THE booming property market sent sales revenue at the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to a nine-year high of $6.3 billion.

THE booming property market sent sales revenue at the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to a nine-year high of $6.3 billion.

Its bumper result was still well shy of the record return achieved in the 1997 financial year, when the red-hot market pushed sales revenue to $14 billion.

The SLA manages state properties and also sells them to private companies and other government agencies at market value.

Its annual report out yesterday showed that it sold $3.55 billion worth of land to the private sector in the 12 months ended March 31 - about 8 per cent higher than in the previous year.

Some of this land included plots in Lim Chu Kang, which the SLA specially designated for agricultural and entertainment use.

A further $2.75 billion came from land sold to other government agencies, such as the 21ha plot for the Marina Bay integrated resort. This was bought by the Singapore Tourism Board for $1.2 billion and later taken over by developer Las Vegas Sands.

Rental revenue grew 33 per cent to $514 million, bolstered by takings from the booming Tanglin Village food and beverage cluster and the lease of the former Pearl’s Hill Primary School, which is being turned into a boutique hotel.

Tanglin Village, in the Dempsey Hill area, is a thriving development of upmarket restaurants, bars and other businesses that have sprouted on the refurbished former military buildings managed by the SLA.

The authority helped to make the cluster more appealing by adding entrance and building markers, as well as creating an outdoor space for events.

Another state property adapted for new purposes is the former Changi Hospital, which the SLA tendered for use as a spa and resort development. The 7,900 sq m property is undergoing a $20 million makeover.

The authority’s recent business-friendly moves have been noticed by property consultants such as Mr Ku Swee Yong.

The director of marketing and business development at Savills Singapore suggested that the SLA could try extending the leases of its rental properties so that businesses would be more inclined to sink money into refurbishing state real estate.

Many of the SLA’s properties are rented on three-year leases, which can be renewed up to nine years, but this may not be enough for a business to make a profit from its investment, said Mr Ku.

The SLA’s operating surplus grew by 35 per cent to $17.1 million.

Meanwhile, another state agency, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), collected $2.7 billion from land sales in the financial year ended March 31.

Although the URA sold 16 sites in that period, compared with nine the year before, sales revenue dropped by 5 per cent because last year’s takings were bolstered by high-value sites such as the business and financial centre in Marina Bay and the commercial plot at Orchard Turn.

The URA’s operating surplus more than tripled to $14.8 million, helped by higher agency fees from selling sites and income from processing more applications for development.

Source : Straits Times - 4 Oct 2007