LAST year was a paradox for Singapore’s economy – for the first time ever, the economy shrank but employment grew.

Economic growth for 2009 came in at -2 per cent after taking a beating from the global financial crisis but job numbers grew 1.3 per cent, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said yesterday.

This was due to two factors – job support schemes such as Jobs Credit and the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience, and the labour-intensive construction sector.

The sector added 13,000 jobs last year when employment was at its bleakest, thanks to civil engineering works and a boom in the private property market. This was in stark contrast to previous recessions, which usually coincided with a property bust.

Initial forecasts had tipped that jobs would take a tumble since employment typically lags two to three quarters behind economic growth.

When the recession began in the second quarter of 2008, total employment followed the formula by falling in the first quarter of last year.

But a sharp rebound began in the third quarter and by December, employment had pushed past pre-crisis levels.

‘Compared to previous recessions, the peak-to-trough decline in employment during the 2008/2009 recession was uncharacteristically small and the turnaround unusually fast,’ said MTI.

Even though previous recessions in 1984/1985 and 2001 were of the same duration or shorter, the declines in employment then stretched for more than two years and resulted in more than 135,000 and 79,900 jobs lost respectively, it said.

Employment has recovered faster here than in other developed economies such as the United States, Britain and Japan.

Source: Straits Times, 20 Feb 2010

DEVELOPERS will be bringing forward their property launches over the next few months to satisfy strong demand from homebuyers, said Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas) president Simon Cheong yesterday.

But Mr Cheong, who was speaking at Redas’ spring festival lunch, warned that many developers are now facing depleting land banks following brisk home sales in recent months. Developers, he said, were surprised at the speed of the recovery in the property market.

Property groups including Allgreen Properties, CapitaLand, City Developments, Frasers Centrepoint, MCL Land and UOL Group are all looking to launch projects over the next few months.

‘Redas’ members are committed to fast track supply to satisfy demand to minimise excessive speculation in the property market,’ said Mr Cheong. ‘Hopefully when demand is satisfied, there will be less pressure for future anti-speculative measures.’

Property groups here appear to have shrugged off the measures introduced by the government last Friday to cool the market.

The government said that a seller’s stamp duty will be levied on those who buy a residential property and sell it within a year. Currently, stamp duty is levied only for the purchase of a property and not its sale. Also, the loan-to-value limit on housing loans will be lowered from 90 per cent to 80 per cent.

Developers said that while volumes might contract in the short term, demand for private homes is expected to hold up well this year. Sales of new private homes by developers rose to 1,476 units in January – three times as high as the previous month and the highest level since August last year.

‘Sentiment will initially see a knee-jerk reaction and be affected, but over time, people will realise … that the interest rate environment is still very low,’ said City Developments executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng at the group’s results briefing earlier in the day. ‘If you don’t buy today, by the time you want to buy, the prices could have gone up a lot more.’

City Developments group will roll out five projects with around 1,600 units this year – The Residences at W Singapore Sentosa Cove and one residential project each at Chestnut Avenue, Thomson Road, Pasir Ris and in the Dunearn Road area.

Other market players shared similar sentiments. Frasers Centrepoint CEO Lim Ee Seng believes that the most recent anti-speculation rules are unlikely to disturb the property market much.

Frasers Centrepoint will officially launch its 81-unit Residences Botanique along Sirat Road tomorrow. It also has two launches planned for Q2 – a 393-unit project on the former Flamingo Valley Site along Siglap Road and phase three of its Waterfront Collection along Bedok Reservoir.

The buzz in private home sales continued this week – even after the newest anti-speculation measures were announced.

At MCL Land’s preview of its Yishun condo The Estuary yesterday, most of the 200 units launched were snapped up at an average price of $750 per square foot. MCL Land will roll out another 120-150 units in the project over the coming weekend – with selective price increases – said chief executive Koh Teck Chuan.

‘So far, the impact (of the government measures) is not noticeable,’ said Mr Koh. But units and projects that are more popular with investors could see a drop-off in demand, he added. MCL Land will also preview its 65-unit D’Mira at Boon Teck Road in mid-March.

UOL Group also intends to launch two projects in April or May – a 616-unit development at Dakota Crescent and a 172-unit project on the former Rainbow Gardens site at Toh Tuck Road.

