unit in the SC Global Developments property had been sold for more than $4,800 psf. The lowest price fetched was $3,500 psf.

The three-bedroom units were believed to have commanded a price of nearly $7 million, while the four- to five-roomers went for up to $12 million.

About half of the buyers were foreigners, with the rest locals and permanent residents, said sources.

Most opted for the progressive payment scheme, instead of the deferred payment scheme that the Government recently axed, although it was still available for Hilltops.

The 28 units sold are among the 30 launched about a month ago. The freehold 20-storey condo has 240 flats, mostly three- and four-bedroom units.

Prices at Hilltops have pipped those at the nearby 140-unit Helios Residences, where 69 units were sold for an average of just over $3,000 psf each.

Values in the Cairnhill area have increased dramatically with new launches in recent months following a spate of collective sales in the area.

Savills Singapore's director of marketing and business development, Mr Ku Swee Yong, said developers with a solid product and a willingness to tolerate a slower pace of sales will be able to achieve relatively high prices.

'While the market seems to be a bit quieter recently, there is still strong interest for luxurious properties, as more and more wealthy people park their funds in Singapore,' he said.