Category Archives: General

More buildings going green

Posted on 18 May 2011 | Comments Off on More buildings going green

More buildings are going green.

This year, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) is giving out a record number of BCA Green Mark awards to 164 winners, up from 102 last year.

Singapore is a step closer to the national target of “greening” 80 per cent of buildings by 2030.

The Green Mark Scheme was introduced in 2005 to recognise water and energy efficient buildings. And as of 2008, all new buildings are required by law to meet a basic Green Mark standard.

BCA said a series of green incentive schemes has encouraged many developers to go beyond the mandatory.

Incentives include additional floor area, which could translate to higher profit, as well as reimbursements for engaging environmental experts, who can help in achieving an energy-efficient design for buildings.

Organisations that voluntarily go the extra mile are given the Green Mark Gold, Gold Plus and Platinum awards.

Among them is private developer City Developments Limited (CDL).

It clinched more than 50 Green Mark Gold & Above awards, of which 16 are Platinum awards.

For this track record, CDL earned the inaugural BCA Green Mark Platinum Champion Award this year.

Apart from installing green features like water-efficient taps and energy-saving light bulbs, CDL said green development is about managing resources and harnessing Mother Nature.

And it can be cost-effective too.

Allen Ang, Deputy GM of Projects Division with CDL said: “Using green technology such as pre-fabrication, pre-fab bathrooms actually helps us reduce a lot of natural resources; not just materials, but manpower. And as you know, manpower is expensive.

“If the environment is sited such that we can orientate the building towards the north-south orientation, it also helps us to reduce air-con capacity in cooling our apartments. And in so doing, reduce the treatment cost for the glass of the facade.”

The BCA Green Mark Champion Award went to the Housing and Development Board (HDB), the first public sector agency to receive the award.

HDB has completed 14 projects that attained at least Green Mark Gold status, five of which were rated Platinum.

Some of the award-winning green projects include Treelodge@Punggol, Waterway Terraces and SkyTerrace@Dawson.

With this year’s winners, there are more than 750 Green Mark building projects in Singapore, amounting to 11 per cent of the total gross floor area.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 17 May 2011

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En bloc sale market picking up

Posted on 11 May 2011 | Comments Off on En bloc sale market picking up

The en bloc sale market has been feverishly picking up activity this year.

Apart from more en bloc properties being offered for sale, analysts say that the average prices for the sites have also increased by more than 50 per cent compared to a year ago.

However, the offer prices have yet to surpass the levels seen by the market at the peak of the property boom in 2007.

Since the start of this year, some 20 collective sales have been announced.

Analysts say that 9 deals have been closed so far, worth a total of S$880 million.

This compares with 34 collective sales deals completed last year totalling S$1.7 billion.

Analysts say that average transaction sizes have increased, from S$52 million in 2010 to over S$80 million this year as property developers are bullish on the economy.

Donald Han, vice chairman of Cushman and Wakefield, said: “Bottom line (is) so long as the economy grows within the 4 to 6 percent, I think generally the confidence will be there in terms of investors coming into Singapore, looking to investing in this part of the world.

“It’s going to be a fairly active market. I think we’re beginning to see the sort of response as what we saw in the first quarter. Confidence will start coming back again, and if we’re beginning to see more cooling measures then that puts a hinder on project sales movement.

“Then developers might hold back again. So it’s a touch-and-go scenario depending on government measures, if any.”

Two sites were launched for collective tender on Wednesday.

Vista Park, a large leasehold residential redevelopment site off Pasir Panjang Road, has been put up for sale with a guide price of S$338 million. The tender will close at 3.00pm on June 30.

Separately, a post-colonial development in River Valley with a unique tenure of nearly a million years is expected to fetch a reserve price in the range of S$72 million to S$80 million. The tender closes at 2.30pm on June 9.

Analysts say the market for en bloc sales currently favours smaller developments as large land banks continue to be dominated by government land sales.

Mr Han said: “I think generally I tend to be a bit more bullish on the smaller ones because the more bite-sized (they are), the number of new players in the market will tend to be a bit more, compared to new entrance for large-sized projects.”

Analysts say the collective sale market for this year will be focused more on locations at city fringes such as Balestier and Katong. This is because the land banks offered for sale in these areas will likely be smaller in size.

Mr Karamjit Singh, managing director, Credo Real Estate, said: “Various en-bloc sites have different fortunes. Smaller ones are more successful because for smaller developers, en-bloc sites are their main source of land supply. Bigger developers, on the other hand, are more keen on government sites.”

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 11 May 2011

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Posted in En-bloc / Collective Sales, General, Property Market / Real Estate

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