2008-Jul-13 - Real estate transparency inches up

SINGAPORE — Viet Nam has made some improvement in its level of real estate transparency, according to a biennial report by a global property services firm.

The Global Real Estate Transparency Index from Jones Lang LaSalle, which provides a rigorous framework for comparing the level of real estate transparency in 82 countries, assesses five key attributes.

These are performance measurement, market fundamentals, listed vehicles, legal and regulatory environment, and the transaction process. On a scale of one to five, one is the highest level of transparency.

Countries were classified into five groups: high tier, transparent tier, semi-transparent tier, low-transparent tier, and opaque transparent tier.

In keeping with historical results, the Australian and US real estate markets remain among the most transparent in the world. With the addition of new variables relating to the quality and frequency of valuations, service charge transparency and financing transparency, Canada ranks as the world’s most transparent commercial real estate market.

Eight countries have moved up a full transparency tier since the last index in 2006. Dubai, Romania, Ukraine and Russia showed the biggest improvements in transparency.

The survey also found that transparency levels are improving globally as governments seek to streamline regulatory and legal hurdles to aid cross-border movement of capital and corporate facilities.

In Asia Pacific, transparency has improved across most of the region since 2006. However, the gains are relatively modest for most countries, particularly when compared with the larger improvements between 2004 and 2006.

The biggest improvers in Asia Pacific are India, China and Viet Nam, all of which have received considerably greater attention from investors and corporate occupiers in recent years.

Moderate progress

Andrew Brown, country head, Jones Lang LaSalle Viet Nam, said: "Over the past 2 years Viet Nam has shown some moderate improvement in overall transparency, moving up one tier within our global index from opaque to low transparency.

"Improvement, particularly in the regulatory and legal environment with respect to real estate investment and law, has been primarily responsible for this change."

Dang Van Quang, an official at Jones Lang LaSalle Viet Nam’s Strategic Consulting Services, said thanks to this change Viet Nam is gaining a big advantage.

Many investors are choosing between Viet Nam and India as their new investment destination after China, Quang said.

But Dr. Jane Murray, head of research, Asia Pacific at Jones Lang Lasalle, said, "It is important to note that transparency enhancements should not be viewed as the sole determinant of regional capital flows, instead market fundamentals appear to be the main driving force behind transaction volumes.

"Nevertheless, higher transparency is resulting in a more dispersed flow of capital between countries across the region.

"It is therefore noteworthy that most of the countries surveyed are continuing to improve on the transparency measures, and as a result, enhancing the attractiveness of these markets for real estate investors and occupiers." — VNS

Source: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Link: http://www.starproject.com.sg/singapore-real-estate.htm

2008-Jul-13 - US Real Estate Tops Foreign Investors’ List, Interest in Asia Grows

Top Cities

Although they are perennially seen as the top US cities by foreign investors, this year, New York City and Washington, DC, were named foreign investors’ top global cities. New York City leaped ahead by a substantial margin to be named the top global city, followed by Washington, DC, and London in a tie for second place. Last year, New

York was ranked second globally and Washington was ranked fourth. Paris fell from second to fourth rank. For the first time ever, five of the top 10 cities were in Asian markets, with Singapore showing a particularly strong improvement of 19 points. Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo ranked fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Among US cities, New York maintained its number one position, followed by Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Former “hot spot,” San Diego, which was the fifth-ranked city in 2005, continued its slide down the list into fifteenth place, while former “hot-spot-turned-troubled-spot,” Las Vegas, climbed from sixteenth place in the 2006 survey, to eighth place this year.

Link: http://www.starproject.com.sg/singapore-real-estate.htm

2008-Jul-13 - PRESS DIGEST - Singapore newspapers - July 7

SINGAPORE, July 7 (Reuters) - The following are stories from Singapore newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

THE STRAITS TIMES

- There is no evidence to suggest that suspected militant leader Mas Selamat Kastari has fled to Indonesia, the Home Affairs Ministry said. Mas Selamat, who escaped from a Singapore detention centre four months ago, had allegedly planned to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi Airport.

BUSINESS TIMES

- The Singapore Exchange (SGXL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) (SGX), Singapore Press Holdings (SPRM.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) and FTSE Group has launched a new index that will track the largest and most liquid Singapore-listed Chinese stocks. SGX and partners hope investors will create new index-linked products like exchange traded funds based on the new FTSE ST China Top Index.

-Yields on Singapore property have widened relatively to 10-year bonds but investors remain wary as they believe the correction in real estate has some way to go, property consultants DTZ said.

