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Buffet-table spread of sites for developers

Posted on 7 Nov 2009 | Comments Off

But the jury is out on whether the govt’s release of plots will tame land bids, which have soared wildly at state tenders

THE government is offering developers a platter of residential sites through the confirmed and reserve lists for the next half – including several plots in the vicinities of hot-selling condo launches this year, such as Caspian near Jurong Lake and Alexis near Queenstown MRT Station.

However, the jury is out on how much this will tame land bids, which have soared wildly at recent state tenders.

Four of the eight sites on the confirmed list and at least four reserve list sites are near MRT stations – but there are also many sites not in the vicinity of train stations where more affordable private housing could be built.

A few plots are close to the city while the majority are in typical suburban locations where private condos catering to HDB upgraders are located.

Peter Ow, Knight Frank executive director (residential), said: ‘The government’s main message is that it is taking care of the upgraders’ market. The current release is to tackle and try to moderate prices in the upgraders market which concerns most Singaporeans.’

For new private homes, prices in the mass-market segment have surpassed their 2007 peak levels; whereas for high-end homes, prices have yet to recover to their 2007-highs, he added.

‘Thus, there are no sites in the Core Central Region, which includes the prime districts. The government recognises the fact that not all sectors of the residential market are doing well, especially high-end homes.’ Continue reading →

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Posted in Property Market / Real Estate

Tagged Land Sales, Singapore Property, Singapore Property Market

Two new hotel sites on H1 2010 reserve list

Posted on 7 Nov 2009 | Comments Off

TWO new hotel sites – one of which is Ogilvy Centre, a conservation building opposite Lau Pa Sat – have made it to the government’s H1 2010 reserve list. But there are no new commercial sites on the list. And there are neither hotel nor commercial sites on the confirmed list for H1 2010.

GENERATING EXCITEMENT
Ogilvy Centre, a conservation building in the financial district, can be positioned as a luxury hotel with about 70 rooms

Still, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority, there’s ample supply of sites for commercial and hotel developments in the reserve list.

Choy Chan Pong, URA senior group director for land sales and administration, pointed out that about 4.5 million square feet of commercial space will continue to be made available through the reserve list of H1 2010, including about 1.5 million sq ft that can potentially be generated from a white site at Ophir Road in the Bugis area and nearly 690,000 sq ft from a white site in the Jurong Gateway area.

CB Richard Ellis director (research) Leonard Tay said that recovery in the office market is at the incipient stage. ‘If the pace of recovery quickens, the authorities have the option of adding some confirmed list sites for second half 2010 to ensure timely supply of office buildings from 2013 onwards.’

CBRE’s figures show that between now and end-2014, about 7.72 million sq ft of net lettable area of offices are slated for completion.

‘One should not underestimate the pace at which the current supply will be absorbed when the market recovers in the medium term,’ said Mr Tay. ‘For instance, the annual takeup for 2000 was a very significant 4.22 million sq ft on the back of recovery after the Asian crisis.’ Continue reading →