Jackie Chan Pays $11m For Jinriksha Station At 1 Neil Road

Source : The Straits Times, Dec 12, 2007

Celebrity plans to open piano bar, reflexology business, offices

HONG KONG movie superstar Jackie Chan's love affair with Singapore property continues with his latest purchase - the former Jinriksha Station at 1 Neil Road.

DOWN MEMORY LANE: Built in 1903, the Jinriksha Station was the central depot for rickshaw drivers. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN

He fell in love with the historic building - once the central depot for rickshaw drivers in Singapore - and bought it for $11 million.

The three-storey corner building in Tanjong Pagar now houses a music lounge called EZ50 on the ground floor. Its sale price works out to $818 per sq ft (psf).

'It's a good price because the individual shophouses there are about $1,000 over psf on average,' said Mr Simon Kwan, who helped broker the deal about a fortnight back. 'As long as he purchases it at or below the market price, he will be comfortable,' he said, of Chan.

Mr Kwan, who is the star's property agent, also runs EZ50 and The 50s pubs, as well as the recently opened Jackie Chan's Cafe Coffee and Tea at 1 Nassim Road.

The star purchased 1 Neil Road from a firm owned by Mr S. L. Cheong, which also owns the 1 Nassim Road property leased to Chan.

Mr Cheong, the uncle of SC Global chief Simon Cheong, also sold Chan The 50s entertainment complex on Tanjong Pagar Road for $8.8 million in 1996.

Both the Tanjong Pagar buildings are in the Neil Road conservation area.

'You can't find buildings like this anywhere else,' said Mr Kwan. 'These are the two most outstanding buildings in Tanjong Pagar.'

The former Jinriksha station was built in 1903.

It is a commercial building with space for rent. The One Family KTV karaoke lounge used to occupy the second and third floors, but it had since closed down, according to Mr Kwan, who is managing the building on behalf of Chan.

Mr Kwan has plans for a piano bar, a foot reflexology business or offices for the 8,500 sq ft of space on the second and third floors.

'The highest possibility is to have offices,' he said, explaining that this plan would leave him time to concentrate on running Chan's new restaurant business in Singapore.

Also, office rents are currently strong, supported by tight supply.

Rents at the nearby Red Dot Traffic Building are at $6 psf a month, while those at International Plaza next to the Tanjong Pagar MRT station are going for $7.50 to $8 psf.

Mr Kwan said they could have seven to eight office units.

A decision will be made after a trip to Hong Kong to meet up with Chan and firm up plans, he said.

Apart from commercial buildings, the movie star also owns a few condominium units in the Orchard Road area, including a three-bedroom unit in The Grangeford condo on Leonie Hill Road.

The 99-year leasehold Grangeford is by now known for the property that sold en bloc for more than half of Horizon Towers' price on a psf basis.

Chan bought his Grangeford apartment, which is being rented out, for only $1.3 million back in 1996.

He will stand to reap about $3.4 million from the collective sale, which he was originally not keen on joining.

Another Hong Kong superstar, Andy Lau, also used to own an apartment at Grangeford, as well as a unit at the UE Square condo.

Mr Kwan said he had since sold these off for Andy Lau. He also used to manage the Singapore properties of the late Teresa Teng and Anita Mui.

Savills Singapore's director of business development and marketing, Mr Ku Swee Yong, said there would be more celebrities entering Singapore's property market.

'For one, the Formula One event will bring in a lot of celebrities.'


Jackie's properties

Among Jackie Chan's other properties and businesses in Singapore are:

# A three-bedroom unit in The Grangeford on Leonie Hill Road;
# Jackie Chan's Cafe, Coffee And Tea at 1 Nassim Road;
# The 50s entertainment complex on Tanjong Pagar Road; and
# A gym business through a partnership with California Fitness.

Property Investment Sales Hit Record Highs In 2007

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 11 December 2007

Property investment sales are hitting a new record high this year.

According to property consultant CB Richard Ellis, total investment sales for this year total nearly S$51 billion.

This is 66 per cent higher than the record of S$30.57 billion achieved for the whole of last year.

The growth was driven by large acquisitions from developers in both the private and public sector.

A site at Marina View which went for almost S$1 billion was among the key property deals for the year which helped to push total property investment sales to a new all-time high.

