A pair of new Build-to-Order (BTO) projects have been launched by the HDB in Choa Chu Kang and Hougang.

Called Limbang Green and Buangkok Vale, the flats will cost from a low of $64,000 for a Studio flat to a high of $288,000 for a 4-room unit.

The Housing and Development Board said in a news release on Tuesday that the new flats are priced below their equivalent market prices and most of the 2- to 4-room flats will be set aside for first-time buyers.

The latest BTO project will offer a total of 1,291 standard flats with 646 units being 4-room flats and the rest being Studio Apartments (276 units), 2-room flats (128 units) and 3-room flats (241 units).

The development in Choa Chu Kang, called Limbang Green, will have 592 standard flats, comprising 276 Studio Apartments, 128 units of 3-room flats and 188 units of 4-room flats.

The selling price for the Limbang Green flats range from $64,000 to $89,000 for a Studio Apartment; $140,000 to $169,000 for a 3-room flat; and $226,000 to $278,000 for a 4-room flat.

At Hougang, the Buangkok Vale project offers 699 standard flats, comprising 128 units of 2-room flats, 113 units of 3-room flats and 458 units of 4-room flats.

The Buangkok Vale units are priced from $88,000 to $111,000 for a 2-room flat; $142,000 to $182,000 for a 3-room flat; and $231,000 to $288,000 for a 4-room flat.

The HDB said that it aims to keep public housing affordable for first-time homebuyers, and that the market prices take into account the prices of resale flats in the area – adjusted for factors such as location, flat attributes, project design and prevailing market conditions, as determined by professional valuers.

In a month’s time, the HDB also plans to launch another 1,500 flats in Punggol and Woodlands and if there is sustained demand, more BTO projects can be expected, bringing the number of new BTO flats to about 12,000 this year.

In addition, tenders are being called for the sale of two Executive Condominum (EC) housing sites at Buangkok Drive and Yishun Ave 11.

Introduced in 1995, the Executive Condominium Housing Scheme (ECHS) offers households with income of up to $10,000 a month, strata-titled apartments with facilities comparable to private condominiums but with initial eligibility and ownership restrictions similar to public housing.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has meanwhile put up for sale by public tender, its first residential site to be sold in 2010 through the Confirmed List under the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme.

The residential site at Choa Chu Kang Road / Woodlands Road is earmarked for an integrated commercial and residential development, that is co-located with the Ten Mile Junction LRT station.

A 3-storey podium block comprising commercial space and the Ten Mile Junction LRT station is already built and in operation.

The current sale will only include the existing commercial development and the future residential development to be built above the podium.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 5 Jan 2010

One of Singapore’s integrated resorts, Resorts World Sentosa, will begin opening its doors in phases from January 20.

The resort said its four hotels – Crockfords Tower, Hotel Michael, Festive Hotel and Hard Rock Hotel Singapore – will be opened on that day.

Resorts World Sentosa began operations at two of its four hotels on Tuesday, and employees and their families were the resort’s main guests before the hotels’ public opening.

Resorts World Sentosa’s chief executive, Tan Hee Teck, said the phased schedule would allow the resort and its 10,000 employees to run in operations and deliver the expected guest experience.

The integrated resort (IR) said it is working closely with the authorities to obtain approvals for Universal Studios Singapore, which will open next.

As for the casino’s opening date, it will be announced when the IR gets notice of its casino licence.

Together, the four hotels offer a combined inventory of 1,350 rooms and 10 restaurant outlets at their opening.

Another two hotels at the resort – Equarius Hotel and Spa Villas – will add another 500 rooms when they are launched in phase two after this year.

The IR will also open the world’s largest Marine Life Park and its Maritime Experiential Museum in the second phase.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 5 Jan 2010

Knight Frank Singapore is reorganising its operations along five lines – advisory, residential, commercial, property management and retail. Each division is headed by a managing director, who will provide strategic leadership to their unit and identify and groom the next tier and next generation of leaders.

The change was made after the property firm reviewed its operations in preparation for the next market growth phase. The aim is create better synergy and promote cross-selling. ‘We want clients to look at Knight Frank as an organisation staffed with pro-active and professional personnel who are best in class,’ said group managing director Danny Yeo.

With the reorganisation, the company has three new managing directors – Lydia Sng, Peter Ow and Foo Suan Peng. Ms Sng was promoted from executive director for valuation to managing director for advisory services; Mr Ow from executive director for residential to managing director for residential services; and Mr Foo from executive director for investment sales to managing director for commercial services. Jordan Neo will continue as managing director for property management services.

The company is also taking steps to renew its talent pool. ‘We will actively recruit talent from the industry, locally and abroad, and provide opportunities for existing staff to stretch and demonstrate their capabilities,’ it said.

Knight Frank has also reviewed its salary structure and incentive schemes to motivate staff to excel.

Source : Business Times – 5 Jan 2010

JTC Corporation has unveiled two new concepts that could optimise land use and promote synergy within industries.

The first involves a giant hoisting system to move bulky goods to a company’s doorstep – even if it is on a high floor. This would allow developers to build taller industrial facilities and intensify land use by at least 20 per cent.

The second concept looks at housing factories, warehouses and workers’ dormitories in a single complex.

With shared driveways and fewer setbacks needed, land take-up could be cut about 35 per cent.

