Punggol Town Centre site up for bidding
HDB is launching a tender for a mixed commercial and residential site in Punggol Town Centre - the first site sale along the Punggol Waterway - and industry watchers expect the site to see healthy interest. Located at the junction of Punggol Central and Punggol Walk, the 99-year leasehold site has a maximum permissible gross floor area of 1.4 million sq ft. According to HDB, the site can potentially yield 542,501 sq ft of gross commercial space, and 685 dwelling units. It has a project completion period of seven years from the date of acceptance of the tender. The site expected to draw about seven bids, with the expected winner to fork out between $400- $450 psf ppr. Assuming that the project is launched in the second half of next year, the expected selling price of the apartments should be between $800-$850 psf.
- The Business Times, P35
URA releases sales conditions for 2 industrial sites
URA released the detailed sales conditions for two industrial sites: one at Kaki Bukit and another at Tuas View Square. These are two of the four new industrial sites to be released for sale under the Reserve List of the second half 2010 Industrial Government Land Sales Programme. The 30-year leasehold land parcel at Kaki Bukit Road 4 has a site area of about 2.45 ha and a maximum permissible gross plot ratio of 1. It is zoned for Business 2 development. Under the Business 2 zoning, the site can be developed for uses such as light industry, general industry, and warehousing. The second plot at Tuas View Square has a site area of about 0.44 ha and a maximum permissible gross plot ratio of 0.9. It will have a lease period of 45 years and has also been zoned for Business 2 development. The use of land in the area is 'highly specific and predominated by end-users including marine, pharmaceutical and engineering services'. Developers interested in purchasing the sites can now apply to URA for them to be put up for tender.
- The Business Times, P35
Bukit Panjang LRT and MRT to be linked
A new bus interchange between the existing LRT station and a new station on the Downtown MRT Line in Bukit Panjang will allow commuters to seamlessly transfer from either line. The interchange - which may be air-conditioned - will be integrated with residential and commercial developments on a site in Jelebu Road and Petir Road.
The 1.89ha site, now partly occupied by an open-air bus interchange, was offered up for sale last Friday by the URA. The Downtown Line, scheduled to come up in 2015, is to be situated 120m from the LRT line, making transfers inconvenient. The bus interchange will provide a seamless link. The site on sale has a 99-year lease with a maximum permissible gross floor area of 56,864 sq m, with at least 35per cent of this area set aside for commercial use, the URA said. The MRT station, scheduled to open by 2015, is part of the Downtown Line that will run to the city centre, to places such as Bugis and Marina Bay. The Bukit Panjang development is in line with efforts to make public transport attractive, by making transfers seamless between bus and rail, as well as to link commuters to commercial activities. Similar public transport hubs operate in Toa Payoh, Sengkang, Ang Mo Kio and Boon Lay. Two others, in Serangoon and Clementi, are due to open by next year.
- The Straits Time, B4
New rule may weigh on prices of luxury condos
Many developers have picked their time to launch developments when sentiments are good and decent prices can be charged. But under the rule changes which are expected to kick in early next year, they may lose this luxury. If they bust the project completion period on sites bought from private sector sources, they stand to lose not just the 10 per cent bankers' guarantee for land cost, but could also end up making huge payments for time extension. All this could force them to launch earlier than they might like and affect prices. The median price of new luxury condo transactions stood at $3,265 per square foot in Q3 this year, an increase of 18.7 per cent year to date. A question mark now hangs over whether the previous peak median price of $3,750 psf can be scaled next year. The catch is the amendment to the Residential Property Act that will apply to private residential projects undertaken by foreign housing developers with Qualifying Certificates (QCs), a category which effectively covers all listed developers. Such projects, built on residential sites bought from private-sector sources, will in future have to be completed within the stipulated project completion period (PCP). Otherwise, the developers may not only lose their bankers' guarantees as is the case currently but also have to pay the state for any time extension. Below estimates by BT show that generally developers who bought sites through collective sales and other private sector sources in the 2006-2007 period are likely to have to complete their projects on them by 2014-2015, if they don't wish to make hefty payments to the state for any time extension.
- The Business Times, P1
Non-landed private home prices fall 0.7% in October
Prices of non-landed private homes fell 0.7 % in October, according to the monthly index compiled by the National University of Singapore (NUS). NUS' Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) shows overall home prices fell last month, after having climbed 1.1 % per month in both August and September. The last time the overall index fell was in July, when it dipped 0.1 %. NUS has been compiling the index since March this year. October's drop was caused by falling prices in the 'central' and 'non-central' locations. Home prices in central locations fell 1.1 % last month, after climbing 0.9 % in September. The central SRPI last fell in July, by 0.8 %. The non-central SRPI dipped 0.5 % in October - the first time it has fallen since NUS started compiling the index. The non- central SRPI rose 1.3 % in September. Year-to-date, the overall SRPI is up 10.7 %. Non-central prices are up 12.8 %, while prices in the central region have climbed a smaller 8.1 %. As a result, the overall SRPI flash estimate for October is 7.6 % above its November 2007 high. Analysts expect mass market home prices to moderate, given the impending large supply of development sites being offered for sale by the government. But it will have little impact on the mid-tier and luxury home prices, which could rise further, given the positive economic outlook for next year. NUS' index, which is compiled by the Institute of Real Estate Studies, was launched to serve as a resource for developing property derivatives in Singapore. It is computed using the market values of a basket of completed properties. Uncompleted projects are not included in the basket, as price movements for such projects can be different from those in the rest of the market. But the impact of new launches on the prices of completed properties in the vicinity is factored in.
- The Business Times, P35
Economists raise S'pore's growth forecasts for 2011
With 2011 just a month away, several economists have raised their growth forecasts for the Singapore economy next year - to beyond the official forecast range in some cases. Coming to the fore as a prime driver of this growth will be the services sector, even as the challenges of managing inflation and capital inflows persist. The Ministry of Trade and Industry is now looking at 4 to 6 per cent growth for 2011, which will be a sharp moderation from this year's record recovery but stays above the economy's estimated underlying growth potential of 3-5 per cent. Robust services growth will be led by tourism-related activities and the 'other services' segment which captures the two integrated resorts' contributions. Financial services are expected to be another key growth segment under services, as global firms position themselves to leverage on Asian growth. Regulatory tightening elsewhere has encouraged financial services firms to relocate some operations to Singapore.
- The Business Times, P2
Dutch company makes S'pore its regional base
A Dutch company which makes highly advanced chemical and food products has opened a regional hub here. Royal DSM will use its hub in the Apollo Centre in Havelock Road as a base, to help four of its units expand into the Asia-Pacific region.
The units make everything from super-strong fibres and plastics to special food products like enzymes and yeast extracts, and nutritional products such as vitamins and carotenoids. DSM Dyneema plans to open a technology centre here which will focus on life protection products, including devices like bulletproof cockpit doors in aircraft, said its parent company yesterday. Mr Pieter Nuboer, managing director of DSM Singapore, told a briefing yesterday that the number of employees here - now numbering about 180 - 'will definitely go up', though he declined to give a specific figure. He also explained why the company chose Singapore as its regional base.
'There is a big pool of high-quality talent in Singapore, and we also wish to tap into the huge investments that the Government is making in research and development,' Mr Nuboer said.
- The Straits Time, B15
Exchange Rates (extracted from xe.com)
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ST Index change: 3,163.86 (+5.65) *As at Tue 30 Nov 2010 09:32 AM
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