Property consultants said the strong numbers were driven by a strong appetite for acquisitions.

Jeremy Lake, Executive Director of CB Richard Ellis, said: "I think the property market is probably in the sweet spot at the moment, and by that I mean everything seems to be looking very positive. We've seen developers have a very story appetite for sites. We've seen individual investors buying a large amount of condominiums and houses and then on the office side the office market has been very strong. We've seen a large number of foreign investors buying office buildings for investment."

The residential sector took the lead with 60 per cent of the investment sales pie.

There were 109 en bloc sales alone, amounting to S$13.3 billion.

Public sector land sales were also brisk.

36 government sites were sold for a total of S$11.5 billion.

These comprised purchases of government land sites and the tender awards of luxury water front residential land parcels.

A total of 36 government sites were bought by developers during the year so far consisting of three white sites, nine residential sites, eight commercial sites, six hotel sites and 10 industrial sites.

Meanwhile, investment activity in the office sector remained strong with almost S$14.89 billion of sales.

This accounts for 29 per cent of the overall sales pie.

Office investment sales account for 29 per cent of this year’s total investment sales so far.

CBRE notes that although sentiment in the residential sector has been hit by concerns over the US sub-prime market, it expects the office sector to remain resilient.

“I think the sub-prime has reached Singapore for the residential sector which has been driven largely by sentiment. Sentiment is a little bit bruised at this point in time so your individual home buyer or residential investor is perhaps watching and waiting for more signs of how the market will respond,” said Mr Lake.

CBRE says it expects investment sentiment to remain positive in 2008, given continued economic growth. -CNA/vm

Goldman Seeks $1 billion Windfall On DBS Building

Source : The Business Times, December 12, 2007

US bank could be tweaking portfolio, sources say; DBS may move to new location

Goldman Sachs is said to be discreetly looking around for a buyer for DBS Building along Shenton Way. The US bank, which bought the two office towers two years ago, could reap a tidy gain of almost $1 billion should a deal go through.

DBS Building: Given the property's age and tenure, it may be hard to find takers at $2,000 psf, say analysts

Market watchers say that it makes sense for Goldman Sachs to reshuffle its office portfolio to more prime locations in Singapore.

Goldman is believed to be seeking a price of at least $2,000 per square foot of net lettable area (NLA), which would work out to about $1.75 billion, compared with the $789 psf or $690 million that it paid for the property in late 2005.

Meanwhile, DBS which sold the property to Goldman and leased back the space it occupied, is expected to relocate to Marina Bay Financial Centre (Phase 2), as reported by BT.

DBS occupied the entire 49-storey Tower 1 - which is more than 30 years old - when it sold the property to Goldman in 2005. It also occupied almost 40 per cent of the 34-storey Tower 2, which is just 13 years old. It leased the premises for eight years, with an option for renewal.

The Singapore bank is now said to be eyeing a move to its prestigious new location, expected to be completed in late 2011. This suggests a period of overlap with its existing lease on DBS Building, that runs till late 2013.

Goldman, on the other hand, has been snapping up new office assets of late.

In August this year, it inked a deal to buy Chevron House at Raffles Place from CapitaLand and other parties for $730 million or $2,780 psf of NLA.

The building stands on a site with a remaining lease of about 81 years. Goldman Sachs is also expected to purchase the 37-storey Hitachi Tower next door, in which CapitaLand also has a stake. The price is understood to be around $3,000 psf, or about $840 million in total. Hitachi House has a 999-year leasehold tenure and faces Collyer Quay.

'It's good business sense for Goldman to move its Singapore office holdings from the old Shenton Way area to Raffles Place/Collyer Quay, where rental and capital values are likely to appreciate faster.

'The new financial district at Marina Bay will be connected to the Raffles Place/Collyer Quay vicinity, which will also be rejuvenated with the Ocean Financial Centre development,' a seasoned industry market watcher said.

Some office market watchers estimate that in the current market, Goldman Sachs may fetch around $1,750 psf to $1,800 psf of NLA for DBS Building - instead of the $2,000 psf minimum price it is seeking - given the property's age and short balance land tenure.

'A lot will also depend on what sort of rentals the building can fetch after DBS moves out,' a property consultant said.