Source: http://uk.reuters.com

2008-Jul-13 - Singapore¡¯s property boom finally cooling: analysts

Shares rise on cautious trade

Share prices closed 1.56 percent higher yesterday on bargain hunting after recent heavy losses, but thin trading volume indicated caution amid inflation fears, dealers said.

The weighted index rose 112.7 points to 7,341.11, off a low of 7,179.24 and a high of 7,343.63, on turnover of NT$73.88 billion (US$2.43 billion).

Following a fall of more than 16 percent since the end of May, most stocks looked attractive in valuations, with market heavyweights such as financials, cements and petrochemicals in focus, dealers said.

“Valuations after recent steep declines were not able to reflect profitability of these large cap stocks. They seemed to have been oversold,” Mega Securities (Õ×ØS×Cȯ) analyst Alex Huang (üS‡ø‚¥) said.

Huang said he suspected buying came largely from major shareholders of these leading stocks to boost investor confidence amid market turbulence at home and abroad. A trader with a foreign brokerage said that government-controlled funds also played a role behind the gains.

However, Huang said daily turnover was low, indicating many investors remained sidelined because of concern over rising oil prices.

“They are watching closely when foreign institutional investors will resume buying after the massive selling,” he said.
more...

2008-Jul-13 - Dubai real estate developer, Nakheel explores booming global markets

Chris O'Donnell, CEO, Nakheel, said, "Two areas that we are looking at entering are Eastern Europe and China. We are doing the preliminary investigation work on those two areas. We think they will be the growing economies over the next 10 or 15 years, so now is the time to get a foothold in those places".

Over the past year, Nakheel has accelerated its international expansion, gaining a presence in the UK, US, Australia and Singapore. This broadening on a global scale will help Dubai real estate developers protect their interest in case of recession in the regional construction market.

Source: www.gowealthy.com

Link: http://www.starproject.com.sg/singapore-real-estate.htm

2008-Jul-13 - PRESS DIGEST - Singapore newspapers - July 9

SINGAPORE, July 9 (Reuters) - The following are stories from Singapore newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

THE STRAITS TIMES - Sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] has appointed Swedish businessman Marcus Wallenberg to its board. Wallenberg, a member of the Swedish family that owns stakes in some of Sweden's top firms, is chairman of Electrolux and deputy chairman of Ericsson.

- Turnover for the Great Singapore Sale's first month from May 23 to June 21 was up 27 percent compared to last year, according to credit card firm MasterCard, with shoppers spending more on food, massages and spa treatments.

- Despite a slowing property market, developers of a luxury condominium -- with special lifts that allow residents to park their cars in front of their high-rise units -- has been released for sale at an average of S$3,800 per square foot, or between S$8 million ($5.87 million) to S$12 million per unit.

BUSINESS TIMES

- Developers are paying property agents bigger commissions - in some cases up to 2 percent or almost double of what was offered a year ago - to push their new residential project launches as the environment for selling homes becomes more challenging and agents work harder to close sales.

- Aviva (AV.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) unit Morley Fund Management is planning more property deals in Asia as it aims to build a $10 billion real estate portfolio across the Asia-Pacific in the next four to five years, said its head of Asia real estate Nick Ridgewell.

The asset manager now has $1.3 billion committed to real estate in the region, and debuted in the Asia ex-Japan property market in June with the acquisition of Commerce Point from City Developments (CTDM.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for about S$180 million.

Source: www.reuters.com 

2008-Jul-13 - Property yield spreads widen but investors wary

(SINGAPORE) Institutional investors are seeing some property yield spreads over 10-year bond rates widen globally but DTZ Research believes the correction in real estate markets has some way to go.

According to a recent DTZ Research report, Money Into Property, the yield spread over the local 10-year bond rate in Singapore increased by about one percentage point in the first quarter of this year on a year-on-year (yoy) basis to just under 4 per cent, and is higher than that in China and Japan, which both have yield spreads of under 3 per cent.

While the high yield spread implies growth potential and profitability in the real estate investment market, DTZ Research did add, however, that Singapore is not immune from the weakening global financial market outlook, with investors becoming increasingly cautious.

DTZ executive director and regional head for consulting and research Ong Choon Fah said: 'With prospects for capital growth limited, investor focus has returned to occupier fundamentals.'

In Singapore, DTZ says that rentals for prime office space in Raffles Place grew 1.1 per cent quarter-on- quarter (qoq) to $19 per square foot per month in the second quarter of this year.

