Singapore’s industrial property sector looks to outperform residential, retail, and office property over the next few years, after a dynamite 2010 and first quarter of 2011.
Donald Han, vice-chairman of property consultants at Cushman and Wakefield, said capital values for industrial properties rose as much as 22 per cent last year.
“I think probably we’re going to see another 15-per-cent price increase this year. As long as the economy continues to do well and our manufacturing numbers continue to expand, I think we’ll have another good 24 months of steady rental increase plus capital value enhancement as well,” said Han.
Demand is also coming from investors and speculators moving into the industrial space from the residential market due to the Government’s measures to cool the market for the latter, Han added.
Another attraction is the affordability of industrial properties compared to residential ones. Han said: “You can buy very affordable units for about 1,000 to 1,500 square feet at prices of about S$300 to S$350 per square foot (US$240-280), which translates to less than S$0.5 million (US$400,000). If you look at the residential projects, for S$0.5 million you really can’t buy much, not even shoebox units.”
The Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday launched the tender for an industrial site at Tuas View Square, Today newspaper reported. Available for sale through the Reserve List system since November, the tender was triggered when a developer committed to bid no less than S$4.9 million (US$3.9 million) for the land parcel on a 45-year lease.
The 0.4 hectare site has a gross plot ratio of 0.9 and is zoned for Business 2 development, meaning it can be developed for various facilities such as light industry, general industry, warehousing, utility or telecommunication uses. The tender closes on June 29.
Meanwhile, JTC Corp has awarded the tender for a business park site at Biopolis to Ascendas Venture, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ascendas Land Singapore. The company submitted the highest bid of S$87.2 million (US$69.8 million) for the site, part of the fifth phase of Biopolis, which is expected to be completed in 2013.
Source : PRSEA – 25 May 2011
