Monthly Archives: August 2009

Older properties find buyers at auction

Posted on 29 Aug 2009 | Comments Off on Older properties find buyers at auction

As prices of new homes rise, investors are turning to auctions and the resale market

INVESTORS who are put off by the exuberant prices of late for newer properties are turning to auctions to pick up older properties that have not quite appreciated in the same way.

Two apartments at Four Seasons Park near Orchard Road and an apartment at The Waterside in Tanjong Rhu have changed hands at auctions this week.

Colliers International sold the pair of neighbouring three-bedroom apartments at Four Seasons Park, on the fifth floor of the development’s Autumn block, for more than $2,100 per square foot each.

The apartments, each of 2,260 square feet, were put up for sale by a mortgagee bank on vacant possession basis. Unit #05-01 was sold for $4.8 million or $2,124 psf, while the next door #05-02 fetched $4.84 million ($2,142 psf). Continue reading →

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Posted in General, Property Market / Real Estate

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Despite cash calls, Reits are doing well

Posted on 29 Aug 2009 | Comments Off on Despite cash calls, Reits are doing well

Out of the 18 Reits that have announced their results, 12 reported revenue growth

YET another real estate investment trust (Reit) went cap-in-hand to its shareholders this week. Fortune Reit said that it was raising HK$1.9 billion (S$354.4 million) from a one-for-one rights issue to buy three malls in Hong Kong and pay down debt.

The news was not surprising. Reits have been raising cash by the billion. In June, Starhill Global Reit raised $337.3 million through its rights issue. Unitholders of CapitaMall Trust, CapitaCommercial Trust, Ascendas Reit and Saizen Reit have together dug out $2.16 billion from their piggy banks. Frasers Commercial Trust is raising $214 million in a three-for-one issue. Owning a Reit is not cheap.

It has not been rewarding either. The Straits Times Reit Index has underperformed the benchmark Straits Times Index almost every day in the past 12 months. Despite some recovery since March, Reit returns are still some 15 per cent behind the equity index. Unit prices have been driven down by concerns over refinancing and worries that commercial or industrial rentals will not get sprightly, and that hospitality rates will remain depressed. Continue reading →

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Posted in Funds

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