In the Shenton Way/ Robinson Road/Cecil Street area, average rentals in Q2 increased 2.6 per cent (qoq) to $11.80 psf per month. In the HarbourFront area it's up 5.3 per cent (qoq) to $10 psf per month.

Rentals in Marina Centre and Orchard Road were flat at $15.50 and $13.50 psf per month respectively.

DTZ said that the supply crunch in the Central Business District will ease from 2010 with potential supply of new office space from the second half of this year to 2013 estimated to be 12.1 million sq ft.

Already, the average islandwide occupancy in the second quarter of this year has dipped slightly by 0.2 percentage point (qoq) to 96.9 per cent.

Average occupancy of office buildings in Raffles Place and Marina Centre dropped 0.3 and 1.2 percentage points to 97.4 and 98.6 per cent respectively. Still, DTZ believes that the outlook for Asia Pacific is relatively optimistic, supported by the occupier market and improving investment access.

'Globally, we expect investment transactions to be around US$500 billion in 2008, down 30 per cent on 2007. This shift reflects weakness over the first half of 2008 and a relatively modest pick-up thereafter, which is likely to be driven principally by the Asia Pacific market,' added Mrs Ong.

Increases in yield spreads were greatest in Europe with the UK seeing the biggest year-on-year rise of almost 2 percentage points in Q1 2008 to just under one per cent.

DTZ notes that the rate of fall in capital values has been slowing in recent months in the UK, so that while investment returns remain in negative territory, some improvement has been evident.

According to DTZ estimates, investment transactions in the UK appeared to stabilise in Q1, with the market's relatively sharp repricing beginning to attract foreign-equity-based investors, notably German funds.

At the same time, DTZ said an increasing number of new opportunity (or 'vulture') funds have been set up to pick up distressed assets in the UK market at bargain prices, while sovereign wealth funds are also waiting in the wings.

Source: http://business.asiaone.com

2008-Jul-13 - Four key Asian property markets at a glance

India Since India eased its rules on inward investment in the construction industry in early 2005, foreign investors have earmarked an estimated US$20 billion for property, quadrupling in land prices in many areas.

But government figures show only about $2 billion actually spent in the last three years.

Funds have complained that Indian developers slapped inflated price tags on themselves, their land, and projects.

However, developers are starting to offer appealing deals as banks tighten lending and a stock market slump shuts off public share offerings, which should benefit funds run by the likes of Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch

Indian banks are banned from lending for land purchases and the central bank has raised the cash reserve ratio several times this year, which could crimp other loans and raise lending rates from the 12-13% charged now.

The failure of the Dubai-backed developer Emaar MGF Land to push through a $1.6 billion initial public offering in January was a defining moment for developers.

Pune-based developer Vascon Engineers Ltd has since postponed its IPO and Unitech Ltd has shelved a planned $1.5-billion private placement, according to property analysts. more...

2008-Jul-13 - Singapore retail property highlights

Consumer spending in Singapore recorded S$33.1 billion (including motor vehicles) in 2007, representing a 3.8 per cent increase year-on-year (yoy).

Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales value for the same period was estimated at S$22.5 billion, posting a decade-high growth of 9.0 per cent yoy.

Between the months of November and December 2007, shoppers spent S$5.8 billion, attributable to extravagant Christmas season spending. Entering 1Q 2008, the retail sales index (including motor vehicles) posted a 1.5 per cent yoy increase, while retail sales value rose by 7.8 per cent yoy to achieve S$3.25 billion in January.

In the first quarter of 2008, strong consumer sentiments did not wane despite the uncertainties in the financial market, evident from events that fulfilled their expected sales and visitor targets.

These events included the recent Information Technology (IT) Show 2008 held at Suntec City, which drew 735,000 visitors and S$54.5 million in sales as well as the NATAS Travel Fair that attracted more than 50,000 holiday seekers and brought in close to S$50 million worth of travel deals. more...

2008-Jul-13 - Reevaluating the property sector

JULY 25, 2008. D-Day. The events of the day will be keenly watched. The market is expecting a possible interest rate rise on that day as Bank Negara meets.

“We expect interest rate go up as early as July 25 ... we expect a 50 basis points increase, or 0.5%, to be done in two instalments between then and the end of the year,” says an analyst.

Indonesia has increased its key interest rate 25 basis points to 8.75 to curb soaring inflation which could rise from 11.03% to 12.5% by the end of the year. Eurozone rates hit a seven-year high as it battles inflationary pressures.

As we take a short breather from the roller coaster ride that has been inundating the country the past several weeks, we have to admit these are interesting times, on the national front and globally, politically and economically.

