MORE than 75 per cent of the Hong Leong group's latest residential project, The Scala, has been sold at prices averaging $1,150 per square foot.
The 468-unit development in Serangoon Avenue 3 was publicly launched yesterday.
Hong Leong said yesterday that the units sold at the 99-year leasehold project are spread across five residential towers that feature one to four-bedroom units ranging from 474 square feet to 2,142 sq ft.
Buyers comprise a mix of Housing & Development Board upgraders and investors, with the majority being Singaporeans.
Betsy Chng, Hong Leong's head of sales and marketing, attributed the strong response to the project's location, unique features, finishing and pricing.
The Scala is next to the Circle Line's Lorong Chuan MRT Station and near several schools, including St Gabriel's Primary, Yangzheng Primary, Nanyang Junior College, the Australian International School, Stamford American International School and Lycee Francais de Singapour.
It is also close to a bus and MRT interchange at Serangoon Central, and the soon-to-be-opened NEX mega mall.
The project is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2014. Apart from the usual condominium facilities, The Scala will have features such as pavilions with wood-fired pizza ovens and teppanyaki hotplates, a Harvest Garden and a Green Gazebo.
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Shanghai's Peace Hotel opens after restoration
(SHANGHAI) The city's Peace Hotel, which once accommodated Charlie Chaplin and other celebrities, opened to guests yesterday after three years of restoration, the managers said in a statement.
Fairmont Peace Hotel will be managed by Chinese hotelier Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group) Co and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc, which runs the Savoy hotel in London.
Jin Jiang, which operates more than 600 hotels in China, spent HK$500 million (S$88 million) to restore the building.
Some of the main features of the hotel have been kept, including the lobby with an Octagon ceiling, the hoteliers said.
Rates start from 2,300 yuan (S$464) and go as high as more than 7,000 yuan for a night, the hotel's general manager, Kamal Naamani said at a press conference.
The hotel has 270 rooms including the so-called Nine Nations Suites.
The building, located on the Bund promenade overlooking the Huangpu River, has six restaurants and lounges, including the Jazz Bar patronised by former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
The Indian, English, Chinese and American suites have been preserved, while the French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and German rooms were redesigned.
The hotel was previously called the Cathay Hotel and was built by British businessman Victor Sassoon, opening in 1929. The art deco property reopened as the Peace Hotel in 1956.
Jin Jiang also has an agreement with Swatch Group AG to develop the south wing of the old Peace Hotel, called Swatch Art Peace Hotel, part of which will serve as an arts centre. -- Bloomberg
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
Fairmont Peace Hotel will be managed by Chinese hotelier Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group) Co and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc, which runs the Savoy hotel in London.
Jin Jiang, which operates more than 600 hotels in China, spent HK$500 million (S$88 million) to restore the building.
Some of the main features of the hotel have been kept, including the lobby with an Octagon ceiling, the hoteliers said.
Rates start from 2,300 yuan (S$464) and go as high as more than 7,000 yuan for a night, the hotel's general manager, Kamal Naamani said at a press conference.
The hotel has 270 rooms including the so-called Nine Nations Suites.
The building, located on the Bund promenade overlooking the Huangpu River, has six restaurants and lounges, including the Jazz Bar patronised by former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
The Indian, English, Chinese and American suites have been preserved, while the French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and German rooms were redesigned.
The hotel was previously called the Cathay Hotel and was built by British businessman Victor Sassoon, opening in 1929. The art deco property reopened as the Peace Hotel in 1956.
Jin Jiang also has an agreement with Swatch Group AG to develop the south wing of the old Peace Hotel, called Swatch Art Peace Hotel, part of which will serve as an arts centre. -- Bloomberg
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
HDB steps up checks on unauthorised sub-letting
THE Housing and Development Board has cracked down on unauthorised sub-letting. Almost four times as many checks were carried out in the first five months of this year - 2,600, versus 690 between August and December 2009.
