Tag Archives: Singapore Property Market

Jackie Chan picks up 3 units at Centennia Suites

Emil Chau also buys one as showbiz stars dip into S’pore property market

Hong Kong movie superstar Jackie Chan and his good friend singer/songwriter Emil Chau, who were in town recently for last Sunday’s Thong Chai Charity Night, also picked up some properties in Singapore.

On the line: Jackie Chan (right) and Emil Chau checking out the phone setup before the Thong Chai Charity Night last Sunday

The duo bought four apartments at Lippo Group’s freehold Centennia Suites worth over $10 million last week. The four units are on the mid- to high floors of the 36-storey condominium project, which is being built on the former Kim Seng Plaza site, opposite Great World City and facing the Singapore River.

Mr Chan is said to have picked up three units – two, three, and four-bedroom apartments – making up an entire floor.

Mr Chau, who is now known as Wakin, purchased a three-bedder. The two men visited the Centennia Suites showflat on Friday last week.

The 97-unit District 9 development, which is expected to be completed in 2013, is now almost half sold.

The average price is about $2,000-2,100 per square foot. The range of prices achieved is $1,900 psf to nearly $2,200 psf. Lippo began selling the project last month.

Mr Chan is no stranger to the Singapore property market. In late 2007, he bought the former Jinriksha Station at Neil Road for $11 million.

Lippo and Mr Chan have also had business dealings before. Mr Chan used to own a unit at Grangeford Apartments, which was sold through an en bloc sale to Lippo’s listed arm Overseas Union Enterprise a few years ago.

Mr Chau was born in Hong Kong but lives and works in Taiwan. The singer has a loyal fan base in Singapore. He has also acted in a few of Mr Chan’s films, such as Mr Nice Guy and Gorgeous.

Last year, international action star Jet Li bought a Good Class Bungalow at Binjai Rise for $19.8 million. The property has a freehold land area of about 22,700 sq ft.

Source : Business Times – 25 Mar 2010

Investment land sales up 16 times in Q1

77% of total sales of $4.4b came from private market

THE investment sales market strengthened further in the first quarter of 2010, as robust sales of residential government land sale (GLS) sites showed developers’ hunger for land.

Total investment sales came up to $4.41 billion in the first quarter, 16 times more than the paltry $273.83 million in Q1 last year, a CB Richard Ellis report said yesterday.

Of these, 77 per cent or $3.4 billion came from the private investment sales market, while investment sales in the public sector contributed the remainder.

CBRE’s Q1 tally includes land deals, collective sales, transactions of entire office and other buildings as well as strata-titled units above $5 million, which have taken place since the start of the year.

Residential investment sales – including good class bungalow (GCB) sales – chalked up $2.11 billion in transacted value, accounting for 48 per cent of the quarter’s total investment sales. This was 27 per cent below the $2.88 billion in residential investment sales recorded for Q409, but is significantly higher than the $149.91 million registered in Q109.

GLS sites sold in the quarter include the Sengkang West Avenue site awarded to City Developments for $200.5 million. A Tampines site sold to Sim Lian Land for $302 million while Far East Organisation was awarded the mixed residential Ten Mile Junction. Two executive condominium sites were also sold during the quarter.

To date, 18 GCBs have been sold for a combined total of $283.61 million. With the GCB market’s current momentum, CBRE says a possible 80 to 90 GCBs could be sold in 2010, which translates into $1.2 to $1.4 billion in value.

The commercial investment market was also active in Q1, with $1.08 billion in sales recorded to date, making up 24.5 per cent of total investment sales.

As for the industrial sector, 26 known transactions so far in the quarter made up 26.3 per cent of $1.16 billion of total investment sales.

The CBRE report noted that while many transactions in the industrial sector last year were from end-users, 2010 has seen the return of selective purchases by the real estate investment trusts (Reits) such as A-Reit and MapletreeLog. Cache Logistics Trust, also purchased the six properties which will make up its portfolio when it soon lists.

Jeremy Lake, executive director of investment properties at CBRE said: ‘While most of the major investment sales transactions in 2009 were dominated by Asian investors, there is now a diverse pool of buyers. Among these would include local as well as foreign developers competing for GLS sites for residential development. Investment funds are also looking for opportunities.’

Source : Business Times – 25 Mar 2010