Chairman is upbeat but expresses uncertainty over high-end segment

SINGAPORE’S property market looks set for recovery, although the ride ahead is not likely to be smooth, according to the chairman of property developer Wing Tai Holdings.

Mr Cheng Wai Keung, speaking yesterday at Wing Tai’s full-year results briefing at Fairmont Singapore, said the mass market segment had probably stabilised and he was cautiously optimistic about the mid-end segment.

The only market area he was not so bullish about was at the high end, where recovery was uncertain in the absence of a global recovery.

Mr Cheng said demand – particularly for mass market homes – had soared in recent months.

Since July 1, Wing Tai has sold 269 units worth $575 million at Belle Vue Residences in Oxley Walk, Ascentia Sky in Alexandra Road and Floridian in Bukit Timah.

This compares with sales of 100 residential units worth $208.5 million for the 12 months to June 30, the end of its financial year. Liquidity and pent-up demand, particularly in the mass market, had been driving sales, said Mr Cheng.

The economy in Asia and Singapore is not in as bad a shape as people had expected at the beginning of the year, he added. Also, retrenchments have not been as severe as initially thought. However, the worry of a possible W-shaped recovery remains, said Mr Cheng.
‘I would like to say that the market has recovered but, being a cautious person, I cannot believe that it’s a V-shaped recovery,’ he said.

‘The fact remains that the general economy in the West has not recovered. The real economy in the West – which is the engine for the world economy – has far from recovered.’

Mr Cheng mentioned that the property market recovered around 1999 and 2000 from the Asian financial crisis, only to crash again, but quickly added that this time, the whole world had put in place stimulus packages to re-ignite growth.

Wing Tai’s chairman stressed that the property market was very sentiment-driven. ‘What I can say is that the mass market has probably recovered,’ he said.

He pointed out that mass market homes represented good value given that their prices three months ago had still not recovered their 2007 peak.

The high-end segment – where Wing Tai is a keen player – is another story, he said, and required a lot more wealth than is being generated by the economy now.

Wing Tai did manage to sell a few units at Belle Vue for $2,400 per sq ft (psf) recently, although the condo units’ average pricing is close to $1,800 psf – which is easily 10 to 15 per cent below the level it would have priced the units at during the 2007 boom, said Mr Cheng.

It has disposed of just under 100 units at the 176-unit Belle Vue. It has also sold at least 144 units at the 373-unit Ascentia Sky at $1,200 to $1,300 psf.

Wing Tai has three other high-end projects in the pipeline. It has no plans yet for these launches, though it may start construction.

Wing Tai reported a 91 per cent drop in net profit to $21 million for the full year ended June 30, mainly due to fair value losses on investment properties of $88 million.

Revenue was up 18 per cent to $507.3 million.

Excluding the fair value losses, net profit was at $108.9 million, down 31 per cent from a year ago. The group has recommended a dividend payout of four cents – comprising a first and final dividend of three cents and a special dividend of one cent.

This is down from the six cents paid the previous year.

Earnings per share plunged 91 per cent to 2.7 cents for the full year, while net asset value per share was $2.03 at June 30 and unchanged from a year ago.

In this financial year, Wing Tai expects to collect further sales proceeds of $185 million when The Riverine by the Park and Casa Merah are completed.

Its shares closed three cents higher yesterday at $1.81.

Source: Straits Times, 26 Aug 2009

Some developers have raised prices as a result

DEVELOPERS continued to report encouraging private home sales last week, and some have upped prices on firmer demand.

BelleRive on Keng Chin Road and Martin Place Residences on Kim Yam Road are among the projects where prices have been raised. BelleRive’s average price is now 13 per cent higher than when it was previewed in mid-April.

Frasers Centrepoint sold 60 more units last week at Martin Place Residences; new units were released over the weekend at prices that were about 5-7 per cent higher.

Chia Boon Kuah, Far East Organization chief operating officer, property sales, told BT that ‘in recent weeks, we’re seeing growing broad-based demand for our products across our portfolio in every price bracket, from upgrader market to the upper-middle segments to high-end luxury projects’.

Last week, the property giant sold more than 40 units, up from the 30 a week earlier. Far East’s home sales for the May 18-24 week include two units at Vida on Peck Hay Road which fetched an average price of $2,030 psf; the buyers did not take up the rental guarantee offered by Far East for the recently completed condo. The developer also sold nine units at Floridian in Bukit Timah at an average price of $1,220 psf.

In the upgrader housing segment, it sold seven units at Mi Casa in Choa Chu Kang, nine units each at Lakeshore near Jurong Lake and Waterfront Waves near Bedok Reservoir. Waterfront Waves is a joint development with Frasers Centrepoint.

Frasers Centrepoint also sold four units each at its Caspian condo in the Jurong Lake location and Woodsville 28 last week.

At Martin Place Residences, the developer released fresh units below the 14th floor sky terrace in the second and final block in the 33-storey condo.

Prices of the freshly released units start from $1,350 psf, higher than the $1,260 psf starting price in the earlier block during the preceding weekend’s marketing campaign.

However, the latest pricing is still below the $1,700 psf starting price for the 33-storey freehold project when it was previewed last year. Inclusive of the units sold last week, 168 units in the 302-unit condo are now sold.

Frasers Centrepoint is offering an interest absorption scheme (IAS) for all its four projects on the market – in exchange for a 3 per cent price premium for Caspian and a 2 per cent premium for the rest.

