WPP Leases All Of Scotts Rd Project

Source : The Business Times, September 23, 2008

Advertising PR giant said to be paying about $8 psf monthly rental

International advertising, communications and marketing giant WPP has leased an entire office development to be built on a transitional site at Scotts and Anthony roads, BT understands.

The transitional site: Housing various businesses under the WPP banner, such as Bates, JWT, Y&R, Burson Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton and Enfatico, at the new location will generate greater synergy

The four-storey structure, next to Newton MRT Station, will have about 130,000 square feet of offices and 135 parking spaces. It is slated for completion in about a year.

Various businesses under the WPP banner here - such as Bates, JWT, Y&R, Burson Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton and Enfatico - will be consolidated under one roof.

But Ogilvy group, also part of WPP, is expected to continue to operate from its current premises at Ogilvy Centre in Robinson Road.

WPP is said to have signed a 14-year lease on the Scotts Road building, which is going up on a 15-year leasehold site sold this year by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

BT understands that WPP will pay gross monthly rent of about $8 per sq ft (psf).

The deal is believed to have been brokered by Cushman and Wakefield, which declined to comment.

The project is being developed by Sun Venture (S) Investments, a subsidiary of interior design and building company DB&B (Singapore) Developments, which paid $226 psf per plot ratio for the 97,284 sq ft site in a state tender that closed in late April this year.

Sun Venture general manager Alvin Teo would say only that 'the building has been fully leased for a full 14-year term to a global firm', without confirming that WPP is the tenant.

The project is next to another transitional office site, also sold in April, to stockbroking firm UOB Kay Hian, which has said that it will occupy the project on the site.

The two sites are opposite a project completed recently by Scotts Spazio on the maiden transitional office site sold by URA last year. Prudential has leased all 150,000 sq ft of office space in that development under a deal arranged by CB Richard Ellis.

CBRE executive director Moray Armstrong said of the latest deal for Sun Venture's project: 'We understand a single end-user has been in negotiation for the -property. This demonstrates there is still an active leasing market for well-located office developments, despite the cooling business climate.'

URA Office Site For Sale

Source : The Straits Times, Sep 23, 2008

A TRANSITIONAL office site, with direct frontage along Mountbatten Road, has been put up for sale by public tender on Tuesday.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said the site is one of the three commercial sites to be sold through the confirmed list under the Government Land Sales Programme for the second half of this year.

The site is being tendered out for use as a transitional office building. It has a site area of about 1.17 ha and a maximum permissible gross floor area of about 11,739 sq m.

The site is sold on a short-term lease of 15 years. The office building on the site is expected to be a low-rise development of up to three storeys that can be built quickly in about a year.

SLA Reaps $12.4b In Sales

Source : The Straits Times, Sep 23, 2008

THE property market might not be red-hot at the moment, but the bullrun last year was enough to send sales revenue at the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) shooting to a ten-year high of $12.4 billion.

This was a two-fold increase from the $6.2 billion achieved in the 2006 financial year, and is just shy of the record set in 1997, when sales revenue climbed to $14 billion.

SLA's annual report, released on Tuesday, showed that land sales proceeds from the private sector hit a new record of $10.4 billion, compared to $3.5 billion for 2006, and $6.9 billion in the last property peak in 1997.

Land sales to the public sector dropped slightly to $2 billion, from $2.7 billion collected in 2006.

SLA's 2007 financial year, which ended March 31 this year, was marked by strong demand for office, hostels, international schools and other commercial uses.

To meet this surge in demand, the agency rolled out 78 tenders - an average of one every 4.5 days - an 8 per cent increase from 2006.

SLA's chairman Greg Seow also announced on Tuesday that SLA will focus on a new initiative in the coming year: Establishing a national spatial data infrastructure to support geographic information exchange across government agency networks

'This initiative is significant as it aids in both strategic planning and operations for the appropriate agencies. It will also demonstrate a government-wide approach to problem solving and resource sharing.'