And while the Singapore office market has sizzled this year because of an acute shortage of offices, investors have become a little cautious lately on fears that the US sub-prime contagion could clip the space requirements of big financial institutions here.

'Perhaps Goldman Sachs stands a higher chance of achieving its target price range it if waits a little longer and hopefully by then, the current sub-prime woes may ease,' an observer suggests.

Investment in Singapore's office sector, including land for development into offices, has seen a staggering $14.9 billion worth of deals sealed so far this year. This is about three times the figure for the whole of last year.

The supply crunch has also seen prime office capital values rise from about $2,000 psf at the start of this year to nearly $3,000 psf, as seen in the price that Goldman Sachs is believed to have negotiated for Hitachi Tower.

Some Reliefs Already Based On Annual Value

Source : The Straits Times, Dec 12, 2007

I REFER to Mr On Giin Jau's letter, 'Give reliefs based on flat valuation, not flat type' (ST, Dec 8), suggesting that the Government provides tax reliefs and rebates based on the Annual Value (AV) of a flat rather than flat type.

We agree with Mr On that the AV of a flat is a better proxy of wealth than flat type. He may wish to note that the Government already uses the AV of a property as the criterion for the disbursement of GST credits and tax-related reliefs, specifically property-tax rebates.

Such forms of relief are provided to all Singaporeans, including those living in private properties, and households with lower AVs enjoy more relief.

For rebates that are provided only to HDB households, like rebates on utilities charges, service and conservancy charges and rental charges for one- and two-room rental flats, they are based on flat type, with smaller flat types enjoying a higher rebate.

This is simple to understand and to administer, and serves the intended purpose of helping those more in need.

Nevertheless, we acknowledge Mr On's point that flat type may not always be an accurate proxy of wealth. Going forward we will continue to review how to improve the disbursement of government reliefs and rebates in a way which is fair and reasonable.

We thank Mr On for his feedback.

Tan Li San (Ms)
Director (Social Programmes)
for Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Finance

SLA Offers 100,000sqm Of Office Space For Sale

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 12 December 2007

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) is offering another 100,000 square metres of office space in three properties on short-term leases.

The tenders are aimed at meeting market demand.

The three properties are the site of the former Alexandra fire station, a former office of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the former Upper Aljunied Technical School.

The former Alexandra fire station site in Queensway has a land area of under 12,000 square metres and a gross floor area of 3,200 square metres.

The CAAS site in Changi has a land area of about 1,500 square metres and a gross floor area of slightly over 1,000 square metres.

The former Upper Aljunied Technical School site has a land area of about 20,000 square metres and a gross floor area of 7,700 square metres. - CNA/so

Residential Property Market To Be Driven By Mass Market Rather Than High-End In 2008

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 12 December 2007

The residential property market continued to chalk up strong gains in 2007.

It was the high-end segment that took the lead, with prices there jumping by as much as 55% this year.

But towards the second half, prices in the mass market started to catch up.

Analysts say this is the segment to look out for in 2008.

New high-end residential launches like St Regis kept the momentum going this year, with prices hitting new benchmarks as the months wore on.

But those staggering numbers could not put a dent in the frenzied buying that went on.

Knight Frank's director for consultancy and research, Nicholas Mak, said: "It has been a wonderful year for developers, especially those involved in residential properties. Residential sales this year have actually hit a record high, we haven't seen anything as high as this. The typical 10-year average is about 7,200 private homes sold a year. This year, we're gonna see slightly more than double that figure."

Analysts say this was reminiscent of the mid 1990s.

Knight Frank's Nicholas Mak said: "Some of the sharp spikes in property prices brought back memories of the similar run-up in the mid 1990s when the government came in with anti-speculation measures, and it was followed by the Asian financial crisis.

"Interestingly, now it's 10 years after the Asian financial crisis and we also have a similar bull run in the property market. The government has come in with some measures and thankfully they are not as heavy-handed as the anti-speculative measures of 1996. There's question of whether history will repeat itself, but thankfully it looks like it won't."

Things at the top end appear to be cooling as the year end approaches.

Cushman & Wakefield's managing director, Donald Han, said: "If you look at just the last 3, 4 months of the year, prices for the top end, especially, have started to stabilize, and we see the bulk of the residential prices and activities dominated by the mass market segment. So we think moving forward over the next 12 months in 2008, we expect a single-digit or potentially a 10 to 12 per cent increase in terms of capital values for the high end (segment)."