Over in Bukit Timah, a Sing Holdings subsidiary is understood to have sold five units last weekend at BelleRive, taking total sales to 39 units in the 51-unit freehold project. BelleRive was initially priced at $1,350 psf average when it was previewed in mid-April; this was raised to $1,430 psf last week and upped further to $1,530 psf this week. This translates to a 13 per cent price hike in about six weeks.

The average pricing is for the apartments in the 15-storey project, and excludes the two penthouses. About 75 per cent of BelleRive buyers have taken up the IAS offered by the developer at no extra cost.

The units were picked up predominantly by Singaporeans. BelleRive’s draws include its proximity to Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) on Barker Road and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School along Dunearn Road.

In the Balestier area, Soilbuild is understood to have sold another 25 units at Mezzo over the weekend. The project is priced at about $850-900 psf on average; the cost is 2 per cent more for IAS.

Property giant City Developments also sold 14 units last week for The Arte at Thomson condo. The average price in the project is now $900-930 psf, compared with $880 psf when previews began in March. The 336-unit condo is 84 per cent sold.

Near Botanic Gardens, Straits Trading has upped the price of the remaining few units at Gallop Gables to $1,400 psf, from the $1,188 psf average achieved for units sold in the past six weeks. The price increase comes after the developer achieved the sale of its 40th unit in the completed freehold condo.

In the secondary market, some 50-plus units are said to have been sold last week at RiverGate condo near the Singapore River. These are out of 88 units listed in a sales campaign last week. The average price is about $1,400 to $1,500 psf.

The 88 units were from an original pool of 100 units purchased in 2005 by a fund managed by Ferrell Asset Management.

Source: Business Times, 26 May 2009

Developers test waters at some projects by cutting back on discounts

(SINGAPORE) Some developers have quietly started raising prices a notch as they test waters after strong sales volumes seen in the first quarter.

Price adjustments are often made by reducing discount levels. On a project average basis, the effective prices for some developments may have gone up between 2 and 5 per cent compared with levels earlier this year, according to developers and property consultants.

‘Developers aren’t raising prices overnight. Prices are being adjusted only after clear buying momentum has set in for a project. If you look at the first and last units sold in the project, the price difference could be, say, 10 per cent; but if you look on a project average basis, the price increase would be less than 5 per cent,’ says Knight Frank chairman Tan Tiong Cheng.

The recent stock market rally has generated its share of positive sentiment. Even so, property agents say that prices of only the better-selling units have been raised in some projects, while the others have seen more widespread rises. ‘Developers are careful; if they push up prices too fast, potential buyers may start looking at other projects,’ one agent said.

The recent price adjustments have to be viewed against the significant price declines before that, seasoned players point out. For instance, Q1 2009 prices of mass-market condos were about 10 per cent off the peak levels in late 2007/early 2008, while for luxury condos, the price decline was steeper, at around 30-40 per cent.

DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah says that developers started to inch up prices in April and May from Q1 levels. ‘In the secondary market, sellers have been more aggressive; some are asking about 5 to 10 per cent more than in Q1,’ she added.

Property giant Far East Organization’s residential projects such as the Mi Casa condo in Choa Chu Kang, The Lakeshore in Jurong, Hillview Regency in Bukit Batok, Floridian at Bukit Timah Road (non-premium units), and Vida at Peck Hay Road are among those that have seen slight price gains lately.

Rival City Developments is also said to have incrementally raised prices for The Arte at Thomson as sales progressed briskly. The developer has sold more than 250 units since it previewed the mid-end project in March.

BT understands that prices of the remaining 80-plus units have been adjusted upwards slightly this week. The average price is now about $900 psf and the freehold project includes a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom units.

Bukit Sembawang is also said to have introduced a single-digit per cent price hike for later units (apartments) at The Verdure at Holland Road after the initial batch of units were sold.

UOL Group and Kheng Leong are also understood to have upped prices selectively – for better-selling units – at Double Bay Residences in Simei.

A major developer said: ‘Demand is better now. People are prepared to come to the negotiating table and not baulk at prices, compared with last year when it was very difficult to even get buyers to sit down. I think there’s a sense that the worst is over.’

He says that the quantum of price appreciation that a developer can achieve in the current market will hinge on a project’s location, the nature of the development and the profile of its buyers. ‘For instance, for a prime district project with a lot of small units costing $1-2 million each, you can adjust prices a bit more, especially if you have a fair number of foreign buyers,’ according to the developer. ‘Mainland Chinese buyers are more optimistic, and can accept price hikes better as they have seen an upturn in their own property market,’ he added.

Mr Tan says that there’s currently a ‘sweet spot’ in the Singapore market for projects priced below $1,000 psf and on a lump-sum basis costing $1 million to $1.2 million per unit (for three-bedroom units) and $800,000 and below (for two-bedroom units). Their prices can take a sub-10 per cent increase without affordability being seriously dented.

Mr Tan argues that a small price increase will not generally price buyers out of the market or send them to the sidelines again – ‘especially if they think the worst is over and don’t want to miss the boat’.

‘Even if the view is that we’re not at the bottom yet, there seems to be a greater sense of price stability now. The thinking now is that if prices drop a further 5 or 10 per cent, can I live with it?
Three months ago, there seemed to be no bottom,’ Mr Tan recalls.

Agreeing, CB Richard Ellis executive director (residential) Joseph Tan says: ‘Once people are more confident, they can accept the fact that price may be higher, but in an improving situation. If I believe the market has bottomed, the closer I buy to the bottom, the better it is for me. That sort of thinking is also being fuelled by the stock market rally; traditionally the residential property market lags the stock market by three to six months.’

Source: Business Times, 13 May 2009