HO BEE Group and Banyan Tree Holdings have won two of the seven categories in the inaugural Mipim Asia Awards held in Hong Kong.

HO BEE Group and Banyan Tree Holdings have won two of the seven categories in the inaugural Mipim Asia Awards held in Hong Kong.

Mipim, the Marche international des professionnels de l’immobilier, is a real estate and city development fair that also honours innovative and outstanding buildings.

Over 100 projects from 15 different countries across the Asia-Pacific region were submitted to the Mipim Asia Awards.

‘The quality of the final projects is a testimony to the high standards in Asian real estate today,’ commented Robert Lie, president of the jury and chairman of ING Real Estate Investment Management Asia (Hong Kong).

Ho Bee on Wednesday won in the Residential Developments category with its Sentosa development, The Berth by the Cove, by architects Axis Architects Planners.

This is the first award for The Berth, and Ho Bee general manager of marketing and business development Chong Hock Chang added that it is also ‘the first true waterfront housing in Singapore’.

He said: ‘The development is designed such that you either face the vast South China Sea or the enchanting waterways within the Cove. Further, it is also the first of its kind to have its own berthing facilities.’

On the efforts of Axis Architects, Mr Chong said: ‘They may be a local architect but the team has proven themselves to be able to compete against the best in the region by helping us bag this prestigious award.’

Banyan Tree Holdings won in the Hotels and Tourism Resorts category with its Banyan Tree Lijiang in China by Architrave Design & Planning.

Banyan Tree managing director (Design Services) Ho Kwoncjan explained that each Banyan Tree Resort is designed to blend into its natural surroundings, using indigenous materials as far as possible and reflecting the landscape and architecture of the destination.

‘Whether redesigning rustic Tibetan farmhouses as lodges, or visualising a resort within an intimate village setting, we promote the uniqueness of indigenous cultures,’ he said.

Source : Business Times - 30 Nov 2007

HO Bee Investment, the dominant residential developer at Sentosa Cove

HO Bee Investment, the dominant residential developer at Sentosa Cove, yesterday posted net earnings of $39.27 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, up 297 per cent from $9.89 million a year earlier.

The jump was on a 137.9 per cent increase in revenue to $129.6 million, due mainly to a 149 per cent rise in the sale of development properties.

The main contributor to revenue was progressive recognition of sales of residential projects such as Coral Island, which obtained a Temporary Occupation Permit in August, Orange Grove Residences, The Coast and Paradise Island.

For the first nine months of this year, Ho Bee’s net profit leaped 391.8 per cent year on year to a record $233.4 million, benefiting not only from a 133.8 per cent increase in revenue to $535.4 million but also a $71 million gain in fair-value changes on investment properties.

Chairman and CEO Chua Thian Poh said the group’s revenue and earnings for the rest of the year and the next few years will be buttressed by the progressive recognition of income from successful residential projects that have been launched.

In its results statement, Ho Bee said that the recent withdrawal of the Deferred Payment Scheme by the authorities will have an initial impact on prices and demand.

‘The group does not anticipate its upcoming residential projects in the Core Central Region, which includes Sentosa Cove, to be adversely affected as underlying demand from both local and foreign buyers is expected to remain relatively strong,’ it said.

Mr Chua said that despite good sales, ‘we continue to be prudent in the way we conduct our business, always bearing in mind that we have to ensure long-term sustainable growth for shareholders’.

Ho Bee’s Q3 earnings per share jumped to 5.33 cents from 1.34 cents in the year-ago period.

Net asset value per share was 102.8 cents at Sept 30, up from 67.9 cents as at Dec 31, 2006. On the stock market yesterday, Ho Bee shares ended one cent higher at $1.78

Source : Business Times - 14 Nov 2007

Ho Bee previews Turquoise, Wheelock properties to launch Scotts Square

Ho Bee previews Turquoise, Wheelock properties to launch Scotts Square

DEVELOPERS are slowly stepping up residential property launches again, with Ho Bee Investments previewing its Turquoise condo at Sentosa Cove and Wheelock Properties (Singapore) holding the official launch of Scotts Square later this week.

Turquoise, which will have 91 apartments, will be priced at $2,500 psf on average. Ho Bee has been conducting viewings at its showflat lately for its business associates and is expected to begin sales at a preview starting on Thursday.

The 99-year leasehold project comprises three- and four-bedroom units, and penthouses.

Ho Bee will develop the six-and-a-half storey project on Sentosa Cove’s Waterfront Collection site, which is flanked by Tanjong Golf Course and waterways.