But depleting land banks were a concern, Mr Cheong said. Redas ‘is now looking forward to more sites in the confirmed list for developers to replenish their land banks’, he said.

‘We believe the long-term solution to a sustainable and stable market is still adequate supply,’ Mr Cheong noted.

One developer told BT that it is important for his counterparts and himself to have enough in their land banks. But ‘at the same time, we don’t want the government to flood the market and over-supply,’ he said.

He added: ‘The best thing for the government to do – which is something very difficult and I don’t envy them – is to try to sell just enough so that the market will not catch fire, and not sell too much so that the market will go under.’

Source: Business Times, 26 Feb 2010

PROPERTY developers say they are eager to bring forward project launches to ride the buoyant market but are being held back by their limited land bank.

They were caught by surprise at the rapid market recovery, they say.

‘Many of us are now caught with a depleting land bank,’ the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas) president Simon Cheong said.

‘We believe the long-term solution to a sustainable and stable market is still adequate supply,’ he added.

Credo Real Estate’s deputy managing director Tan Hong Boon summed up the mood: ‘You never know what will happen. While the going is still good, developers will want to launch quickly. This is particularly so for mass market projects.

The Government recently stepped up the supply of development sites after a lull, and believes supply is adequate.

Yesterday, a 3.02ha site at Hougang Avenue 2 was offered to developers. If interest is adequate, a tender will proceed.

Another reserve list site will be offered by May, on top of confirmed list sites, which are tendered without precondition.

The comments by Mr Cheong and Mr Tan at the Redas Chinese New Year lunch at Capella Singapore yesterday came a week after market cooling measures.

The Government imposed a duty sellers must pay if they sell within a year of purchase. It also capped bank loans at 80 per cent of a sale price, from 90 per cent.

Mr Cheong said developers want land supply fast-tracked to satisfy buyer demand to minimise speculation to ease the pressure for more anti-speculative steps.

‘Given the unexpected return of an active property market, developers over the next few months would also be actively bidding for more land,’ he said.

Redas members look forward to more confirmed list sites to replenish land banks, he said. They are looking to Government land, given limited sources of private land. A developer who declined to be named said private land owners were asking for the sky ’so we can’t buy’.

Mr Cheong said developers would rather have this problem than the bleak effects of last year’s meltdown in the banking system. ‘Managing upside is always easier than managing downside.’

The anti-speculative steps were a timely reminder, said Frasers Centrepoint chief executive Lim Ee Seng at the lunch. ‘Exceptional jumps in prices are not good for us.’ Still, he said: ‘No matter how high it gets, it will still obey the law of gravity.’

An anonymous developer said the measures had hurt sentiment a little. ‘If there are 100 buyers, maybe 10 will change their minds. I expect volume to moderate a bit.’

Still, so far the measures appear to have had little or no impact on recent sales. ‘The market is still hot,’ said an industry observer. The 608-unit The Estuary in Yishun, whose preview opened on Wednesday, has sold over 200 units.

The average price for the 99-year leasehold condo is $750 per sq ft, with units facing the Lower Seletar reservoir costing around $800 psf on average.

Separately, City Developments boss Kwek Leng Beng said at a results briefing for CDL yesterday that sentiment would remain strong among genuine buyers, despite the government measures.

Mr Cheong addressed guest of honour Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, saying developers were disappointed at being left out of the Budget.

But they were happy at the productivity push given the long-term gains. Redas called this ‘a deferred payment hongbao’.

Looming launches include the 151-unit Seascape in Sentosa Cove and Cheung Kong Holdings’ 295-unit The Vision. Far East Organization and Frasers Centrepoint plan to release Waterfront Gold in Bedok Reservoir soon. Allgreen may launch RV Residences in River Valley and unsold units at Cascadia in Bukit Timah.

Source: Straits Times, 26 Feb 2010

Singapore’s first eco-business park is expected to create 20,000 jobs and draw some $2.5 billion worth of investments in buildings by its 2030 completion.

CleanTech Park (CTP) will be an ‘epi-centre’ for research, innovation and commercialisation of clean technology from both the public and private sectors, JTC Corporation and the Economic Development Board (EDB) said yesterday as they unveiled the masterplan for the 50-hectare Nanyang Avenue site.