About 70 per cent of the 2,600 checks were routine inspections. The others were carried out after public feedback.
HDB said it has taken compulsory acquisition action against four flat owners this year and fined six others for unauthorised sub-letting.
Those whose flats were repossessed were not staying in them and had sub-let without HDB approval.
Owners are allowed to sub-let whole flats only after occupying them for at least five years if they are subsidised flats, or three years if they are non-subsidised.
Owners must also obtain written approval from HDB before sub-letting an entire flat. Different flat types have different limits on the number of sub-tenants allowed. One and two-room flats are allowed four sub-tenants, three-rooms are allowed six and larger flats are allowed up to nine sub-tenants.
Approval is not required for sub-letting of rooms, but flat owners must let HDB know within seven days of doing so.
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
About 70 per cent of the 2,600 checks were routine inspections. The others were carried out after public feedback.
HDB said it has taken compulsory acquisition action against four flat owners this year and fined six others for unauthorised sub-letting.
Those whose flats were repossessed were not staying in them and had sub-let without HDB approval.
Owners are allowed to sub-let whole flats only after occupying them for at least five years if they are subsidised flats, or three years if they are non-subsidised.
Owners must also obtain written approval from HDB before sub-letting an entire flat. Different flat types have different limits on the number of sub-tenants allowed. One and two-room flats are allowed four sub-tenants, three-rooms are allowed six and larger flats are allowed up to nine sub-tenants.
Approval is not required for sub-letting of rooms, but flat owners must let HDB know within seven days of doing so.
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
Developer sentiment still positive for H2: survey
But Q2 consensus as indicated by net balances weaker than in Q1 poll
MORE respondents polled for Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore's (Redas's) and NUS Department of Real Estate's (DRE's) Q2 2010 survey were still positive rather than negative on the overall performance of the prime and suburban residential markets over the next six months. However, the consensus as indicated by the net balances was weaker compared with the Q1 survey.
A net balance of +32 per cent of respondents in Q2 said that they expect better future market performance (over the next six months) in the prime residential sector, down from a +54 per cent net balance in Q1.
Likewise, the net balance of respondents who indicated better future market performance for the suburban private housing sector also slipped from +38 per cent to +27 per cent.
For an assessment of current market performance (now compared with six months ago), the net balance also declined from +79 per cent to +43 per cent for the prime residential sector. In the suburban housing segment, the net balance for current performance fell from +69 to +47 per cent.
Net balance is defined as the difference between the proportion of respondents who have selected positive options (such as 'Better') and the proportion of respondents who have selected the negative options (such as 'Worse').
The respondents who selected the neutral option (such as 'Same') are omitted from the calculation. A '+' sign in the score denotes a net positive sentiment (optimism) and a '-' sign indicates net negative sentiment (pessimism). The derived net balance scores are not weighted by the size of the respondents' business.
Market watchers said the survey findings tallied with ground feedback. Generally, sentiment for the private housing market was less upbeat in Q2 as the sovereign debt problems in European economies unfolded. Some potential buyers also felt priced out of the market after rapid price increases and took a break during the World Cup and June school holiday season.
On the other hand, the outlook for the Singapore office sector improved in April-June as net office take-up continued to increase against the backdrop of the Republic's economic recovery.
Reflecting this, the survey shows net balance of +63 per cent in Q2 for future performance of the office sector, an improvement from the Q1 figure of +43 per cent. A lower percentage of developers in Q2 expect stronger interest in land sales - both the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme and private sector en-bloc sales market - over the coming half year compared with those polled in Q1.
About half of the developers in the latest survey said that the level of interest for both sources of land will remain unchanged in the next half year.
Only about 27 per cent of developers surveyed in Q2 expect more interest in the GLS Programme in the next half year, down from 71 per per cent in Q1.
Similarly, in Q2, 31 per cent of developers forecast a higher interest level in the en bloc sales market, down from 61 per cent in the preceding quarter. Of developers polled in April-June, about 24 per cent and 15 per cent foresee lower interest in GLS and en bloc sales respectively in the next half year.
