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Nostradamus Supreme	07-Mar-2007 12:26        Nostradamus About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	UBS has raised its price targets for shares in property firms with substantial office buildings by an average 22%, saying developers will benefit from rising office rents. The Swiss bank raised its price target for City Developments to $16.05 and Singapore Land to $10.82, moving their shares to a "buy" recommendation from "neutral". Prime office rents in the city-state rose an average 50% last year and UBS analyst Regina Lim said in a note to investors that she expects office capital values to climb 60% this year. Keppel Land remains UBS' "favourite office play" with a revised price target of $10.10. UBS also raised its ratings on commercial-based property trusts Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-REIT), CapitaMall, Suntec, Cambridge Industrial, Frasers Centrepoint and CapitaCommercial.
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zhuge_liang Supreme	22-Nov-2006 17:17        zhuge_liang About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Shares in office landlords CapitaCommercial Trust and K-REIT Asia extended their gains for the seventh trading day, both touching new 52-week highs, amid expectations that rents will continue to rise because of the strong demand for prime office space and a shortage of supply, dealers said. Dealers said the demand for prime office space was largely coming from banks, which had been beefing-up their wealth management operations here. According to research note by Merrill Lynch, demand is also being fuelled by the migration here of skilled professionals from Hong Kong escaping the pollution there. "Singapore stands to be a major beneficiary and the investment response is clear: buy Singapore office landlords, sell Hong Kong office landlords," Merrill Lynch said.
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Nostradamus Supreme	03-Oct-2006 17:23        Nostradamus About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 1   x 0  Alert Admin	Prime office rents here are expected to top the pre-1997 Asian financial crisis levels of $10 per square foot within the next 2-3 years, analysts said. They said this was because of demand for office space, particularly from banks, and the likelihood that the supply of new office space in the central business district (CBD) will remain tight in the next five years. Office rents now average close to $8 per square foot. But rents for office space in prime areas of the central business district are averaging close to $9 per square foot as big international banks beef up their wealth management and corporate advisory operations here. One Raffles Quay, for instance, has leased several floors to UBS, Deutsche Bank and ABN-AMRO. One Raffles Quay, which was built by a consortium of Keppel Land Ltd, Hong Kong Land Holdings and Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd, sits on the edge of the proposed Business and Finance Centre on Marina Bay. The consortium is also the developer of the 3.55-hectare Business and Finance Centre. Last year, it submitted a highly competitive bid of $4,101 per square meter, or $381 per square foot, for the Business and Finance Centre site, which can be developed with a gross floor area of 4.5m square feet within 13 years. Phase one of the Business and Finance Centre, which is expected to be ready by 2010, will have about 1.5m square feet of new office space. But even with this new space, the supply of office space in the central business district remains tight, analysts said. "We believe rents can surpass the 1996 peak, given growth in the financial sector," UBS said in a note to clients. It said prime office rents could again reach their peak of $10 per square foot by 2008. UBS estimates that between now and 2009, demand for new office space will reach 1.3-1.5m square feet a year, but that available supply is only about 500,000 square feet a year. UBS said that with the government trying to attract more foreign talent to live and work here, demand for office space would likely remain robust. JP Morgan research head Christopher Gee said he expected prime office rents to reach $10 a square foot as soon as next year. However, Gee cautions that only a few select properties can command such rents. "I can't see that there is going to be a broad-based demand for office space, with demand concentrated in the CBD and coming [mainly] from the financial sector," he said. Although law and accounting firms are expanding their head counts, Gee doubts whether these firms will require huge amounts of office space -- unlike banks. With limited new office space in the central business district, Gee reckons that, to save on rent, tenants already there will likely move to the suburbs when their leases expire. This will enable industrial landlords like Ascendas Reit to benefit from rising rents. DBSV analyst Cheng Wee Tan agrees that the rise in office rents is sustainable and that $10 a square foot is achievable within the next three years. "There is still room for growth as office rents in Singapore are still cheaper, compared to Hong Kong," Tan said. Tan estimates that, after the completion of One Raffles Quay this year, there will be no new office space available until, perhaps, 2010, when the first phase of the Business and Finance Centre is expected to be completed. An analyst with an East Asian brokerage said he expected office rents to reach $10 sgd per square foot within the next 12-18 months, driven by demand by foreign banks and multinationals as they expand their presence in Asia. "Companies from the West are setting up more offices in Asia. Rentals in Singapore are very attractive compared to Hong Kong, where rents are 40% higher than Singapore, on average," he said.