A key initiative of the $1 billion Singapore Sustainable Blueprint announced last year, CleanTech Park is to be ‘emblematic of how businesses can achieve both economic vibrancy and environmental sustainability; function in harmony and nature,’ JTC chief executive Manohar Khiatani said.

At a macro level, CleanTech Park fleshes out the Economic Strategies Committee’s vision of Singapore as a ‘living lab’ for global companies to test-bed and commercialise green solutions, especially for urban and tropical settings. It will also be a significant leg-up for the cleantech industry which EDB sees as a key growth cluster and expects to contribute $3.4 billion to GDP and employ 18,000 people by 2015.

EDB deputy managing director Tan Choon Sian said: ‘We do believe that there will be strong interest from companies, with increased interest in eco- friendly spaces and environmental sustainability.’

CTP broadens the range of options that EDB can offer to the investors it seeks to bring into Singapore too, he said.

While it is a first for Asia, CTP offers a unique proposition even when compared to global parks of similar orientation, EDB director for cleantech Goh Chee Kiong said. ‘First, we have the full continuum of cleantech activities from upstream R&D to commercialisation and test-bedding. Second, we can develop and test-bed solutions for the tropical climate while most innovations are now developed in and for temperate climates,’ he said.

The first of CTP’s three phases of development over the next 20 years kicks off with infrastructural works in July. The park’s total infrastructure investment will be $52 million.

JTC intends to develop the site in an environmentally sustainable manner. Green strategies such as stormwater management, green walkways and sky trellises between buildings, solar panels, conservation zones and green construction methods will thus feature strongly.

By the end of Phase 1 in 2018, about 250 local and foreign SMEs and MNCs are expected to be housed on an initial 17 hectares of land within the park.

Other than pure-play cleantech firms, JTC also hopes to draw eco-friendly product and service sellers, or businesses with a strong green identity. Its first anchor tenant will be neighbouring Nanyang Technological University, which will help seed R&D activities at the park and is expected to catalyse collaborations between industry and academia. NTU already has tie-ups with companies such as Japanese water technology firm Toray.

Mr Khiatani stressed that while ecology and environmental sustainability is the park’s distinguishing mark, commercial viability remains key. The park’s one million square metres of space will thus be ‘priced competitively’, he said.

Colliers International industrial director Tan Boon Leong suggested that government agencies could lead the way to ’show that there are substantial benefits and savings to be had’, while CB Richard Ellis director of industrial and logistics services Bernard Goh thinks a premium of 10 to 20 per cent will be attractive though tax incentives may be needed if costs range 40-50 per cent above other business parks.

Industry players were excited about CTP’s potential to transform the young cleantech sector here.

Edwin Khew, chairman of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore which represents 140 companies, said: ‘This creates a centre of excellence, a very attractive place to generate business. Investors can meet tech providers, carbon management companies, project managers – all in a single place. ‘On top of that, our technologies can be test-bedded, showcased and demonstrated as entire systems in the park itself.’

Member companies are being encouraged to take out small offices in CTP.

Ron Mahabir, managing director of Asia Cleantech Capital, a private equity firm focused on cleantech, said that he would consider CTP for several companies in his firms’ portfolio such as Zeco Systems and Annex Power.

Source: Business Times, 26 Feb 2010

City Developments Ltd (CDL), which yesterday posted its second-highest full-year net profit, is getting ready for at least five Singapore residential property launches this year.

Fourth-quarter net earnings jumped 76.7 per cent year on year to $176.7 million on the back of strong contribution from property development. Pre-tax profit from this segment rose 107.2 per cent for the fourth quarter and 14.2 per cent for the full year.

As a result, property development accounted for 70.7 per cent of Q409 group pre-tax profit; for full-year 2009, its contribution came to 65.5 per cent.

For Q409, the group booked profits from Cliveden at Grange, The Arte, One Shenton, Shelford Suites, The Solitaire, Tribeca and Wilkie Studio. Profits were also booked from joint venture projects such as Livia and The Oceanfront @ Sentosa Cove.

The group also highlighted that profits from the Volari at Balmoral and Hundred Trees condos, which are nearly completely sold, have yet to be booked as these projects are in the early phase of construction. The same goes for The Gale, a joint venture project.

