Category Archives: Property Market / Real Estate

Upbeat outlook on luxury market

WHEELOCK Properties (Singapore) CEO David Lawrence remains upbeat about prospects for Singapore’s luxury residential property market, as the island is increasingly attracting rich people and businesses.

‘The interesting thing is that more and more people are becoming PRs and citizens,’ he says. ‘A lot of them are very rich and want the best product. So you’ve got to be a good developer producing good products like Wheelock or SC Global or Hotel Properties Ltd (HPL).’

Wheelock owns about 16 per cent of SC Global and almost 21 per cent of HPL. ‘We’re happy with our stakes in these companies,’ Mr Lawrence said in a recent interview with BT.

In April last year, he apologised to shareholders at an annual general meeting for having bought a stake in SC Global at the top of the market in 2007. But now he lets on: ‘I should tell you that I have had approaches from Middle Eastern investors recently to buy our stake in SC Global and I said: ‘Not interested. Thank you very much’.’

Wheelock acquired its SC Global stake at an average price of $2.35 a share. SC Global’s stock price fell from a high of $3.40 in June 2007 to a low of 29.5 cents in March this year. It has since been recovering, ending at $1.41 yesterday, down one cent from Thursday’s closing price. Continue reading

S’pore pips London as No 2 financial hub

New York stays clear favourite in global survey of investor choice

SINGAPORE has emerged as the second leading global financial centre after New York.

While New York has withstood the worst economic crisis in seven decades, London slipped behind Singapore as investors’ preferred place for doing business, according to a global survey.

Some 29 per cent of respondents in the quarterly Bloomberg Global Poll of investors, traders and analysts say that New York will be the best place for financial services two years from now. ‘Despite the carnage of 2008, I still expect the ‘new new’ thing in financial services to be developed and nurtured here (New York), and ultimately exported to the world,’ says Peter Rup, a fund manager at Artemis Wealth Advisors in New York.

Singapore is chosen by 17 per cent of the respondents and London is the pick of 16 per cent. Shanghai has 11 per cent. Tokyo, once considered a global hub, gets the nod from just one per cent.

On a separate question, respondents say that China, Brazil and India offer investors the best opportunities for making money. The US, Europe and Japan are seen to have less potential. Continue reading