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Nostradamus Supreme	02-Oct-2006 18:02        Nostradamus About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Singapore office rents have posted their highest quarterly increase in more than a decade, Jones Lang LaSalle has said. Average rents of Prime Grade A office space in the 2,000-5,000 sq ft (180-450 sq m) category rose 13% qoq, the real estate money management and services firm said. It was the highest quarterly rise since the fourth quarter of 1994 and reflected a year-on-year increase of 45.8%, it said. "Year-to-date growth as at 3Q06 doubles that for the whole of 2005 and is only slightly off 2000 levels," Jones Lang LaSalle said. "Current Prime Grade A rents are only 4.3% off the 2001 peak but still some 25% off the 1996 peak." The rental increase comes amid tightening supply and strong expansion in the financial and business sector, it said. "Excellent infrastructure, relatively low occupation costs and proximity to the emerging Asian markets and their regional clients are the main draws of locating in Singapore," the firm said. While Singapore rents are rising, they are still very competitive compared with other major cities, it said.
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Nostradamus Supreme	29-Sep-2006 16:48        Nostradamus About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	"Among pure office plays, CapitaCommercial is my best bet," OCBC  analyst Winston Liew said. OCBC has a fair value for CapitaCommercial at $2.32. The brokerage also identified CapitaCommercial as one of the key Singapore-listed stocks likely to deliver strong earnings in the years ahead. DBSV analyst Cheng Wee Tan said CapitaCommercial and K-REIT Asia are among the primary beneficiaries of rising office rents. While CapitaCommercial is trading above DBS' fair value of $1.94, the brokerage is in the process of revising its target price, he said. Over the next few years, the outlook for office rents remains positive, with many analysts expecting rents to top the pre-Asian financial crisis level of $10 per square foot in the next two years. "That level will be reached very soon. In fact, remaining spaces at One Raffles Quay (Singapore's newest office building) have reached $12 per square foot," an analyst with a local brokerage said. He reckons that average office rents will rise above $10 per square foot within the next 12-18 months given the tight supply of office space in Singapore. Apart from One Raffles Quay, which was jointly developed by Keppel Land, Hong Kong Land and Cheung Kong Holdings, the analyst said there is no new supply of office space coming in until 2010 in the prime central business district. By 2010, there would be just 1.5m square feet of new office space available at the initial development phase of the new Business and Financial Centre (BFC) on Marina Bay. BFC is also being developed by the Keppel Land, Hong Kong Land and Cheung Kong consortium.
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Nostradamus Supreme	15-Sep-2006 17:11        Nostradamus About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 1   x 0  Alert Admin	DBSV said the supply of office space will remain tight in the next few years with the limited supply of new office buildings coming on stream and potential redevelopment of old ones. Citing a report in the Business Times newspaper, DBS said that if old buildings in the central business district are redeveloped, some 1.5m square feet of office space will be taken out of the market. According to the newspaper, these buildings include the UIC Building, 1 Shenton Way, Natwest Centre, 71 Robinson Road, Asia Chambers, Straits Trading Building and Ocean Building. "These buildings translate to a total of 7-8% of total current stock available in the Raffles Place, Shenton Way and Tanjong Pagar areas. This is a reflection of further tightening of the office stock in the market that is already in short supply and is another piece of positive news for the office market," DBS said. Among office landlords, DBS advises a "buy" on K-REIT Asia, Allco REIT, Suntec REIT and "hold" on CapitaCommercial and Keppel Land.
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