CDL is targeting to launch The Residences at W Singapore Sentosa Cove next month. In April, it hopes to release a 429-unit condo at Chestnut Avenue and a 158-unit condo on the former Concorde Residences site on Thomson Road, followed by a condo in Pasir Ris (next to Livia) in June. In July or August, the group plans to launch a condo with about 150 units on the Copthorne Orchid Hotel site in the Dunearn Road area, owned by its London-listed hotel arm Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C). The projects will be launched in phases.

CDL executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng highlighted that two overseas hotels in M&C’s portfolio – Millennium Seoul Hilton and The Tara in Kensington, London – could also be redeveloped into condos at the right time.

CDL’s current landbank can potentially yield about 7.1 million square foot of gross floor area.

For the year ended Dec 31, 2009, group net profit edged up 2.1 per cent to $593.4 million, the second best showing since the group’s inception in 1963. Its best bottom line, of about $725 million, was achieved for FY2007. CDL’s latest full-year turnover of $3.27 billion (an 11.1 per cent increase from the preceding year) was its highest ever.

The group sold a total of 1,508 residential units with sales revenue of $1.87 billion (including joint venture share) last year – a marked jump from the 368 units sold for a total $348 million in 2008.

CDL generated about $1 billion cash from operating activities before tax last year (2008: $516.6 million) – a feat accomplished without resorting to any equity fund raising.

The group’s board is recommending a final ordinary dividend of eight cents per share, up from 7.5 cents per share for 2008.

The group is conserving some of its cash for acquisition possibilities, especially in the West, where attractively priced deals are available.

Looking ahead, CDL expects cashflow this year to be healthy as it has pre-sold residential developments and with quite a number of its projects likely to be completed this year – including The Solitaire (which has already received Temporary Occupation Permit), Tribeca, The Oceanfront @ Sentosa Cove, Wilkie Studio and The Arte.

CDL’s gearing ratio, without taking into account fair value gains on investment properties as is the group’s accounting practice, dipped from 48 per cent at end-2008 to 40 per cent at end-2009.

It it had taken into account such gains, its gearing ratio would have fallen from 32 per cent to 27 per cent over the same period. The group managed to trim net borrowings by 10 per cent last year to $3.05 billion and achieved lower average interest rate on borrowings of 2.2-2.5 per cent, compared with 2.6-3.7 per cent for 2008.

Its interest cover ratio also increased from 11 times for FY2008 to 14.5 times for FY2009.

Net asset value per share rose from $5.97 at end-2008 to $6.57 at end-2009.

During yesterday’s results briefing, Mr Kwek also questioned accounting conventions these days that allow companies to book upward revaluations on investment properties as profits as well as to recognise profit on exceptional items such as one-off divestments.

Core earnings, which are a business’ recurring income, should be focused on instead, he argues.

‘Why do you want to add in ‘exceptional profit’, or what we used to term as ‘extraordinary profit’ to your normal profit and say: ‘My goodness, I got very good profit; I should ask my board to give me a big bonus!’?’

Source: Business Times, 26 Feb 2010

YANLORD Land Group’s net profit dropped 16 per cent to $118.4 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2009, as revenue and gross profit margins plummeted.

But for the full year, net profit jumped 44 per cent to $325.4 million as strong demand for its residential projects in the first nine months lifted sales and prices.

Q4 revenue dived 48 per cent year-on-year to $214.1 million with gross profit margin plunging 23.9 percentage points to 38.4 per cent due mainly to the change in product mix. Yanlord attributed this to a decline in gross floor area delivered and lower average selling prices (ASPs) because of lower proportion of high-margin projects sold compared to the fourth quarter of 2008.

Its revenue for the year surged 59 per cent to $1.6 billion as the gross floor area delivered rose 33.5 per cent while ASPs grew 13.7 per cent to 19,658 yuan per square metre (psm). Q4 earnings per share fell to 6.09 cents from 7.67 cents a year ago.

As at end-2009, the group’s total pre-contracted sales amounted to $1.2 billion.

Fair value loss on investment properties, however, widened to $120.69 million in 2009 from $81.22 million in 2008.

As at Dec 31, 2009, cash and bank balances were substantially higher at $1.36 billion, up from about $0.4 billion a year earlier. Yanlord attributed this to prudent financial policies and strong performance.

The group said its directors are confident of the company’s performance relative to the industry trend for the next reporting period and the next 12 months.