Developers were also asked to identify the potential risks that may adversely impact market sentiment in the next six months.
In the second quarter, about 73 per cent and 63 per cent view a global economic slowdown or decline and an increase in supply of new development land respectively as the key threats - significantly higher than the 56 per cent and 44 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.
Other major risk factors listed by developers in the latest Q2 survey include rising interest rates (49 per cent of developer respondents) and excessive supply of new property launches (54 per cent).
Notably, about 49 per cent of the developer respondents were concerned with government intervention to cool the market over the next six months, significantly lower than the 81 per cent registered in Q1 this year.
Following government measures to cool the market in September last year and February and the record GLS programme for second half 2010 announced in May, the market probably read that the danger of further cooling measures has receded for now, say market watchers.
Among development cost concerns over the coming half year, developers said that their biggest worry is rising land prices, building materials cost and labour cost, with 90, 76 and 73 per cent respectively of developers polled expressing a moderate to high level of concern.
Interestingly, the percentage of developers who are 'very concerned' about escalating land cost fell from 83 per cent in Q1 to 35 per cent in Q2. 'This could be due to the unexpected or suddenness of the spike in land bid prices seen at state tenders in Q1. In contrast, the 'shock effect' probably lessened as more tenders closed in the second quarter. However, I must emphasise that rising land cost is a very major issue for the development business,' says Redas CEO Steven Choo.
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
MORE respondents polled for Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore's (Redas's) and NUS Department of Real Estate's (DRE's) Q2 2010 survey were still positive rather than negative on the overall performance of the prime and suburban residential markets over the next six months. However, the consensus as indicated by the net balances was weaker compared with the Q1 survey.
A net balance of +32 per cent of respondents in Q2 said that they expect better future market performance (over the next six months) in the prime residential sector, down from a +54 per cent net balance in Q1.
Likewise, the net balance of respondents who indicated better future market performance for the suburban private housing sector also slipped from +38 per cent to +27 per cent.
For an assessment of current market performance (now compared with six months ago), the net balance also declined from +79 per cent to +43 per cent for the prime residential sector. In the suburban housing segment, the net balance for current performance fell from +69 to +47 per cent.
Net balance is defined as the difference between the proportion of respondents who have selected positive options (such as 'Better') and the proportion of respondents who have selected the negative options (such as 'Worse').
The respondents who selected the neutral option (such as 'Same') are omitted from the calculation. A '+' sign in the score denotes a net positive sentiment (optimism) and a '-' sign indicates net negative sentiment (pessimism). The derived net balance scores are not weighted by the size of the respondents' business.
Market watchers said the survey findings tallied with ground feedback. Generally, sentiment for the private housing market was less upbeat in Q2 as the sovereign debt problems in European economies unfolded. Some potential buyers also felt priced out of the market after rapid price increases and took a break during the World Cup and June school holiday season.
On the other hand, the outlook for the Singapore office sector improved in April-June as net office take-up continued to increase against the backdrop of the Republic's economic recovery.
Reflecting this, the survey shows net balance of +63 per cent in Q2 for future performance of the office sector, an improvement from the Q1 figure of +43 per cent. A lower percentage of developers in Q2 expect stronger interest in land sales - both the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme and private sector en-bloc sales market - over the coming half year compared with those polled in Q1.
About half of the developers in the latest survey said that the level of interest for both sources of land will remain unchanged in the next half year.
Only about 27 per cent of developers surveyed in Q2 expect more interest in the GLS Programme in the next half year, down from 71 per per cent in Q1.
Similarly, in Q2, 31 per cent of developers forecast a higher interest level in the en bloc sales market, down from 61 per cent in the preceding quarter. Of developers polled in April-June, about 24 per cent and 15 per cent foresee lower interest in GLS and en bloc sales respectively in the next half year.