JTC started examining the two concepts last year and expects to complete its study this year.

‘We are looking at feasibility now,’ said land planning division director Josephine Loke. ‘When we are ready, we will share with industrialists to get their buy-in and feedback.’

JTC staff got the idea for the first concept – a cluster industrial complex with mega hoist – from seeing how cranes at ports worked.

They developed the idea and came up with a design that incorporates a huge hoist in the middle of a complex. Factories can occupy one side of the complex and warehouses the other, sharing the hoist and loading bay for moving goods.

The complex could be five storeys, with a plot ratio of 2.5. This is 23 per cent higher than the plot ratio for stack-up factories at Woodlands Spectrum 1 and 2, which is 2.04.

And because there is no need for a vehicle ramp for trucks to transport goods to higher floors, the design saves up to 0.5 ha of land area.

Industries which could fit into such a complex include those in electronics and precision engineering.

The second design is based on a ‘plug-and-play’ concept. A row of warehouses, logistics facilities, car parks and other amenities will form a central ’spine’. Flatted factories and workers’ dormitories will be built on top of this spine.

Industrialists can then ‘plug in’ to this spine by building their own modular factories along it. At the same time, they can share car parks, access ways for moving goods and other amenities.

Locating various facilities together means less space needs to be set aside for internal driveways and setbacks.

This complex can have a plot ratio of 1.5, almost double the 0.85 for a type E9 standard factory today.

Both concepts are likely to be tested at Jurong. JTC is open to letting private-sector developers handle the projects, but it is also ready to take the lead if the projects turn out to be too intensive.

Source : Business Times – 5 Jan 2010

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels chairman Kwek Leng Beng is optimistic Singapore’s hospitality industry will recover this year.

He is seeing improved occupancy rates at his Singapore hotels and expects average room rates to recover soon, he told BT.

And with the opening of the two casino resorts, the local hospitality sector will be transformed, he believes.

The resorts will attract new and different types of visitors and the number of leisure and MICE arrivals is expected to increase, he said.

Many of these people will extend their stay to take in other attractions, so the hotel industry as a whole will benefit.

Mr Kwek, who was speaking during the New Year weekend, also believes all hotels that have been operating for more than two years should be making profits because of their low ‘cost-base’.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels owns or manages more than 120 hotels worldwide.

Source : Business Times – 5 Jan 2010

Mapletree Log Trust, Ascott Residence Trust are its picks

OCBC Investment Research has laid out three changes it hopes to see in the S-Reit sector for the year to improve corporate governance and transparency, and to yield more benefits to unit-holders.

One of the changes on its wishlist is for a substantial part of manager fees to be pegged to total shareholder return, and less on areas such as asset value and net property income (NPI).

Said OCBC Research’s Meenal Kumar: ‘Historically, S-Reits have relied heavily on acquisitions to grow both NPI and portfolio size, especially with the added kicker of acquisition fees. Depending on the pricing and financing structure, these two metrics can be increased with no net benefit (or even a cost) to unit-holders.’

She added: ‘No fee structure is perfect but we feel this issue warrants further attention and discussion.’

Ms Kumar also called for S-Reits to provide more transparency on their relationship with their sponsors. She said that the sector has a bias towards developer-sponsored Reits, which ‘are inextricably tied to their sponsors on several levels including property management, Reit management and through acquisition pipelines’. The current de-leveraging environment, she said, will see several sponsors sell their assets to their Reits. But while such pipelines can give S-Reits a competitive edge by providing investors with buying access to quality assets, ‘pricing and strategic benefit to the Reit is always a concern’, she said.

It will be good therefore ‘to see increased transparency of the acquisition decision-making process that goes beyond a comparison of the acquisition cost versus the independent valuation of the target property’, said Ms Kumar.

OCBC Research also hopes to see renewed focus on the value-add of proposed acquisitions as it expects Reits to return to the growth-via-acquisition strategy. ‘The market needs to ask harder questions including: Why is the Reit making this purchase? Does this purchase enhance the overall portfolio? What are the strategic considerations behind this decision? Is this a good buy on an un-leveraged basis?’ said Ms Kumar.

On top of laying out changes it hopes to see, OCBC Research also listed its top picks for S-Reits, namely Mapletree Logistics Trust and Ascott Residence Trust. It has a buy call for both plays, with a target price of 78 cents and $1.25 respectively for the two Reits. Mapletree Logistics Trust and Ascott Residence Trust closed trading yesterday at 78.5 cents and $1.28 respectively.

Ms Kumar said OCBC Research likes the valuations for both of these Reits, adding that Mapletree Logistics Trust has earnings stability and makes yield accretive acquisitions. Ascott Residence Trust’s earnings are also likely to increase on the back of the expected return of corporate travellers in 2010, she said.

OCBC Research also maintained its neutral rating on the sector as a whole, citing the sector’s ‘unexciting risk-reward ratio for 2010′. In its report on the sector in December, it stated that S-Reits trade on average at 0.78 times book, still below the 0.89 times average in 2006. It added that the potential 13.4 per cent increase from current levels is offset by book value risk from Q4 2009 revaluations. A 6.9 per cent potential upside from a distribution yield perspective is also offset by a mixed earnings outlook.

Source : Business Times – 5 Jan 2010