Yanlord has proposed a first and final dividend of 1.68 Singapore cents per share, representing a payout ratio of about 10 per cent.

Yanlord’s chairman and chief executive Zhong Sheng Jian said the group remains confident of the long-term prospects of China’s real estate sector despite near-term uncertainties arising from regulatory policies.

‘We will continue to focus on our business strategies and comparative advantages in the development of quality residential apartments in prime locations within high-growth PRC cities,’ he said.

Last December, the group obtained a three- year US$400 million term loan facility and will use this to refinance the outstanding amount of a US$200 million facility it obtained in 2007 and for general corporate purposes, including acquiring new land.

This year, the group has already launched new batches of apartment units in Yanlord Riverside Plaza (Phase 1) in Tianjin and Yanlord Riverside City (Phase 3) in Shanghai. These projects have recorded new highs in ASPs, rising 32.2 per cent to 53,033 yuan psm in Shanghai and 27.4 per cent to 23,241 yuan psm in Tianjin.

Yanlord said it will continue to launch new batches of its projects this quarter in Shanghai, Suzhou, Tianjin and Zhuhai.

Yanlord shares ended trading yesterday at $1.77, one cent down.

Source: Business Times, 26 Feb 2010

The consortium that owns the South Beach site now plans to begin construction ‘by next year’ – since most of the mega projects including the two integrated resorts are nearing completion and ‘contractors will be hungry’ for business by then.

This will enable the consortium to award construction contracts at lower cost, reckons Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of City Developments Ltd (CDL), a member of the consortium.

In August last year, he had indicated that construction was likely to begin around the third quarter of this year. CDL teamed up with Dubai World and El-Ad Group to buy the 99-year leasehold site for $1.69 billion at a Singapore government tender in 2007.

In June last year, a new party entered the picture when Hong Kong developer Nan Fung, along with CDL, subscribed for five-year secured convertible notes under a refinancing exercise for the site’s land loan.

CDL also announced yesterday that South Beach Consortium Pte Ltd has appointed a new CEO, Aloysius Lee, to replace Paul Gately, who has left.

Mr Lee, who came on board late last year, was formerly managing director (commercial) of Shui On Development Limited and executive director of Shui On Land, where his duties included overseeing the branding and operations of Shanghai Xintiandi.

The South Beach consortium has also hired special structural engineering consultants from the UK to assist in lowering costs by ‘value engineering’ to maximise the asset’s value. The plan is to develop South Beach into a retail, office, hotel and residential project. Mr Kwek also reiterated that the consortium is studying how to tap synergies between South Beach and next door Suntec City convention centre as well as Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa.

Last year, Mr Kwek indicated that Nan Fung and CDL would probably be the ones to pump in further money. El-Ad and Dubai World are likely to be passive investors who may then see their share in the project diluted.

Yesterday, he said that a meeting will be held among South Beach investors sometime next week to discuss contribution for the project’s further development.

‘In terms of financing, we have not discussed and we cannot presume the two partners have no money, their shares will be diluted. Our verbal understanding with Nan Fung is that both of us will put in more money . . .

‘I am not concerned whether there’s shortage of money to build. I’m more concerned (whether we) can we build something that can be very exciting, everyone falls in love with, (and comes) knocking at my door: ‘Can I buy this?’

Based on a recent external valuation for the year ended Dec 31, 2009, no impairment charge is required for the South Beach development.

Source: Business Times, 26 Feb 2010

WHO would you trust more? A fireman, or a real estate agent?

Thought so.

So did 760 Singapore residents who took part in an online poll conducted by Reader’s Digest magazine on the most trusted professionals in the country.

Conducted last October, the poll gave them two lists of 55 individuals and 40 professions and asked them to rate their trustworthiness on a scale of one to 10.

The results show that the people who are trusted most tend to have the most vital job of all – saving lives. Hence, besides firefighters, jobs in the medical industry dominate the top 10 places.

Doctors are second, surgeons fifth, paramedics seventh, followed by nurses, pharmacists and dentists. Judges, teachers and pilots round out the top 10. Not far behind are police officers in 11th place.

At the other end of the scale are those who deal with money, or wield influence.

Real estate agents brought up the rear. Just ahead of them, at 39th, were politicians. Financial planners were only slightly more to be trusted, at 38th.