Developers were also asked to identify the potential risks that may adversely impact market sentiment in the next six months.
In the second quarter, about 73 per cent and 63 per cent view a global economic slowdown or decline and an increase in supply of new development land respectively as the key threats - significantly higher than the 56 per cent and 44 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.
Other major risk factors listed by developers in the latest Q2 survey include rising interest rates (49 per cent of developer respondents) and excessive supply of new property launches (54 per cent).
Notably, about 49 per cent of the developer respondents were concerned with government intervention to cool the market over the next six months, significantly lower than the 81 per cent registered in Q1 this year.
Following government measures to cool the market in September last year and February and the record GLS programme for second half 2010 announced in May, the market probably read that the danger of further cooling measures has receded for now, say market watchers.
Among development cost concerns over the coming half year, developers said that their biggest worry is rising land prices, building materials cost and labour cost, with 90, 76 and 73 per cent respectively of developers polled expressing a moderate to high level of concern.
Interestingly, the percentage of developers who are 'very concerned' about escalating land cost fell from 83 per cent in Q1 to 35 per cent in Q2. 'This could be due to the unexpected or suddenness of the spike in land bid prices seen at state tenders in Q1. In contrast, the 'shock effect' probably lessened as more tenders closed in the second quarter. However, I must emphasise that rising land cost is a very major issue for the development business,' says Redas CEO Steven Choo.
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
Greek villas marked down 45% as crisis devalues island homes
(MADRID) Greek island homes, long coveted by millionaires and Hollywood stars such as Tom Hanks, are being marked down by as much as 45 per cent as the country's debt crisis destroys demand for holiday getaways.
A half-built villa on Mykonos, an island in the Aegean Sea known for its all-night beach parties, is being offered by brokers at Athens-based Ploumis Sotiropoulos OE for 2 million euros (S$3.5 million) after the price was reduced by 500,000 euros. The same firm is seeking a buyer for a three-bedroom home on Corfu for 750,000 euros, down from an original asking price of 1.4 million euros. So far, no bidders have emerged.
'It's a scary place to invest right now,' said Mike Braunholtz, a broker at Prestige Property Group, which markets properties on the Greek islands. 'Things aren't going to improve until the economic picture becomes clearer.'
Greece is counting on a 110 billion euro bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avert a default and end the nation's first recession since 1993. Prime Minister George Papandreou, having raised taxes and cut civil service wages, is imposing luxury property taxes to convince voters that the wealthy also are helping foot the bill.
Mr Papandreou's austerity package calls for an extra levy on properties valued at more than 5 million euros. Owners of homes worth more than 400,000 euros also will pay higher taxes.
The programme puts pressure on homeowners and debt-laden developers to lower prices, said Ioannis Kaligiannakis, an Athens-based property analyst at Colliers International Hellas.
Greece, which borders Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey, has more than 1,000 islands and the 10th- longest coastline in the world. The country attracts about 15 million visitors a year, according to data compiled by the Hellenic Statistical Authority.
Property declines have been smaller in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Prices for luxury homes have dropped 8-10 per cent in Spain from the peak in 2008, according to Idealista.com, the country's largest real estate website.
The market is holding steady in Portugal, where 832 kilometres of coastline and the archipelagos of Madeira and Azores attract about 13 million tourists each year, said Liselore Ligtermoet, a Lisbon-based marketing manager at International Realty Group. 'We're not seeing bargain hunters here,' he said.
Discounts also have been hard to find in Italy since the country emerged from recession in the third quarter of 2009, said Angelo Savioli, a director at Sotheby's International Realty in Rome. 'Prices are actually rising in areas such as Rome, Venice, Milan and Florence,' he said.
Greece plans to increase the so-called objective value it places on real estate for tax purposes next year. The system depends on an assessment of a property's value based on the area and amenities, rather than on the actual market value, which is usually higher.
State revenue will increase next year with the new programme, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said on July 5.