It bought the site in a tender that closed in November last year, for $919 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr).

This will be the first condominium launch in Sentosa Cove’s Southern Residential Precinct.

Ho Bee also won another condominium site (jointly with Malaysia’s IOI Group) in March this year. The duo paid $1,361 psf ppr for the plot, dubbed The Seaview Collection, and they are expected to develop it into an eightstorey condo with about 150 units.

Ho Bee is also said to have begun marketing The Orange Grove, a 72-unit freehold condo, in Indonesia.

The average price of the 12-storey project is understood to be around $3,000 psf.

It is diagonally across the road from another condo that Ho Bee began selling around January this year - the 60-unit Orange Grove Residences. Four units are left in the five-storey freehold condo. The current price is about $2,500 psf on average.

Over in the Scotts Road area, Wheelock Properties has sold about half of its 338-unit Scotts Square at an average price of $3,983 psf since July. And although it is holding an official launch for the freehold project on Friday, the group’s executive director, Tan Bee Kim, says the plan is not to sell off all the remaining units just yet.

The developer is in the midst of deciding just how many units it will sell for now, as well as the pricing. Market watchers expect the average price to inch up to slightly above $4,000 psf.

Over in the Dunearn Road location, MCL Land has sold off all but the showflat of its 163-unit cluster terrace housing development, Hillcrest Villas, in two weeks. The average price achieved for the 99-year leasehold development was around $870 psf of strata area.



Source: Business Times

HO BEE Investment has begun selling units at its Turquoise condo at Sentosa Cove at prices ranging from around $2,400 to $2,700 psf.

HO BEE Investment has begun selling units at its Turquoise condo at Sentosa Cove at prices ranging from around $2,400 to $2,700 psf.

Apartments cost around $5.3 million for a typical three-bedroom unit and about $6.4 million for a typical four-bedroom unit.

The listed developer sold about 20 of the 30 units that it released yesterday in the project, which comprises only 91 units in total.

Ho Bee seems to be in no hurry to sell out the 99-year leasehold project, given the increasing scarcity of new project launches on Sentosa Cove, market watchers say.

Three bedders in the development have an average size of about 2,100 sq ft, and four-bedders about 2,500 sq ft. Turquoise also has a variety of penthouse sizes - three bedders, four bedders (both of these come with their own jacuzzis), and three sky villas ranging from 6,900 to 7,900 sq ft and each with its own swimming pool.

Ho Bee is developing the six-and-a-half storey project on Sentosa Cove’s Waterfront Collection site, which is flanked by Tanjong Golf Course and waterways.

Over at King’s Road in the Bukit Timah area, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung is marketing this weekend King’s 8, comprising eight freehold strata bungalows. The strata areas of the units range from 4,898 sq ft to 5,414 sq ft, and are priced between $4.67 million and $4.98 million. The bungalows have two storeys plus an attic, basement, a private pool and two private carpark lots. King’s 8 is being developed by Longitude Central.

Over at Jansen Road, Fragrance Land is holding a soft launch for 12 strata terrace houses. Prices of the 999-year leasehold development range from $830 to $850 psf of strata area.

And at the prime Scotts Road, Wheelock Properties (Singapore) begins today the official launch of Scotts Square, releasing a limited number of units. During a preview of the project in July, it sold about half of the 338 apartments, at an average price of $3,983 psf.

Source : Business Times - 28 Sep 2007

Ho Bee acquires Elmira Heights for $279m

Ho Bee acquires Elmira Heights for $279m

Its land bank of 730,000 sq ft can be developed into 700 homes

HO Bee Investment's latest $279 million or $990 psf per plot ratio acquisition of Elmira Heights at Newton Road has boosted the developer's residential land bank to about 730,000 sq ft.

The sale has been closed: Owners of Elmira Heights' existing 126 units will receive $2 million to $2.4 million

This land bank can be developed into about 1.4 million sq ft gross floor area, or nearly 700 high-end homes, on five sites. The price for the five sites adds up to $960 million, although Ho Bee owns only 50 per cent of two of these sites - the Seaview Collection condo plot on Sentosa Cove and Holland Hill Mansions - and 90 per cent of The Waterfront Collection plot at Sentosa Cove.

Elmira Heights is 'probably at the highest point in the Newton area', reckoned Ho Bee chairman Chua Thian Poh. Market watchers note that Ho Bee's $990 psf ppr unit land price, which is inclusive of an estimated $22 million development charge (DC), is 50 per cent higher than the last benchmark in the area - $666 psf ppr including DC that Wing Tai paid about a year ago for Newton Meadows.

