Developers make their mark here and abroad

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real...ere-and-abroad

Developers make their mark here and abroad

By Kalpana Rashiwala

[email protected]@KalpanaBT

Oct 22, 2015


SINGAPORE'S most established developers have won international awards for their projects and have collectively raised the bar in the local real estate market.

The key players in the past few decades include Far East Organization, Hong Leong Group (which includes City Developments), Wing Tai Holdings, Pontiac Land Group, UOL Group and more recently, CapitaLand.

Unlisted property giant Far East Organization, for instance, has developed more than 760 projects in the residential, hospitality, retail, commercial, healthcare and industrial space segments including 49,000 or one in six private homes in the country.

CapitaLand, formed from the 2000 merger of DBS Land and Pidemco Land, set up Singapore's first real estate investment trust - CapitaLand Mall Trust - in 2002. "We pioneered a new capital-efficient business model for real estate companies," said Lim Ming Yan, president and group CEO.

Hong Leong Group, founded in 1941, has put Singapore on the global hotel map. "From just one hotel in the 1970s, we have grown to more than 170 (including over 20 hotels in the pipeline), totalling over 45,000 rooms in more than 20 countries," said Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman. "Today, we have hotels in key gateway cities of London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore. Our London-listed hotel arm Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, which we floated in 1996, is one of the biggest Asian-controlled hotel groups."

The group went on to mint Singapore's first hotel Reit, CDL Hospitality Trusts, in 2006.

Hong Leong Group, including its Singapore-property arm City Developments, has developed about 30,000 homes in Singapore over the decades.

Pontiac Land Group, founded in 1961, pioneered the trend of luxury residences designed by internationally renowned star architects. It worked with Paul Rudolph for The Colonnade along Grange Road (completed in 1986), which till today is held up as an icon of Singapore real estate. Pontiac also engaged Ben van Berkel for Ardmore Residence (2013) and Kerry Hill for HANA (2015).

The group has also worked with starchitects for its hotels and office developments. Pontiac's The Regent Singapore along Cuscaden Road was American architect John Portman's first project outside the US. For Pontiac's Millenia Singapore development in the Marina Centre locale, it engaged Pritzker Prize laureate Kevin Roche for the two office towers Millenia Tower and Centennial Tower.

Wing Tai Holdings "was among the first to embrace art and heritage in the architecture" of its developments, said the group's deputy chairman, Edmund Cheng. The group has installed artwork in condo projects such as Flame Tree Park in Upper Thomson Road, Belle Vue Residences, Helios Residences on Cairnhill Circle. When Wing Tai developed the Draycott 8 condo, it did a voluntary conservation of a two-storey 1920s colonial bungalow and converted it into a modern clubhouse - in addition to adorning the project with 21 artwork pieces.

The group's origins were in manufacturing. "Our pioneering role in Singapore's economic development as a garment manufacturer enabled us to grow in tandem with the country during the early years post-independence. We were one of the largest employers, took in unskilled labour and trained them . . ." said Mr Cheng.

UOL Group, controlled by the family of Wee Cho Yaw, has also come a long way. "We are an integral part of the Singapore story and closely associated with the city-state's changing skyline in the past 50 years," said chief executive Gwee Lian Kheng. "We started small but our entrepreneurial spirit quickly led us to be a forerunner in building quality private residential developments with early projects such as Faber Garden Condominium, Mount Echo Park and Orchard Bel Air and more recently award-winning projects like Nassim Park Residences and Newton Suites."

The group also developed the iconic Parkroyal on Pickering, designed by WOHA and for which it won Gold in the hotel category at the World FIABCI Prix d' Excellence Award 2014.

On the corporate front, UOL has made significant acquisitions. In 2009 , during the global financial crisis, the group raised its stake in United Industrial Corporation (UIC), making it an associate company. Over the years, UOL has gradually added its interest in UIC to 44 per cent. In turn, UIC owns more than 99 per cent of Singapore Land - which was privatised in 2014. "The increased shareholding in UIC enlarges UOL Group's exposure to UIC and SingLand's quality commercial assets in the Singapore CBD - such as Singapore Land Tower, Gateway, and Clifford Centre," said Mr Gwee.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real...s-in-q3-survey

Singapore property developer sentiment worsens in Q3: survey

Some 83% of respondents say cooling measures should be lifted or tweaked over the next 6 months

By Lynette Khoo

[email protected]@LynetteKhooBT

Oct 23, 2015


SENTIMENT among developers here weakened in the third quarter of this year, going by the Real Estate Sentiment Index (RESI) that was derived from a survey.

The biggest concerns are an expected slowdown in the global economy, and rising inflation and interest rates. The majority of respondents felt that the government should lift or tweak the existing cooling measures over the next six months.

The RESI is jointly developed by the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (Redas) and the Department of Real Estate at the National University of Singapore (NUS). A total of 64 respondents took part in the third-quarter survey.

The Current Sentiment Index, which tracks changes in developer sentiment in the past six months, dipped to 3.7 in Q3 from 3.9 in Q2. The Future Sentiment Index that tracks changes in sentiment over the next six months slipped to 3.7 from 4.0 in Q2.

The Composite Sentiment Index, an overall derived index, dipped to 3.7 from 3.9 in Q2. The indices range up to 10 each, with 5.0 being the neutral point. The last time the composite index was above 5.0 was in Q4, 2010.

NUS associate professor Sing Tien Foo noted that the weak market sentiment has spilled over to prime retail and office sectors in this year's Q3. "More respondents have called for the removal of some of the cooling measures, such as ABSD (additional buyer's stamp duty) and SSD (seller's stamp duty) to arrest the worsening market condition."

Sentiment for the prime retail sector remained solemn in Q3, with developers' sentiment over the past six months (current sentiment) marking a minus 57 per cent net balance, which is the difference between the proportion of respondents who chose positive options and those who chose negative options in the survey. Developers' sentiment for the sector over the next six months ("future sentiment") was also a negative 57 per cent net balance.

In the prime residential sector, "current sentiment" was a negative 50 per cent net balance while "future sentiment" was a negative 52 per cent. The office sector showed negative 48 per cent for "current sentiment" and negative 58 per cent for "future sentiment".

Some 92.2 per cent of the respondents expect weakness in the global economy to hurt market sentiment in the next six months. Some 76.6 per cent of the respondents also cited rising inflation and interest rates as potential risks. About 42.2 per cent expect the property market to face excessive supply from new launches.

In the Q3 survey, 60 per cent of the respondents expect a moderate decline in residential property prices in the next six months, up from 52.4 per cent in the Q2 survey. About 82.3 per cent of the respondents felt that developers should cut prices of new launches to move unsold stock.

For a new question posed on cooling measures, 83.1 per cent of the respondents felt that the government should lift or tweak existing measures over the next six months.

Some 60.8 per cent felt that the ABSD should be lifted and more than half indicated that the SSD should be lifted.