CapitaLand to launch freehold condo soon

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...90468,00.html?

Published August 2, 2008

CapitaLand to launch freehold condo soon


CAPITALAND plans to launch in the second half of this year a freehold condo - Urban Resort - with about 70 units on the Silver Tower site in Cairnhill. The average price is expected to be above $3,000 psf, CapitaLand Residential Singapore CEO Patricia Chia told reporters after the group announced second-quarter results.

CapitaLand has also sold 11 of the 40 units released so far at Latitude at Jalan Mutiara in the River Valley area at an average price of $2,400 to $2,500 psf. Over at Tong Watt Road, it has sold close to 30 of 80 units released recently at The Wharf Residence; prices range from $1,500 to $1,900 psf.

CapitaLand leads a consortium that will redevelop Farrer Court which is slated for launch in the first half of next year.

Asked about his outlook for the Singapore residential market, Mr Liew said: 'Demand is still very good for the mass market. (For) the mid-range, there are still good signs of take-up; I think prices are still holding well for the mid-range.

'But in the high-end, there's not going to be massive demand. (In terms of prices), obviously it won't be the $5,600 psf record price that we achieved for a penthouse at Orchard Residences last year. But prices will still be above $3,000 psf.

'So prices will still be way above the last peak, pre-Asian crisis. Demand is still there. People who sold their properties through en bloc sales still have to buy apartments,' he said.

Given Singapore's limited land resource and with population projected to grow to 6.5 million, in the 'long term, property prices will go up', Mr Liew said, adding: 'It's a no-brainer.'

'I think we're overinfected with the housing slump in the US. That sort of mood comes to Singapore that property prices (here) will (also) go down. But look at the fundamentals, look at demand fundamentals. I think we are much stronger in Asia,' Mr Liew noted.

The group's earnings are underpinned by progressive recognition of $4 billion residential sales in Singapore in 2006 and 2007.

CapitaLand's chief investment officer Kee Teck Koon said that in Singapore, the group has hardly any residential stock or inventory that it is holding. 'So there is no issue of writing down. Most importantly, those new projects we've got, we have underwritten a value that is very supportable even at current prices,' he added.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...90437,00.html?

August 1, 2008, 2.47 pm (Singapore time)

CapitaLand plans condo launch


CapitaLand plans to launch in second-half 2008 a freehold condo named Urban Resort with about 70 units on the Silver Tower site in Cairnhill. The average price will definitely be above S$3,000 psf, CapitaLand Residential Singapore CEO Patricia Chia told reporters after the group announced Q2 net earnings.

'I will be quite disappointed if it's below S$3,000 psf,' CapitaLand Group president and CEO Liew Mun Leong said.

The property giant has also sold 11 of the 40 units released so far at Latitude at Jalan Mutiara in the River Valley area at an average price of S$2,400 to S$2,500 psf. Over at Tong Watt Road, it has sold close to 30 of 80 units released recently at The Wharf Residence; prices range from S$1,500 to S$1,900 psf.

The project has a total 127 units. Latitude comprises 127 units in total.

CapitaLand leads a consortium that will redevelop Farrer Court. -- KALPANA RASHIWALA BT NEWSROOM

http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/St...ry_263714.html

Aug 2, 2008

CapitaLand gains dive, flat property market expected

Interim earnings halved to $763m, but condo launches won't be held back

By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent


PROPERTY giant CapitaLand expects the market to stay sluggish for a while but it is still preparing to launch three mid- to high-end condos here before Christmas.

'For outlook...it'll probably be very flat,' said chief executive Liew Mun Leong at a results briefing yesterday that unveiled a plunge in first-half profit.

Prices in general will be 'quite flat', with a correction seen in the high-end segment, said Mr Liew after the meeting. He added that demand for mass market homes is 'still very good' while mid-end home prices are holding well.

The picture in the high-end segment is not as rosy as prices have fallen after buyers bailed out of the market overnight. But CapitaLand said high-end prices remained relatively high.