But Mr Jeff Foo, president of the Institute of Estate Agents, was stoic about the results: ‘I’m not surprised. It’s partly due to our poor reputation and also because we are not regulated, with no entry requirements.’

That does not explain the politicians. With Singaporeans reputed to have so much faith in the Government, why the poor showing?

Mr Michael Palmer, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, said: ‘From what I see on the ground, I don’t get a sense that people distrust us. Perhaps it’s because those surveyed responded not on trust but with their disagreement with the Government and its policies.’

But perhaps there is no need for any chest-beating. In any survey of this type, people tend to trust those they have to rely on most, said Ms Dora Cheok, editor of Reader’s Digest Asia.

Agreeing, organisational behaviour expert Donald Ferrin, an associate professor at the Singapore Management University, said: ‘Research has shown that when you are dependent on someone, you have a defence mechanism to want to trust someone, or it can make your life difficult.’

So it is only human, and probably why Singapore’s top 10 is almost identical to those from Malaysia and the Philippines.

Still, it does not take anything away from the quality of Singapore’s civil defence force and health-care professions, said Ms Cheok.

The three countries are among seven that participated in the first such poll done by the magazine in Asia. In Singapore, those surveyed were at least 20 years old, had at least secondary school education, and a minimum annual household income of $49,500.

As for lawyers who are ranked 32nd, Mr Palmer – who is also a lawyer – said the media could be to blame. ‘The only time you see us mentioned in the media is when a lawyer has been dishonest. Which is why we try to stay out of the papers!’

And what of those whom he blamed for lawyers’ poor showing? Journalists were placed 30th in the list, ahead of hawkers, taxi-drivers and bankers, but behind farmers, musicians and hairdressers.

Source: Straits Times, 26 Feb 2010

I REFER to the revision of the property tax rate on owner occupied properties which has the effect of reducing by $240 the property tax currently paid by the majority of homeowners, based on exemption of tax on the first $6,000 of annual value (AV) which at present attracts tax at 4 per cent.

The benefit of the rate change, alas, may not last long if the IRAS starts revaluing the AV on the grounds that the property market has been unusually strong of late and likewise for rentals. If AV increases by $6,000, there goes the $240.

In revising AV, it should be borne in mind that to the owner occupant, even a doubling of notional rental makes no difference in terms of income.

Denis Distant

Source: Business Times, 26 Feb 2010

ALLGREEN Properties posted a more than doubling in full-year net profit, helped by firmer sales and a higher provision write-back.

The property developer said net profit for the year ended Dec 31, 2009 stood at $163 million, up from 2008’s $67.4 million. This translates to earnings of 10.23 cents per share, against 2008’s 4.24 cents.

It has also proposed a first and final dividend of four cents per share.

Revenue – which came mainly from the sales of development and investment properties – surged 75.5 per cent to $621 million.

Sales from the company’s development properties segment more than doubled to $468 million in 2009 from $186 million the preceding year. This was after recognising income from projects such as The Cascadia at Bukit Timah Road, Cairnhill Residences at Cairnhill Circle and Blossoms@Woodleigh.

Revenue growth from its investment properties was nearly flat, falling 0.44 per cent to $111 million, impacted by reduced room rates and lower occupancy at Traders Hotel. This was offset by higher occupancies and rental rates at Tanglin Mall and Great World City’s retail space. Allgreen registered a 62.2 per cent decrease in ‘other operating expenses’ to $17.4 million. It said there was no need to make provisions for a ‘diminution in value of development properties’.

It had made about $24.6 million in provisions for a lowered value for development properties a year ago. The year 2009 also saw a $66.3 million write-back of provision for diminution in value of development properties. As the write-back is a non-taxable income, it resulted in a lower effective tax rate for 2009.

The developer posted a fair value loss of about $6.09 million, reversing from a gain of $8.35 million a year ago, due to lower valuation of Great World City’s office space. Updating on its recent launch, the developer said thus far it has sold 74 units of its 83-unit Holland Residences, which was launched on Jan 25.

‘Brisk sales at good prices in these early days of 2010 suggest the market remains buoyant against the backdrop of improving economies locally and internationally,’ the firm said in its financial statement.

Allgreen shares closed flat at $1.12 yesterday.

Source: Business Times, 26 Feb 2010