Elmira Heights' collective sale was brokered by DTZ Debenham Tie Leung. Its director Tang Wei Leng said owners of Elmira Heights' existing 126 units will receive either $2 million or $2.4 million per unit, depending on the size of their unit.

Industry observers reckoned Ho Bee's break even cost for a new condo on the site could be around $1,400 to $1,500 psf.

DTZ executive director Margaret Thean said: 'With its prime freehold location in District 11 and riding on Ho Bee's signature of top-quality developments, the new development is likely to command an average of $1,800 psf under the current market conditions.'

Ho Bee said it plans to redevelop the 108,550 sq ft freehold site into a 30 storey twin tower condo with a total of about 170 apartments of about 1,800 sq ft and larger. The project will come with full-condo facilities. 'The plan is to develop three and four-bedroom apartments and penthouses to cater to the growing demand for large units,' the group said in a release yesterday. The project is slated for release next year.

Separately, Ho Bee announced it had sold 28 of the total 29 villas on Paradise Island, Sentosa Cove, since last month. Over 50 per cent of buyers were foreigners. Prices ranged from $7 million to $18 million for each villa.

On average, the price works out to about $1,100 psf of land area, nearly 40 per cent higher than the $790 psf average the group achieved earlier for its villas on the nearby Coral Island in late 2005/early 2006. Ho Bee has sold 20 of the 21 villas at Coral Island.

Ho Bee's latest 99-year villas at Paradise Island have land areas of about 7,000 sq ft to 15,000 sq ft.

The deferred payment scheme is a good option for buyers

The deferred payment scheme is a good option for buyers, and developers that BT spoke to reckon the number who opt for this is manageable. Ho Bee Group general manager (business development and marketing) Chong Hock Chang said: ‘The number who opted for the scheme varies from project to project and we are comfortable with the current arrangement.’

‘Some of our buyers opt for deferred payment schemes even though there is a price differential because they prefer the flexibility of managing their own finances,’ he added.

Whether the scheme encourages property speculation is an issue that has recently surfaced though.

Official property data reveals that the level of speculation remains below the levels recorded during the previous peak in the mid-1990s, even before the scheme was introduced.

Still, Lippo Realty executive director Thio Gim Hock believes the scheme will ‘encourage’ speculation. ‘If you defer payment, the transaction is actually virtual,’ he said, adding: ‘It’s like gambling.’

Lippo did not offer a deferred payment scheme on either The Trillium, launched last month, or Newton One, launched in March 2006. Newton One is fully sold and The Trillium is over 85 per cent sold.

Even for projects where both deferred payment and progress payment schemes are offered, the former does not always appear more popular.

At Sim Lian Land’s 338-unit Carabelle in the West Coast, 80 per cent of the 240 buyers so far opted for the progress payment scheme. Although it came with a 2 per cent discount, Sim Lian executive director Diana Kuik believes ’serious buyers do not have a problem with the progress payment method’.

Interestingly, for its sell-out 616-unit Premiere @ Tampines, Sim Lian did not offer deferred payment at all, and met with some displeasure from buyers.

The Premiere was aimed at the HDB market, and there was some initial concern that, as with HDB flats, some newly married couples could back out early, leaving the developer in the lurch.

Indeed, a developer’s over-exposure to debt was a concern the Monetary Authority of Singapore raised recently.

But even on this point, one developer who spoke to BT on condition of anonymity said there were several ‘mechanisms’ within the preferred payment scheme that ensured that a developer was rarely more than 55 per cent exposed to debt at the Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) stage. ‘Most developers will ask for at least 20 to 30 per cent upfront,’ he explained.

‘If a buyer defaults on payment before TOP, I will have at least 20 per cent in the pocket. So unless the prices fall dramatically, I do not perceive deferred payment as a risk,’ he said. ‘The crux of the matter is that a developer is not 100 per cent exposed.’

Even in the case of a sub-sale, he said the developer has the option of transfering the structure of the deferred payment scheme on to the new buyer and in instances like this, an additional cash deposit is often required.

The deferred payment scheme looks set to stay then, judging from its support from developers. A spokesman for CapitaLand said: ‘Where there is an option between progress and deferred payment schemes, the bulk of our homebuyers prefer the latter. We will continue to give payment choices to our homebuyers where appropriate.’

City Developments Ltd said: ‘The percentage of the take-up rate for the deferred payment scheme varies depending on the type of properties as well as the type of schemes offered . . . in general, we have more buyers who opt for the normal payment scheme.’

Source: The Business Times, 13 April 2007