High-end home market going off the boil

Source : Business Times - 12 Sep 2008

Developers are testing the market to see if their projects will sell

MOST developers are still holding off launching luxury condominiums, but a few projects are slowly being put on the market.

Frasers Centrepoint has launched and sold about 30 units at its 302-unit Martin Place Residences, with apartments going for about $1,800 per square foot (psf) on average.

Martin Place Residences is in the River Valley neighbourhood in District 9.

And nearby, SC Global Developments said last week it had released and sold 30 apartments in its Martin No 38, which has 91 units in total.

The average price fetched was $2,130 psf, with sales coming at $1,881-$2,494 psf.

Developers are pushing out luxury condo projects cautiously, with most releasing them in small phases.

Many are also trying to test the market to see if their high-end homes will sell and gauge how much buyers will be willing to pay.

Yesterday, the en-bloc purchasers of Lincoln Lodge said they will be launching the new development on the site - Lincoln Suites - by early next year.

But the developers - Koh Brothers, Heeton Holdings, KSH Holdings and Lian Beng Group, which each have an equal stake in the project - will only release some of the project’s 175 units in the first phase.

And current residents of Lincoln Lodge will probably be allowed to stay in their homes well into next year.

‘We are not going to launch all the units at one go,’ said Francis Koh, chief executive of Koh Brothers. ‘The price will be determined by buyers’ willingness to buy.’

Prices will be similar to or ‘even lower than’ comparable projects nearby, Mr Koh said.

Units in the newly-built nearby development, Park Infinia at Wee Nam, are going for $1,300-$1,600, property consultants said.

The consortium bought Lincoln Lodge for $243 million, or $1,449 psf per plot ratio, including an estimated development charge of $413,000, in June last year at the height of the en bloc frenzy.

They then decided to hold off tearing down the existing project, and have instead allowed occupants to keep renting apartments for at least six months from the sale completion date in July this year.

Now, the showflat for Lincoln Suites will be built with Lincoln Lodge still standing.

Depending on the market response, the leases of the tenants could be extended past January next year.

Big demand for Marina Bay towers

Source : Straits Times - 11 Sep 2008

THE Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) is filling up fast even though it is about two years from completion, as tenants look for prime space amid the supply crunch.

Three foreign companies have just signed up for extensive office leases in Tower Two of the MBFC, helping to lift its occupancy level to two-thirds.

Tower One is already fully let.

Singapore’s fast-rising office rents look to be peaking, but the shortage is expected to largely remain until the second quarter of 2010, when the first two of the three MBFC towers are due for completion.

The latest tenants to sign up include two leading Australian companies.

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest diversified resources firm, will lease 142,000 sq ft on levels 44 to 50. Financial services firm Macquarie Group will lease more than 74,000 sq ft on levels 16 to 18. Both leases are for 10 years with options for renewal and expansion.

The third tenant is French software company, Murex South-east Asia, which has been hit by the office shortage.

It will move from its 12,000 sq ft office at Prudential Tower to its new 25,000 sq ft space on level 19 of MBFC’s Tower Two in 2010. ‘If we had found another 12,000 sq ft in Prudential Tower or nearby, we would not have to move,’ said the firm’s chief executive, Mr Guy Otayek.

As the firm is looking for prime space with large floor plates, MBFC is its only choice, he added. It has signed a six-year tenancy agreement. ‘The climate is not so positive now, but we are expanding for the long term,’ he added.

Overall, given the United States sub-prime crisis, financial institutions are postponing big pre-commitments, said a market watcher.

‘There is of course some caution among occupiers, but across the majority of our client base, we sense that there is underlying confidence in Singapore’s relative position,’ said Mr Moray Armstrong, executive director of CB Richard Ellis, MBFC’s marketing agent.

He added that the MBFC pre-leases were a good indicator that demand for quality space remained in positive territory, even though overall momentum had eased.