Category Archives: General

Interest grows for sustainable buildings: study

Posted on 11 Nov 2009 | Comments Off on Interest grows for sustainable buildings: study

Real estate execs ready to pay a premium to retrofit their owned assets

CORPORATE real estate executives, whose companies drive demand for office space, are increasingly willing to invest in refurbishing their owned assets to meet sustainability goals, according to a new survey.

The 2009 CoreNet Global and Jones Lang LaSalle sustainability survey found 74 per cent of real estate executives would pay a premium (generally one per cent to 5 per cent) to retrofit owned space for sustainability criteria, up from 53 per cent in 2008.

However, only 37 per cent would consider paying a premium rent (between one per cent and 10 per cent), while another 21 per cent indicated they would only be willing to pay a premium rent if it was offset by lower operating costs.

Some 67 per cent of respondents also said obtaining funds to implement sustainability strategies is a difficult or extremely difficult challenge.

The executives surveyed are responsible for real estate portfolios totalling billions of square feet worldwide.

‘These results clearly show that sustainability as an issue is here to stay, but companies are increasingly aware of the commercial realities,’ said Chris Wallbank, Jones Lang LaSalle’s head of energy and sustainability services for the Asia-Pacific region. ‘It is no longer enough to simply be ‘green’. Organisations want to see the benefits to the bottom line.’

The focus on cost reduction is seen in the 60 per cent of real estate executives that are adopting workplace strategies to meet sustainability goals while reducing overall occupancy costs – up from 54 per cent in 2008. The executives are continuing to focus on strategies that are easy to implement and provide short-term cost savings, such as energy efficiency programmes and waste recycling.

But making targeted investments in sustainability can be challenging. More than 50 per cent of executives said insufficient industry metrics, difficulty in calculating return on investment (ROI) and lack of tools for collecting necessary performance data are difficult or extremely difficult challenges.

‘Companies are looking for help in making targeted sustainability investment decisions and measuring the results in terms of both environmental and financial performance,’ Mr Wallbank said. ‘Clarification of industry metrics globally, tools that collect data and turn it into information, and clear methodologies for calculating project ROI will be critical to overcoming these challenges.’

The global survey of 231 corporate real estate executives was conducted in September and October 2009.

Source : Business Times – 11 Nov 2009

Comments Off on Interest grows for sustainable buildings: study

Posted in General

Tagged ,

Singapore Property : S’pore household net wealth hits $1 trillion

Posted on 11 Nov 2009 | Comments Off on Singapore Property : S’pore household net wealth hits $1 trillion

HOUSEHOLDS have generally weathered the financial crisis well with net wealth rising to an all-time high of

$1 trillion as of Sept 30, after slumping to $895 billion in the first quarter this year.

RELATED LINKS   HOUSEHOLD NET WEALTH

The record numbers – released in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) annual Financial Stability Review on Monday – go a long way towards explaining why the recession that has just ended seemed less painful than previous downturns.

The recovery in the stock and property markets since the first quarter is one reason, but Singaporeans are also richer as they saved, invested and paid down their debt.

The global economic recovery has meant a strong rebound in net wealth – assets minus liabilities.

Take property assets, for instance. The MAS data showed that real estate holdings have turned around – they were up by an estimated 9 per cent to $537 billion in the three months to Sept 30, from the low of $491 billion in the second quarter.

The central bank noted that household assets remain more than six times the value of household liabilities, while aggregate household net wealth is about four times the value of gross domestic product, up from about 3.6 times in the first quarter.

Singaporeans refused to splurge on credit, keeping debt at roughly the same level during the economic downturn, the data showed.

Total liabilities increased by just 4 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter – much lower than the long- term average growth rate of about 13 per cent, the MAS said.

Most of the increase came from mortgages, which account for the bulk of household borrowing. This was mainly due to the increased activity in the property market.

‘In short, households have generally weathered the crisis relatively well on the back of their strong balance sheets,’ said the MAS.

Source : Straits Times – 11 Nov 2009

Comments Off on Singapore Property : S’pore household net wealth hits $1 trillion

Posted in General

Tagged ,