'High-end volume will slow down, prices will not hit $5,000 psf but will still be above $3,000 psf,' said Mr Liew. 'As I keep saying, it is much more than pre-Asian financial crisis prices.' Home prices reached around $2,400 per square foot (psf) at the 1996 peak.

CapitaLand said in its results statement that sentiment in the local property market is likely to remain cautious for the rest of the year until there is greater stability in the global financial markets and improved credit environment.

But demand is still there, it said. Against this backdrop, CapitaLand is planning to release two projects in River Valley - the 127-unit Latitude in Jalan Mutiara and the 186-unit The Wharf Residence in Tong Watt Road.

It will also launch Urban Resort, which will have about 70 units on the former Silver Tower site in Cairnhill, at above $3,000 psf.

Pre-launch sales have started at the two River Valley projects. CapitaLand said it has sold 11 out of 40 units at an average of $2,400 to $2,500 psf during the preview for Latitude in the first half of the year. It has also sold 'close to 30' of 80 units at $1,500 to $1,900 psf since the preview for The Wharf held three weeks ago.

Meanwhile, CapitaLand reported a 43.5 per cent drop in second-quarter net profit to $515.2 million on the back of a 12.3 per cent fall in revenue to $820.1 million. The drop came largely on lower home sales and amid an absence of one-off gains.

First-half profit was $762.7 million, down nearly 50 per cent, while revenue fell 7.7 per cent to $1.45 billion.

CapitaLand has had to delay the launch of residential projects in China due to bad weather delaying construction.

Earnings before interest and tax from overseas contributed 54 per cent of the total, as China's contribution rose on the fair value gain of Raffles City Shanghai. Australia's contribution fell nearly 82 per cent due to provision for foreseeable losses on development projects and lower fair value gains.

Second-quarter earnings per share was 18.3 cents, down from 32.6 cents last year, while net asset value per share reached $3.68, up from $3.54 at the end of last year.

CapitaLand shares fell 23 cents to $5.47 yesterday.

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http://www.todayonline.com/articles/268464.asp

Weekend, August 2, 2008

No rush to the high-end??

Mass market take-up rate still good despite slowdown in luxury sector

KELVIN CHOW

[email protected]


THERE are still signs of life in the mass housing market, despite signs that the luxury sector is flattening out, according to the head of Singapore’s biggest developer.

“The outlook for Singapore residential prices will probably be very flat,” said Mr Liew Mun Leong, chief executive of CapitaLand. “The mass market take-up rate is still very good and for the mid-range tier, the prices are holding out well. But people will not be buying aggressively for the high-end sector now.”

He likened last year’s rush to buy luxury homes to watch-collecting.

“If you observe the high-end buyers, they are not buying for investment purposes but as a second or third property in Asia.” he said. “For the high-end property, the prices will still hover around$3,000 per square foot.”

In coming months, CapitaLand is targeting to launch 186 units at The Wharf Residences and 127 units at Latitude. Both are mid-tier developments in the River Valley area.

The recent slowdown in both local and regional property markets reduced CapitaLand’s profits in the first half of this year.

It yesterday posted earnings of $762 million, some 44 per cent lower than $1.5 billion recorded this time last year when profits were boosted by an exceptional gain from the sale of Temasek Tower.

“We have done well for this period, the profits booked so far have surpassed the $750 million for the full year of 2006.” said Mr Liew.

Even so, the slowdown in the Singapore property sector locally is evident, with overseas earnings contributing 54 per cent of the earnings before tax, up from 31 per cent last year.

On the international front, CapitaLand has a Malaysian retail real estate investment trust of about RM2 billion ($840 million) on track to launch by year-end. The fund will be listed in Kuala Lumpur and would bring its stable of property trusts to six.

While in Abu Dhabi, CapitaLand is building about 9,000 homes in joint venture with Mubadala Development Company. Sales are due to begin in late this year.