Mass market homes are expected to surpass that, with growth rates of 10 to 15 per cent next year.

Property watchers say the government has done well so far in handling the property boom.

Cushman & Wakefield's Donald Han said: "The government has been very successful in managing the rise and trying to come up with more information in educating the public and investors as to what the median and average prices are. Information does provide a certain kind of ammunition for buyers, so you know you're not overpaying and don't have to rush out to buy on hearsay statistics. At the same time some of the incentives the government has taken out which were more targeted......like deferred payment."

"Sometimes it's not just the measure itself. It's the signal that's sent. For example, the removal of the DPS (deferred payment scheme) is interpreted as the government is stepping in to remove speculation, and indeed the speculation level has come down," he added.

The government is also releasing more residential sites for sale in its Land Sales Programme and rolling out plans for more HDB flats to be sold.

It is putting eight suburban sites on its confirmed list for the Government Land Sales programme for the first half next year.

It has also rolled out plans for some 6,000 public housing units for the same period.

This is largely seen as a move to prevent prices in the residential mass market from rising too sharply.

With the government keeping a close eye on the market, analysts are dismissing talk of a property bubble.

They say the fundamentals remain strong.

Knight Frank's Nicholas Mak said: "In the regional property market, we are somewhere ahead of Shanghai in the property cycle. We are still in the rising phase although our prices are increasingly reaching mature levels. For some other markets like Jakarta, Malaysia, their price increases have already experienced a longer period, they're actually experiencing a more mature stable rate of growth. It's only a matter of time before we reach that stage."

Analysts say the major risk to current growth is the possibility of a US-led global recession. However, while this could lead to a slowdown, they say it will not completely derail the market. - CNA/ir

Banyan Tree To Triple Investment In Vietnam Resort To US$900m

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 11 December 2007

Luxury resorts operator Banyan Tree is planning to bump up its investment in a beachfront resort in Vietnam.

Coastal site of the proposed Laguna Vietnam resort

It is planning to spend about US$900 million, more than three times its original investment of US$270 million.

Banyan Tree is expanding the project to include more resorts on an expanded site of 300 hectares.

The development in the central Vietnamese city of Danang will be its first in the country.

It will comprise seven resort properties, two spas, an 18-hole golf course, and facilities for the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions industry.

The project will also include 1,000 residential villas and apartments for sale.

Funding for the project will come from bank debts and proceeds from property sales.

There will also be equity to be injected from a new private equity fund to be set up and managed by Banyan Tree.

The SGX-listed company said its executives were in Vietnam earlier this month to present its development master plan for the site.

The project, to be called Laguna Vietnam, will be the country's first integrated resort development. - CNA /ls

DBS Signs Deal To Move HQ To Marina Bay Financial Centre

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 12 December 2007

DBS on Wednesday signed an agreement to take the lion's share of Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) with a 700,000 sq ft lease.

The lease deal for the bank's new headquarters is the largest in Singapore to-date.

The agreement signifies DBS' efforts to consolidate all their facilities in a comprehensive strategic occupancy programme.

The site at Marina Bay has also attracted financial institutions such as Standard Chartered which has already secured a 500,000 sq ft lease.

DBS will now anchor the Marina Bay Financial Centre as the development's sixth and largest tenants.

DBS tenancy brings the development, as a whole, close to 50 percent leased.

The 12-year lease, with options to renew, will begin in 2012 as part of DBS' plans to consolidate and modernise working environments.

Jackson Tai, CEO of DBS, said: "Well there are two things that are important here. First of all, we are securing first-class space for our employees and this allows us to attend to our expansion needs throughout the region. The second thing is that it allows us to lock in what we think are optimised occupancy costs and that is good for our shareholders."

At the signing ceremony on Wednesday, DBS announced that various customer-facing units and trading operations would be moved to Tower 3 at MBFC – the latest tower to be built in the area.

Southeast Asia's largest lender is also the first tenant to sign for Phase Two of the development which comprises a 48-storey commercial tower and luxury accommodation. DBS will take 22 floors of the luxury building.

The new building will be the work of Hong Kong Land Ltd., Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd. and Keppel Land Ltd.

In addition, further operations will be moved to a 500,000 sq ft space at Changi Business Park.