Never in the last five years has inflation in the country hovered at more than 6%. That’s June for you. With the rise in electricity tariff, this may go up to 7% for July. Generally, it’s been around 3%.

Binding the national political and economic scenario is the global credit crunch, rising food and fuel prices.

Bankers and developers say the second half of the year will be challenging and stressful. There may be a period of slowdown between now and the end of the year.

The general consensus is that “it will take a year before things stabilise.” The more optimistic think six months.

What does all these spell for the property buyer? more...

2007-Nov-16 - HDB to clear blocks, market in Hougang to rejuvenate area

SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has identified nine rental residential, commercial and industrial blocks, as well as a hawker centre in Hougang for clearance.

HDB said these properties are about 33 years old and have to make way for plans to rejuvenate the estate.

The affected properties are Blocks 3, 4, 8 to 11, 11A to 14 in Avenue 3/7.

Affected tenants and stallholders have been notified of the clearance.

If eligible, they will receive the standard clearance benefits and assistance where necessary.

The site currently occupied by Blocks 12 to 14 in Hougang Avenue 7 is scheduled for sale for private housing development in the second half of 2009.

The remaining site will be developed for residential or commercial use after 2010, depending on the prevailing market conditions.

Read more on Yahoo! News Singapore...

2007-Oct-16 - 'Tags' to protect content

By Lee U-Wen

SINGAPORE: Even before the recent Michael Moore-directed documentary, Sicko, was released in American cinemas in June, thousands of people around the world had already watched it weeks earlier — for free, and in the comfort of their own homes, no less.

They did so on YouTube, the widely popular video-sharing website, which hosted on its server a bootleg copy of the film in its entirety that was uploaded by one of its users.

Such an occurrence is common in today's digital age, and the issue of copyright infringement looks set to continue to dominate the legal landscape around the world.

On the second day of the International Bar Association Conference 2007 yesterday at the Suntec Convention Centre, intellectual property lawyer Richard Raysman — a guest speaker from New York — engaged an audience of about 70 people in a discussion about content liability.

With 100 million videos being watched on YouTube every day, critics have argued that a fair number of these are breaking copyright laws worldwide.

A suggestion bandied about to help battle the pirates was for content providers to "tag" their materials, which would allow service providers such as YouTube and Google Video to run a search and sieve out copyrighted files before uploading them.

Mr Raysman noted how quickly the service providers dismissed the idea.

"They are upset because it means incurring extra costs. They say it's not their job to do editorial work. They want to be protected because they are distributors, not publishers, and this is frustrating for the content providers," he said.

But it will "take quite some time" for the courts to draw up the legal interpretations to keep up with the latest technological innovations, according to Mr Raysman.

Still, he urged copyright owners to continue to put pressure on websites and the authorities because new media such as YouTube are here to stay.

"There are tens of thousands of other sites out there that host copyrighted material. There has to be some law to determine the rights of copyright owners."

Another speaker, Ms Alexandra Neri, a lawyer from Paris, said that coming up with new laws was one thing, but enforcing them effectively would be a different matter altogether.

In Singapore, it is against the Copyright Act to engage in online piracy.

In 2005, three men aged 16 to 22 were arrested in their homes for sharing over 20,000 pirated digital music files in a chat channel.

Last October, content owners banded together and reported 25 offenders to the police for trading songs and movies illegally online.

Offenders face jail terms of up to five years and fines of up to $100,000.

And although having just a couple of songs in your hard drive may not be enough to warrant a criminal offence, it can attract civil liabilities when infringement is established.

- TODAY/yb

2007-Oct-3 - Property agents urged to tap into the Internet

by Joseph Yadao

 
SINGAPORE : Local property agents have yet to realise the potential of the Internet, with only about 5 per cent of agents using the Internet as a marketing tool, according to Mr Patrick Grove, the group CEO of Singapore-based Catcha Media Group.

However, in highly-developed markets like Australia and the United Kingdom, about 90 per cent of property agents are already taking advantage of the Internet.

"The number one property website in Australia is worth S$800 million, while the one in the UK is worth S$2 billion," said Mr Grove, who is also executive chairman of IPGA, an online property subsidiary of Catcha that listed on the Australian Securities Exchange last Tuesday.

IPGA offered its new investors a 29 per cent stake in the company at AUD$0.25 (S$0.32) a share. The IPO raised S$9.45 million from both institutional and retail investors.

Read more from Channel News Asia...

2007-Sep-28 - Singapore Property Renting

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