Daily Archives: 29 Oct 2009

Wing Tai’s first-quarter profit up 42%

THE residential property boom and the robust sales it has delivered gave Wing Tai Holdings plenty to cheer about in the first quarter of its financial year.

Profit and turnover posted healthy growth as buyers snapped up more homes developed by Wing Tai in the three months to Sept 30 than in the whole of last year.

Net profit jumped 42 per cent to $46.33 million, up from $32.59 million the same quarter last year, while revenue surged 106 per cent to $277.18 million, up from $134.3 million.

The group sold about 300 units, with sale proceeds totalling around $650 million from three projects – Belle Vue Residences in Oxley Walk, Ascentia Sky off Alexandra Road and The Floridian in Bukit Timah. Progressive sales were also recognised from The Riverine by the Park.

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.

Some developments were also commanding higher prices. In August, the firm noted that the selling price for units in the upmarket Belle Vue Residences rose from an average of $1,700 per sq ft (psf) to $1,900 psf, with some units being sold for as high as $2,400 psf. Continue reading

Barring same-agent property brokerage not practical

I REFER to last Saturday’s editorial, ‘The problem in same-agent property brokerage’.

While I welcome and support the Ministry of National Development’s draft plan to regulate real estate brokerage, including a radical suggestion to prohibit an agent from acting for both seller and buyer in HDB resale transactions, I doubt its effectiveness in practice.

It may delay resale transactions and result in lost opportunities. Besides, there is no guarantee that co-broking or unethical practice will be completely wiped out.

The trade rigidity will inconvenience both parties – the genuine sellers and buyers – as both sides will have to wait for suitable buyers and sellers to seal a transaction.

However, if win-win solutions can be found to expedite genuine transactions, there is no dispute that the public will favour a separation of agent functions. Continue reading