Mr Tai said: "DBS' various customer-facing units and trading operations will be consolidated into MBFC. Our strategic operations programme also includes the re-location of various core support functions to a purpose-built nine-storey building at Changi Business Park near the Expo MRT Station. That will be in 2010. The business park site has a permissible ground floor area of about half a million sq ft and will be developed in phases."

In October, DBS signed a lease for more than 220,000 sq ft of office space at One Island East – a 70-storey building in Hong Kong. DBS will be the anchor tenant and the move will commence in 2008. - CNA/so

成龙1100 万元买新加坡尼路一号1 Neil Road百年古建筑

《联合晚报》Dec 11, 2007

国际巨星成龙刚在一个月前以1100万元，买下新加坡的一栋百年古迹建筑物——尼路一号（One Neil Road）。这栋前人力车局（Jinriksha Building）所处的受保留建筑物，现在底层是中文酒廊歌厅“轻松50”（EZ50）的所在地。

“轻松50”老板管伟强日前向本报证实这项消息：“这栋建筑物是在11月初成交的，而且还是成龙在日本的时候把支票交给我。”

管伟强和成龙的私交甚笃，交情可追溯到十多年前，当时他还是个房地产经纪，经朋友介绍认识成龙，为他处理过超过六个房地产交易。

成龙11年前 买了附近一栋楼

其中一栋就是位于“轻松50”对街不远处、“50年代”KTV酒廊所处的四层楼建筑物。成龙于1996年，在管伟强的牵线下，以880万元，即每平方英尺880元，向本地商人钟燊南买下这栋受保留的建筑物。

相隔11年后，成龙又再由管伟强拉线，买下他在新加坡的第二栋单栋建筑物，即尼路一号，卖主同样是钟燊南。

钟燊南的家族成员分别掌控了香港上市公司——天德地产和本地房地产上市公司——鸿福控股（Hong Fok），钟燊南本身是天德集团董事。家族与本地豪宅发展商——SC全球掌舵人钟世平（现任房地产商公会会长）也有亲戚关系。管伟强也是“50年代”酒廊的老板。他说，由于三方合作过，所以对再次的“三角”生意关系相当高兴。

他透露，成龙其实早在去年第一次到尼路一号时，就已相当喜欢它的古典建筑特色。几个月前，他托管伟强问价钱，10月底他再来新加坡为两人合作的成龙咖啡与茶（Jackie Chan's　Cafe Coffee & Tea）餐厅开幕，听了价钱后就一口答应了。

管伟强已向成龙 租下整栋大厦

以每平方英尺计算，尼路一号的成交价相等于818元。管伟强透露，这栋建筑共三层楼，首两层有近5000平方英尺面积，第三层有3000多平方英尺的楼面。

他已经向成龙把整栋大厦租了下来，底层的“轻松50”歌厅将照旧营业。至于目前空置的二三层楼面，他心里有三种想法：“第一种是经营钢琴吧（piano bar）、第二种是经营足浴中心，第三种最简单省事，就是直接租出去给人作办公室。”

管伟强说，目前本地还没有成功的钢琴吧和足浴中心概念。他相信，这种商业模式能在新加坡找到立足点，特别是两座综合度假胜地（IR）落成后，必定会对这种健康的夜间休闲娱乐场所有更多的需求。

“轻松50”是本地少有具中国摇滚乐队现场驻唱的酒廊歌厅。记者在周日晚上前往采访时发现，在场听歌的大多是25至55岁、喜欢听中文歌曲的白领人士。

管伟强说：“来这里听歌的不一定全都受华文教育的，不少还是受英文教育的公务员。”管伟强是本地娱乐界名人管伟华的弟弟，管伟华六年前因健康理由将“50年代”交由弟弟打理，管伟强将生意越做越大。去年6月，他扩大业务，在对街开多一家“轻松50”，下来又想将“轻松50”的商业模式带到更多城市。

管伟强透露，他已经与成龙商量过，在亚细安各主要城市合作设立约10家“轻松50”酒廊歌厅，成龙也表达了一定的投资兴趣。目前，管伟强有意拉拢另外一位好朋友——歌手周华健一起合作。