'The tax overhaul is certainly a concern for property investors in Greece,' said Liam Bailey, head of residential research at Knight Frank LLC in London. 'These measures specifically target the rich, higher-end buyer.'
Prestige is marketing a three-storey, eight-bedroom villa with a swimming pool on Mykonos for 4.1 million euros, down from 5.5 million euros. More than a third of the island's 11,000 residents are foreigners, according to its official website.
Tom Hanks, Oscar-winning star of Forrest Gump, and his wife Rita Wilson, an actress whose father was born in Greece, have a property on Antiparos, according to a spokeswoman for the island's Community Council.
House prices on the mainland also are falling. Ploumis Sotiropoulos is helping sell a 450 square metre villa in Ekali, a wealthy suburb of Athens where former premier Andreas Papandreou lived until his death in 1996, for 2 million euros. The asking price has dropped 48 per cent.
'It's tough this year,' said Giannis Ploumis, CEO of Ploumis Sotiropoulos. 'More properties are on the market and fewer buyers are willing to invest.'
The economy will contract by about 4 per cent this year and by 2.6 per cent in 2011, according to estimates from the Greek Finance Ministry.
Greece is losing its cache with potential buyers 'simply looking at other places', said Mr Bailey of Knight Frank.
France is gaining in popularity as it offers plenty of bargains and the country's economic prospects make the market more attractive than Greece, Mr Braunholtz said. -- Bloomberg
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
A half-built villa on Mykonos, an island in the Aegean Sea known for its all-night beach parties, is being offered by brokers at Athens-based Ploumis Sotiropoulos OE for 2 million euros (S$3.5 million) after the price was reduced by 500,000 euros. The same firm is seeking a buyer for a three-bedroom home on Corfu for 750,000 euros, down from an original asking price of 1.4 million euros. So far, no bidders have emerged.
'It's a scary place to invest right now,' said Mike Braunholtz, a broker at Prestige Property Group, which markets properties on the Greek islands. 'Things aren't going to improve until the economic picture becomes clearer.'
Greece is counting on a 110 billion euro bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avert a default and end the nation's first recession since 1993. Prime Minister George Papandreou, having raised taxes and cut civil service wages, is imposing luxury property taxes to convince voters that the wealthy also are helping foot the bill.
Mr Papandreou's austerity package calls for an extra levy on properties valued at more than 5 million euros. Owners of homes worth more than 400,000 euros also will pay higher taxes.
The programme puts pressure on homeowners and debt-laden developers to lower prices, said Ioannis Kaligiannakis, an Athens-based property analyst at Colliers International Hellas.
Greece, which borders Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey, has more than 1,000 islands and the 10th- longest coastline in the world. The country attracts about 15 million visitors a year, according to data compiled by the Hellenic Statistical Authority.
Property declines have been smaller in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Prices for luxury homes have dropped 8-10 per cent in Spain from the peak in 2008, according to Idealista.com, the country's largest real estate website.
The market is holding steady in Portugal, where 832 kilometres of coastline and the archipelagos of Madeira and Azores attract about 13 million tourists each year, said Liselore Ligtermoet, a Lisbon-based marketing manager at International Realty Group. 'We're not seeing bargain hunters here,' he said.
Discounts also have been hard to find in Italy since the country emerged from recession in the third quarter of 2009, said Angelo Savioli, a director at Sotheby's International Realty in Rome. 'Prices are actually rising in areas such as Rome, Venice, Milan and Florence,' he said.
Greece plans to increase the so-called objective value it places on real estate for tax purposes next year. The system depends on an assessment of a property's value based on the area and amenities, rather than on the actual market value, which is usually higher.
State revenue will increase next year with the new programme, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said on July 5.
'The tax overhaul is certainly a concern for property investors in Greece,' said Liam Bailey, head of residential research at Knight Frank LLC in London. 'These measures specifically target the rich, higher-end buyer.'
