News Highlights Thursday 29 May 2008

Tian Hock wins Choa Chu Kang Drive tender
URA awarded the tender for a residential site at Choa Chu Kang Drive to Tian Hock Properties. Tian Hock Properties, a unit of Far East Organization, was top bidder for the site at $116.01 million, or $203 psf ppr. The 99-year leasehold site has a maximum gross floor area of 572,600 sq ft. Market watchers' estimates of the breakeven cost of a new development on the site range from $550-$600 psf, translating to a selling price of $610-$650 psf.

- The Business Times, P9



S'pore ranked 9th on costs of office occupancy: CBRE
Singapore has emerged as the ninth most expensive office market in CB Richard Ellis's latest semi-annual Global Market Rents survey. Singapore was ranked 11th in the last survey in November last year and 24th in the May 2007 survey. Singapore posted an 86% in office occupancy costs over the 12 months ended March 31, 2008 – the third highest 12-month increase in occupancy costs. CBRE said with significant new office supply coming on stream through the next few years, Singapore's medium- to long-term term competitiveness in premises costs is assured. For Q1 this year, the average monthly prime office rental was $16 psf, up 6.7% from the preceding quarter of $15 psf. CBRE projects that the figure will edge up to $17 psf by end-2008 and $17.50 psf by end-2009. CBRE also said that office occupancy costs are continuing to defy sluggish economic conditions and the credit crunch, as they rise faster than global inflation.

- The Business Times, P32




Stansfield wins tenancy auction of its premises
Stansfield Group won a Singapore Land Authority (SLA) tenancy auction, allowing it to continue leasing its existing eight-storey premises at 11 Penang Lane from SLA for a further period of up to 9 years. Stansfield's winning bid was for $270,000 monthly rental for a three-year lease term. This works out to $7.96 psf based on the building's gross floor area of 33,905 sq ft. This monthly rental is over 6 times the $40,000-plus it had paid SLA under the lease that has just expired. A total of 10 parties took part in the bidding. Separately, Knight Frank sold two properties - a building at 466 Serangoon Road for $3.2 million and a 1,399-sq-ft ground-floor shop unit at Tembeling Centre in East Coast that fetched $1.31 million.

- The Business Times, P31




Fewer expats expected to fill top posts in 5 years
Top executives at large companies in emerging Asian countries such as China and India are likely to be local talent in 5 years' time, instead of high-cost expatriates. This is among the key findings of a new survey conducted by the Association of Executive Search Consultants, the global grouping representing top-level headhunting firms in 70 countries. Only 8% of the 62 respondents estimated that most senior executive roles would be filled by expats in 2013, as compared to 54% in 1998.

- The Straits Times, H20




New vision for Kallang Riverside
The Kallang Riverside refers to the areas on both sides of the Kallang River, bounded by Nicoll Highway, Kallang Road and Sims Way. Kallang Riverside aims to become a major commercial hub outside the city centre. There will be over 200,000 square metres of new office space added to the area. With a total land area of 64 hectares available for development, Kallang Riverside is to be transformed into a new lifestyle district, offering waterfront homes with a mix of retail and entertainment facilities. The proposed 4,000 new waterfront homes will have a range of heights and varying residential plot ratios of 3.5 to 5.6 for the area to the west of the Kallang River.
- Writers: Knight Frank

- The Business Times, P4 - Supplement




Creating more buzz in the Central Area
The Central Area lies at the heart of the Central Region and includes the sub-zones of the Downtown Core, Singapore River, River Valley, Outram, Museum, Rochor, Newton and Orchard, as well as new areas for development comprising the sub-zones Marina East, Marina South and Straits View. The confirmed supply of new office space in Singapore in the next 5 years is estimated to be about 10.2 million sq ft and about 44% of these new office buildings would be in Marina Bay, and would be of Grade A quality. 64% of the future office supply islandwide would be Grade A buildings. The government is also investing in significant infrastructure. In the LTA's Land Transport Masterplan, the rail transit network would increase from the present 138 km to 278 km by 2020.
Writer: CBRE Research Director

- The Business Times, P4 - Supplement




Paya Lebar Master Plan is long overdue
The key strengths of Paya Lebar Central are its proximity to the city, its cultural heritage and its future MRT interchange. Paya Lebar's cultural heritage also means it has strong tourism potential. The edge that Paya Lebar Central has over other areas is its cultural heritage. Geylang Serai has lent the area much-needed authenticity.
Writer: Chesterton International

- The Business Times, P6 - Supplement




Plans to improve urban spaces
The 2008 Draft Master Plan has not only respected the organic development trends, it has also accepted and recognised other key market forces that would help improve the quality of living in Singapore. The 2008 Draft Master Plan has also proposed more housing in key areas where demand has been strongest. The urban planners have proposed an additional 300,000-plus housing units (both private and public) islandwide with an emphasis on 'water-fronting'. The largest increase is in the central and north-east regions where some 39% and 38% of additional housing units (over the existing stock) have been proposed.
Writer: Jones Lang LaSalle Head of Research

- The Business Times, P8 – Supplement




Japan's property industry downgraded by Morgan
Japan's real estate industry was downgraded to 'in-line' from 'attractive' by Morgan Stanley. The collapse of the sub-prime market in the US has made it harder for Japanese developers and funds to borrow. Condominiums for sale in the Tokyo region dropped for an eighth month in April, as rising prices discouraged potential buyers.

- The Business Times, P31


­ST Index change 3,132.78 (+17.43)
SIBOR (3 mths): 1.37500 (S$)
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