中国楼市调整将加深 超五成受访者十一不看房

Source :《联合早报网》September 22, 2008

东方网9月22日消息：一系列统计数据都显示，楼市走向并不乐观。8月份，北京市房屋销售同比价格指数继续下行，涨幅比上月回落1.3个百分点，环比价格与上月持平，为今年以来的首次停涨。有业内分析人士表示，如果市场上成交量继续萎缩，房地产市场调整还将进一步加深。针对广州，有研究认为，虽然十一黄金周行情将启动，但10月份广州楼市可能依然以调整为主。

对房地产市场的统计数无不显示，行业下行已经成为主流。16日，发改委、统计局发布数据显示，8月份，全国70个大中城市房屋销售价格同比上涨5.3%，涨幅比7月低1.7个百分点；环比下降0.1%。包括广州、深圳等城市的新房价格出现负增长。而18日公布的数据表明，8月份国房景气指数环比7月份又回落了0.58点，这已是该指数环比连续9个月滑落。

万科总裁：房企日子好过得很

有分析人士指出，房地产市场进入寒冬摆在眼前，房企的日子也越来越难过。但也有业界人士表示，房地产市场目前只是比去年最热的时候稍稍降了一点温而已。

万科集团总裁郁亮表示，虽然行业出现调整，但房企日子仍然好得很，很多房企因为去年日子太好了，现在把一点“调整”也说成是“水深火热”。目前虽然房地产企业喊“难”，但真正因经营难而倒下的几乎为零。一位房地产资深分析人士也对记者表示，任何行业的调整都需要一个时间段，而房地产调整不可能在半年或几个月就可能完成，他认为，未来一段时间房地产市场仍然处在调整当中。而北京师范大学金融研究中心主任钟伟一份最新研究报告显示，房价调整才刚拉开序幕。

超五成受访者“十一”不看房

随着整体市场继续调整，广州市场难以独善其身，甚至房价领跌全国。8月份全国70个大中城市房屋销售价格统计结果显示，珠三角三个城市房价增幅下跌，其中，广州以3.3%的跌幅位列第二。分析认为，传统“金九银十”的旺季行情今年可能有点悬。

满堂红置业专家介绍，进入8月以来该店广州的客流量与上月同期相比减少了一至两成左右，成交量也较上月同期减少10%左右。

满堂红专业人士表示，由于笋盘或者投资客手中的盘已经被前半年的市场消化的差不多了，而且下半年是一手楼集中推货的时期，届时将有大量的一手房进入市场对二手楼市也形成一定的冲击力，因此，10月份广州楼市仍然处在向下调整当中。

网易商业和寒桐投资顾问公司对广州楼市“金九银十”的调查显示，国庆前后，有55%的受访者表示不会去看房。而71.1%的受访者认为目前房价仍然太高，还有较大的下降空间。

(来源：　广州日报)

万国优质组屋首享三保证

Source : 《联合早报》September 21, 2008

建屋发展局于2005年4月推出“三大保证”计划（ASSURE 3），向屋主担保若新组屋出现三个特定问题，当局将免费修理。位于万国地铁站附近的四座四房式优质组屋就是首批拥有这三个新保证的组屋邻里。

在“三大保证”计划下，建屋局保证从2005年开始发展的新组屋厕所和厨房的天花板五年不会漏水、墙壁五年不会渗水，以及混凝土10年不会脱落。在保证期内，组屋如果出现这三个问题，建屋局将免费修理。

国家发展部高级政务部长傅海燕（左三）昨天在建屋局局长郑锦宝的陪同下，参观位于万国地铁站附近的四座四房式优质组屋。

这也意味着，所有从即日起购买新组屋的屋主，也将自动在“三大保证”计划下获益。

在这之前，屋主拿到新组屋的钥匙后，只享有一年的保证期。在这一年内，建屋局会为建筑方面出现的缺陷问题负责，并承担相关费用。

如今，建屋局将针对这三大常见问题给予屋主额外的保障。不过，屋主也必须遵守一些原则，否则保证将被取消。例如屋主更改厕所和厨房的地砖，有可能会破坏建屋局原本安装的防漏水系统。

