CapitaLand to launch freehold condo soon
August 2, 2008
CAPITALAND
plans to launch in the second half of this year a freehold condo - Urban
Resort - with about 70 units on the Silver Tower site in Cairnhill.
The average price is expected to be above $3,000 psf, CapitaLand Residential
Singapore CEO Patricia Chia told reporters after the group announced
second-quarter results.
CapitaLand
has also sold 11 of the 40 units released so far at Latitude at Jalan
Mutiara in the River Valley area at an average price of $2,400 to $2,500
psf. Over at Tong Watt Road, it has sold close to 30 of 80 units released
recently at The Wharf Residence; prices range from $1,500 to $1,900
psf.
CapitaLand
leads a consortium that will redevelop Farrer Court which is slated
for launch in the first half of next year.
Asked about
his outlook for the Singapore residential market, Mr Liew said: ‘Demand
is still very good for the mass market. (For) the mid-range, there are
still good signs of take-up; I think prices are still holding well for
the mid-range.
‘But in
the high-end, there’s not going to be massive demand. (In terms of prices),
obviously it won’t be the $5,600 psf record price that we achieved for
a penthouse at Orchard Residences last year. But prices will still be
above $3,000 psf.
‘So prices
will still be way above the last peak, pre-Asian crisis. Demand is still
there. People who sold their properties through en bloc sales still
have to buy apartments,’ he said.
Given Singapore’s
limited land resource and with population projected to grow to 6.5 million,
in the ‘long term, property prices will go up’, Mr Liew said, adding:
‘It’s a no-brainer.
‘I think
we’re overinfected with the housing slump in the US. That sort of mood
comes to Singapore that property prices (here) will (also) go down.
But look at the fundamentals, look at demand fundamentals. I think we
are much stronger in Asia,’ Mr Liew noted.
The group’s
earnings are underpinned by progressive recognition of $4 billion residential
sales in Singapore in 2006 and 2007.
CapitaLand’s
chief investment officer Kee Teck Koon said that in Singapore, the group
has hardly any residential stock or inventory that it is holding. ‘So
there is no issue of writing down. Most importantly, those new projects
we’ve got, we have underwritten a value that is very supportable even
at current prices,’ he added.
Source:
Business Times