据了解，管伟强已经在北京研究一些约3000、4000平方英尺的店面。

想当年 门口排了不少人力车……

尼路一号位于尼路和丹戎巴葛路交界处、一块占地6583平方英尺的三角地段。这栋以新兴巴洛克（baroque）风格设计的建筑物，在1903年落成，曾经是注册人力车的官方部门，所以门口常常排着不少人力车。

新加坡的人力车于1880年从上海引入，是当时本地最普遍也最便宜的交通工具。20世纪初，丹戎巴葛一带是许多人力车夫聚居的地方，所以常常发生不同帮派的人力车夫因为争地盘而引起的殴斗事件。

当人力车于1947年走入历史，被三轮车取代后，尼路一号曾经改为家庭计划诊疗所和托儿所。1989年，市区重建局将这个建筑物推出市场招标，才让它流入私人手中。

根据市区重建局的记录，这栋受保留建筑物在18年前以未修葺的状况，由一名罗姓商人以171万元买下。它相信后来辗转卖给钟燊南，现在落入成龙手中。

HDB双月组屋销售计划 316间组屋待售

《联合晚报》Dec 11, 2007

本月的HDB双月组屋销售计划共有316间四房式及更大型组屋待售。这是建屋发展局五次推出双月组屋销售计划中，待售单位最少的一次。

吸引1736人申请

过去四次共有2917间四房式及更大型组屋被预订，预订率96%。由于建屋局已售出不少滞销组屋，所以未来通过双月组屋销售计划出售的组屋将减少。

根据建屋发展局网站，昨天推出的12月份双月组屋销售计划反应一样热烈，截至昨天傍晚5时，已有1736人申请购买316间组屋。

建屋局昨天发布文告说，这批组屋分布在后港、盛港和榜鹅，其中233间是四房式，五房式和公寓式分别有57间和26间。以地点来说，有229间位于盛港，榜鹅和后港各有59间和28间。

这是建屋局取消直接选购计划（walk-in selection）后第五次以双月组屋销售计划出售组屋。前四轮销售活动在4月、6月、8月和10月展开，出售3034个单位。其中，8月和10月的销售活动反应最热烈，843间位于已完全发展组屋区、西部和北部的滞销单位被预订一空。

发言人受询时说，截至10月，建屋局仍有2400间待售组屋，遍布各市镇，它们将在下来的销售活动中推出市场。

为满足购屋者需求，国家发展部上月宣布未来半年供应近一万个组屋单位。如果未来半年新组屋需求仍然强劲，建屋局会推出6000间组屋预购项目。

当局也计划在中部和东部推出四块地段供私人发展商设计、兴建和销售，预计这些地段可建1900个单位。三个位于义顺、裕廊西和盛港的执行共管公寓地段，也将于明年通过政府售地计划的备售名单出售，预计可建1300个单位。

有意在双月组屋销售计划下购屋的公众，可在本月17日前通过建屋局网站（www.hdb.gov.sg），或到建屋局总部或分局申请。

建屋局将以电脑抽签决定申请者的选购顺序，并以电子邮件和手机简讯通知选购日期。错过第一个申请期的公众，可从本月18日早上8时起上网申请，但只能排在后面选购。

公众可拨1800-8663066（上午8时至下午5时）或电邮hdbsales@hdb.gov.sg，或到建屋局总部查询详情。

今年新加坡房地产交易金额 突破五百亿元 同比猛增66％

《联合晚报》Dec 12, 2007

尽管市场温度在过去一两个月显著冷却，但是今年新加坡全年的大宗房地产交易金额还是第一次突破了500亿元的水平。这比去年创下的近306亿元旧纪录高了66％。

本地房地产代理公司世邦魏理仕（CB Richard Ellis）昨天发表的报告显示，从今年1月至今，房地产发展商和投资者已经花了507亿8000万元，来购买大型房地产。

房地产投资销售（investment sales）指的是市场上的大宗房地产交易，这包括发展地段、整栋大楼，以及分层地契单位，每一宗交易的金额至少要有500万元。

一般来说，它是市场景气的领先指标，反映发展商和投资者对房地产市场的中长期看法。如果他们对市场的前景看好，就会大事收购地皮和建筑物；如果对前景看淡，出手时就会较为谨慎。