第一个提出 长期住用保证

这个保证将同时为市镇理事会带来好处，因为三个保证涵盖的范围也包括组屋外、由市镇会管理的公共场所。建屋局是第一个提出长期住用保证的房屋发展商。

位于盛港中的第270A及第271A至C座组屋，是首批在“三大保证”计划下受惠的组屋邻里。这四座组屋最迟将在下月竣工。这个名为“Tivela”的组屋邻里共有374个四房式优质组屋单位，建在盛港中路和盛港东道交界处，于2005年推出供公众预购。

国家发展部兼教育部高级政务部长傅海燕及白沙—榜鹅集选区议员张思乐昨天下午参观了这个新组屋邻里。

傅海燕受访时说，由于建屋局不断改良设计及建筑组屋的技术，组屋品质才得以提升。

比如，新组屋厨房和厕所的UPVC水管和楼板同时安装好，因此无需采用灰泥固定水管，更好地确保厨房和厕所的天花板不会漏水。

窗户和墙壁也预先在工厂预先组装好，可减少窗框和墙壁间的缝隙，确保渗水问题减至最低。

新组屋也采用更高品质的混凝土，避免碳化作用，进而减少组屋外墙混凝土剥落。

傅海燕说：“我们（因此）非常有信心能够对我们新组屋的屋主提供这种保障计划，希望5到10年间，这些较常见的问题不会再出现。”

给屋龄高的 家居改进计划

她说，当局并不预计会收到很多有关这三方面建筑缺陷的投诉，因此由建屋局承担的修理费应该也不会很高。

因为这项计划只保证从2005年开始发展的新组屋，现有组屋的屋主因此不会受惠。对此，傅海燕说：“我们也没有完全忽略屋龄高的房子，我们有家居改进计划（Home Improvement Programme），这个计划就能帮助屋主修补洋灰剥落的问题。”

家居改进计划包括基本改进配套和选择性改进配套。基本配套包括维修剥落洋灰及结构性裂缝、更换排污管和竹竿撑管或安装晾衣架、提升电流供应系统。选择性改进配套则包括翻新厕所、更换大门、铁门和垃圾槽拉门。

至于是否能将保证期延长超过10年，傅海燕回答说，这和建筑成本有直接关系。如果当局要兴建品质特别高的组屋，建筑成本将大幅度增加，一些居民恐怕负担不起，当局必须找出平衡点。

刚在昨天领钥匙的傅丽珍（27岁，财务员）告诉记者，她当初申请这个预购组屋时，并不知道有“三大保证”计划。

她受访时说：“我去年通过建屋局网站才得知有这项计划，知道后感到欣慰。我母亲的组屋天花板经常渗水，现在新组屋出现相同问题时，就不必担心了。”

万国邻里商店变「包租婆」

位于万国地铁站附近的四座优质组屋除了是首批拥有三大保证的组屋邻里，这里的邻里商店也是第一批出租给总租户（master tenant），由总租户分租的邻里商场。

这个邻里商场今年中开始营业，由Kopitiam咖啡店集团经营分租。商场有一家超级市场、一家食阁、两家餐馆，以及11家售卖各种生活用品的商店，总店面为2315平方公尺。

国家发展部兼教育部高级政务部长傅海燕昨天参观邻里商场后受访时说，总租户将商店分租出去的好处是有更大的主动权，可以决定邻里的商店组合，更好地应付居民需求。

这种出租模式目前反应不错

傅海燕说，这种出租模式可行，目前得到的反应不错，建屋局已做好准备探讨将此模式推广到其他组屋邻里的可行性。

她说：“总租户可以更好地协调商场的促销活动……也能更好地管理个别租户。”

Kopitiam集团营运与业务发展助理董事林文俊说：“我们从sengkang.com的论坛网站和居民委员会得知居民对邻里商场的要求，再决定将店面出租给谁，满足居民的需求。”

他说：“我们也特地安排了两间面包店，让它们通过竞争压低价格，居民可以从中省钱。”