Paying A Premium For Ocean Views

Source : The Straits Times, Nov 28, 2007

But analysts say price tag is not typical of HDB market, which is more moderate

AN AGEING five-room HDB flat in Marine Parade has been snapped up for a record price of $750,888 - and all because of its sweeping ocean views.













CASHING IN: Owner Sally Sim knocked out the walls to make an expansive living room that takes advantage of the sea view. She had kept the flat as an extra home but decided to sell it to ride on the property boom. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG

The buyers, who paid cash, bought the 32-year-old Marine Terrace flat as their retirement home.

They had the field to themselves as the high asking price of $800,000 deterred many prospective buyers.

Agent Francis Ng from HSR Property Group said the couple were the only ones to view the flat.

Mr Ng said the flat has had its walls knocked out to make an expansive living room that takes advantage of the sea view, so there is only one bedroom.

Owner Sally Sim, who lives in a landed property, renovated the flat about two years ago at the cost of just over $80,000.

She kept the property as an extra home that could one day be used as a retirement haven or for her children's use.

'But since the market is good, I might as well sell it,' she said in Mandarin. 'It's quite tiring keeping it clean.'

ERA Singapore's assistant vice-president, Mr Eugene Lim, said: 'People who buy HDB flats at such record prices are not your typical HDB buyers.

'They are cash-rich and most of them are looking for unique features, such as a full sea view.'

The Marine Parade flat is about 1,300 sq ft in size, which would put its price at $577 per sq ft (psf).

HDB flats are not usually measured on a psf basis, but pricing it this way does give an idea of how much the property is worth when compared with private housing. Mass market condominiums now cost $650 to $700 psf on average.

Executive flats, which are limited in number, have sold for a bit more but are far bigger in size. Take the seemingly stratospheric price achieved for an executive HDB flat in Mei Ling Street. It went for $755,000 but cost only $474 on a psf basis.

But such deals are certainly are not reflective of the market, which is operating at a more moderate level, said Mr Lim.

HSR executive director Eric Cheng said the market was crazier back in the mid-90s. It is rather calm currently, except for sporadic record deals, he said.

M'sia's YTL Corp Buys Westwood Condo At Record En Bloc Price

Source : The Straits Times, Nov 27, 2007

YTL Corp, Malaysia's biggest builder, won a bid to buy Westwood Apartments in downtown Singapore at a record price, increasing its investment in the island-nation as home prices surged to a 10-year high.











It has won a tender to buy 50 high-end apartments on Orchard Boulevard for S$435 million in cash, YTL Corp said in a statement on Tuesday.

The purchase is the company's third land acquisition in Singapore in the last two years, it added.

'The proposed acquisition will enable the group to enhance its earnings potential from the high sale and rental rates expected from the renewed interest in the property sector in Singapore,' YTL said in the statement.

The longest economic expansion in more than a decade in Singapore has pushed up home prices and prompted developers to buy and develop existing apartments at a record pace.

The sale price works out to about S$2,498.55 a square foot, based on the space YTL can build on the site, Bloomberg calculations show. That beat the previous record, set in June when SC Global Developments Ltd paid S$2,338 a square foot for the Ardmore, also located near the city's main shopping belt.

YTL and partner LP World Sdn. in March won a bid to buy a site on Singapore's Sentosa island for S$90 million to build a residential property development.

Westwood Apartments, which is more than 30 years old, is a condominium development located on approximately 62,179 square feet of freehold residential land, YTL said. The site can be redeveloped into about 43 units of 4,000-square- foot luxury condominium apartments, it added. -- AGENCIES

High Court Orders Family Firms To Wind Up, Settle Brothers' Feud

Source : The Straits Times, Nov 27, 2007

IN the end, the eldest of three feuding brothers had his way - the three family firms worth $100 million will be wound up, on a High Court orders.

A liquidator, appointed to do this, will use the proceeds to pay off $34 million in debts.

The brothers - two doctors and an architect - will then get their due shares.

In her judgment published on Tuesday, Justice Judith Prakash noted that the brothers could not get along with each other and had their own ideas about how 'the companies and the family fortunes should be dealt with'.

The rifts had 'translated into fractures in the companies' and a logjam over the past few years over settling the debts owed by the late patriach's estate to the companies.

Property investor Chow Cho Poon had set up the three companies which held properties in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong valued in 2005 at more than $100 million. One property was Chow House in Robinson Road.

Mr Chow died a decade ago. His wife made each of their three sons directors of all three companies, hoping that the feuding brothers would at least work together.

But five years after her death in 2002, the feud spilled over into legal wrangles over the companies they controlled. All three siblings, now in their 60s, live in Hong Kong.

Eldest sibling Chow Kwok Chi, through Senior Counsel Jimmy Yim, sought to wind up the companies so that the brothers could make a clean break from one another and go their separate ways.