世邦魏理仕的报告显示，从2004年起，房地产投资销售额就不断往上攀爬，一年复一年地创下历史新高。过去四年来，本地房地产价格也节节攀升，其中私宅价格已经回弹了42.3％，而高档共管公寓价格也不断创下新高。

不过，随着美国次贷危机越来越烈，本地房地产投资销售额已经在今年第四季来个紧急刹车，速度明显放慢下来。由于2007年还剩两个多星期就结束了，所以第四季成交的大宗房地产预料只会达到大约100亿元，比不上过去三季每季平均136亿5000万元的水平。

但展望2008年，世邦魏理仕还是相当有信心：“尽管全球的信贷危机为市场带来了一些动荡，新加坡的稳健经济增长，应该还是能够让明年的投资气氛保持乐观。”

它相信，办公楼和私人住宅还是会比其他房地产领域受欢迎，这是因为这两个领域中期内仍面对供应短缺问题。“与房地产投资信托（REIT）相关的领域也会继续为房地产投资市场提供支持力量，特别是对商业和工业资产表现兴趣。”

今年成交的大型房地产交易，仍以私人土地或房地产为主，成交金额高达396亿元。其余22％，即111.5亿元则来自政府售地。在政府售地方面，最引人瞩目的是第四季以9亿5289万元卖给MGPA的滨海景（Marina View）地段。全年来说，政府卖出了36幅官方土地，这包括三幅“白色”地段、9幅私宅地段、8幅商业地段、6幅酒店地段，以及10幅工业地段。另外，它也以11亿元卖出了五幅住宅地段，这包括以2亿1565万元卖给中国公司——玺萌资产控股（Ximeng Asset Holdings)的珍珠岛（Pearl Island)。

以房地产类别来区分的话，住宅仍然是最热门的大宗房地产交易领域。今年共有价值306亿元的住宅房地产成交，占了全年总投资销售额的60％。

其中133亿元来自集体出售交易，这个数字超越了2006年的82亿元旧纪录，是过去十年来最高的水平。其中最引人瞩目的包括以8亿3500万元卖给国浩置业的礼敦岭（Leedon Heights）、以5亿1600万元卖给Bravo建筑的金香园(Tulip Gardens)，以及4亿3500万元卖给马来西亚上市公司杨忠礼(YTL Corp)的良园(Westwood Apartments)。

在办公楼方面，今年已有价值149亿元的办公楼成交，相等于去年48亿元的三倍。其中最受人瞩目的是以10亿4000万元成交的淡马锡大厦。

毗邻是公教中学·名校有价！ 碧山四房组屋 售价44万创记录

《联合晚报》Dec 11, 2007

名校有价！碧山一毗邻公教中学的四房式组屋，在上个月以44万元高价卖出，创下碧山组屋今年的最高记录！

没40万不卖

继碧山一估价31万元的四房式组屋在两个月前以40万元售出，带动该区组屋转售叫价越来越高，许多屋主没40万元不卖，上个月还有一组屋单位创下44万元成交价，成为本年度最高记录。

碧山24街278座一间四房式组屋以44万元卖出。（吴庆顺摄）

今年组屋转售市场火热，不过，碧山四房式组屋的最高转售价一直徘徊在39万元左右。

然而，据本报了解，今年10月，碧山一间估价31万的四房式组屋，以40万元高价卖出后，许多屋主纷纷抬高卖价。

过去两个月来，已有8间四房式组屋以超过40万元卖出。卖价最高的一间在碧山24街278座，是楼高11到15层的一个单位，以44万元成交。该组屋毗邻公教中学及附小，而附近又还有莱佛士书院以及初级学院，因此受到许多父母的青睐。

受访的房屋经纪说，碧山四房式组屋一般售价不超过40万元，不过，有的单位以超过40万元卖出并不稀奇，因为这里的先天条件好：地点适中，又是成熟组屋区。

尤其那些近地铁和名校的组屋，很少屋主愿意出售，一旦有单位要卖，抢着要买的人不少。

不过，不是每个占有优势的单位都能叫高价，一名经纪黄小姐就说：“我手上有一间四房式组屋靠近地铁，但屋子照顾得不很好，看起来很旧，屋主竟喊出比估价高整8万元，根本是为难我们。”

戴德梁行（DTZ）助理副总裁（转售部门）王志勇提供的资料显示，碧山第三季的交易价估价差额介于4至7万元。