He pointed out that as long as the companies exist, their father's estate would remain unadministered because of the unpaid $34 million debt.

The estate cannot be administered unless the debt is settled, but the estate's assets are mainly tied up as shares in the companies.

Second brother Chow Kwok-Chuen opposed the move.

He argued through lawyer Ang Cheng Hock from Allen & Gledhill that Kwok Chi had not alleged any loss of confidence or lack of probity in his conduct in relation to the running of the companies, among other things.

Youngest sibling Kwok Ching also contested the suit, arguing through lawyer Peter Low from Colin Ng and Partners that if there was to be a winding up, the reason should be the alleged 'oppressive conduct' of his two brothers towards him.

Justice Prakash said in view of the 'litigation history' and 'the complex nature of the relationships among the brothers', it did not make sense for the court to 'stand aside and allow the situation to deteriorate further'.

Condo-Like Housing Plot Nets $134m Bid

Source : The Straits Times, Nov 27, 2007

A THIRD site earmarked for public housing to be designed, built and sold by private developers has attracted a top bid of $134.2 million.

Greatearth Development placed the bid, which was 13 per cent higher than the one submitted by its closest rival, AMK Development, and well ahead of those of the other three contenders.

Consultants say the higher-than-expected price - it works out at $212.4 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio - reflects developers' confidence in the demand for public housing and suburban condominiums.

The 1.7ha plot on Ang Mo Kio Street 52 can house about 550 flats in blocks that can reach 36 storeys.

Savills Singapore's director of marketing and business development, Mr Ku Swee Yong, estimated that the break-even price for the Ang Mo Kio plot would be about $500 psf.

This means the flats can be launched from $580 psf, putting the starting price of a four-room unit at about $560,000.

Judge Throws Out Mother's Claim Against Son

Source : The Straits Times, Nov 27, 2007

WHEN a shipping tycoon died in 2001, he left more than $10 million in assets to only one of his eight children - his favourite son.

Angry at being left out, his 82-year-old wife, two of his children and three grandsons went to court.

Madam Low Ah Cheow and three of the siblings are now living in the family house at Wiltshire Road.

They claimed that, despite his will, Mr Ng Teow Yhee, the patriach, had created secret trusts giving them the family house, shares in his estate and specific cash amounts.

But the High Court dismissed their claims, holding their evidence to be unreliable and 'fraught with inconsistencies.'

In a judgment published on Tuesday, Justice Woo Bih Li noted that it was 'unusual for a man to give his entire estate beneficially to one child out of many children.'

But Mr Sebastian Ng, 50, to whom the estate was given, had said it was because patriach Ng Teow Yhee was 'fed-up with the rest of the children as well as his wife.'

The judge said it was not for Sebastian to justify why he was given everything under the will, but for the other claimants to show that what he received was subject to the oral gifts sought by them to be legally enforced.

Justice Woo held they had failed to do this.

It emerged that Sebastian had become Mr Ng's favourite son at the time the will was executed and when he died in April 2001.

Two of his other sons, Ricky and Sunny had gambled heavily and a third, Raymond, had also squandered away money, said Sebastian, who was represented by lawyers Ling Tien Wah and Koh Jiaying from Rodyk & Davidson.

Raymond had also looked to the patriach for financial help and their mother, Madam Low, spoilt her children and often asked her husband to bail them out.

This apparently strained the relationships between Mr Ng and his wife and other children - up till the time he died.

The judge found there was evidence to support this, but in any event, the late patriach who made a fortune in shipping and stevedoring services, had provided for his family members by giving them homes and vehicles.

They also drew salaries from his subsidiary firm. His four sons and wife also held shares in the patriach's holding company.

Madam Low and the other plaintiffs, through their lawyers Andre Arul and Chung Ping Shen, disputed Sebastian's depiction of their relationship with Mr Ng and countered that he was a gambler who hid important information from them.

The judge cast doubts on this and held, among other things, that if he was a squanderer, Mr Ng would not have been close to him.

'Although Sebastian has not been entirely truthful, neither have the plaintiffs on whom the burden of proof lies.'

'I am of the view that Mr Ng gave his entire estate to Sebastian on the expectation that Sebastian would do right by the other family members,' said Justice Woo.

Reacting to the outcome, Sebastian said he felt sad that his mother and his siblings had opted to sue him through a trial lasting over 30 days.

'I am glad and happy that the court has found no truth in the claims against me, but it is unfortunate that what is a private family dispute has become such a public matter,' he said.

He added that he wanted to make up with his mum and siblings.

On the court's judgement, contesting sibling Angeline Ng, 51, said on Tuesday: 'We are discussing the judgment with our family members and lawyers to decide what to do next.'