Prestige is marketing a three-storey, eight-bedroom villa with a swimming pool on Mykonos for 4.1 million euros, down from 5.5 million euros. More than a third of the island's 11,000 residents are foreigners, according to its official website.
Tom Hanks, Oscar-winning star of Forrest Gump, and his wife Rita Wilson, an actress whose father was born in Greece, have a property on Antiparos, according to a spokeswoman for the island's Community Council.
House prices on the mainland also are falling. Ploumis Sotiropoulos is helping sell a 450 square metre villa in Ekali, a wealthy suburb of Athens where former premier Andreas Papandreou lived until his death in 1996, for 2 million euros. The asking price has dropped 48 per cent.
'It's tough this year,' said Giannis Ploumis, CEO of Ploumis Sotiropoulos. 'More properties are on the market and fewer buyers are willing to invest.'
The economy will contract by about 4 per cent this year and by 2.6 per cent in 2011, according to estimates from the Greek Finance Ministry.
Greece is losing its cache with potential buyers 'simply looking at other places', said Mr Bailey of Knight Frank.
France is gaining in popularity as it offers plenty of bargains and the country's economic prospects make the market more attractive than Greece, Mr Braunholtz said. -- Bloomberg
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
Dubai office rents drop 17% in Q2
(DUBAI) Office rents in Dubai dropped by as much as 17 per cent in the second quarter as new supply put pressure on landlords, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc (CBRE) said.
About 240,000 square metres of commercial space became available in areas such as Al Barsha, Tecom C and Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Matthew Green, head of United Arab Emirates research at CBRE, said in a report yesterday.
Rates at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a tax-free hub that's home to hundreds of companies, dropped by 7.5 per cent to 3,982 dirhams (S$1,481) a square metre when offered by DIFC authority and 2,690 dirhams to 3,014 dirhams when offered by private developers, according to CBRE.
Companies in Dubai have shed thousands of jobs since the onset of the global credit crisis, increasing office vacancy rates.
Available commercial space is set to increase by almost 80 per cent by the end of 2011, Colliers CRE plc said in May.
Dubai's economy shrank 2.5 per cent last year, according to preliminary government estimates.
Power delays are pushing back the completion of construction in the Business Bay development, reducing the amount of office space coming onto the market in the second half, according to CBRE.
Office supply is increasing by about 5 per cent per quarter in Dubai, mainly in areas including Port Saeed, Al Mamzar, Airport Road and Diyafa Street, according to CBRE.
The value of leases has dropped by 60 per cent since the mid-2008 peak, while prices slumped by 57 per cent and occupancy dropped to about 71 per cent from 90 per cent, according to property researcher Colliers International.
The total space available will rise to about 6.4 million square metres from about 3.6 million square metres at the end of 2009. -- Bloomberg
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
About 240,000 square metres of commercial space became available in areas such as Al Barsha, Tecom C and Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Matthew Green, head of United Arab Emirates research at CBRE, said in a report yesterday.
Rates at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a tax-free hub that's home to hundreds of companies, dropped by 7.5 per cent to 3,982 dirhams (S$1,481) a square metre when offered by DIFC authority and 2,690 dirhams to 3,014 dirhams when offered by private developers, according to CBRE.
Companies in Dubai have shed thousands of jobs since the onset of the global credit crisis, increasing office vacancy rates.
Available commercial space is set to increase by almost 80 per cent by the end of 2011, Colliers CRE plc said in May.
Dubai's economy shrank 2.5 per cent last year, according to preliminary government estimates.
Power delays are pushing back the completion of construction in the Business Bay development, reducing the amount of office space coming onto the market in the second half, according to CBRE.
Office supply is increasing by about 5 per cent per quarter in Dubai, mainly in areas including Port Saeed, Al Mamzar, Airport Road and Diyafa Street, according to CBRE.
The value of leases has dropped by 60 per cent since the mid-2008 peak, while prices slumped by 57 per cent and occupancy dropped to about 71 per cent from 90 per cent, according to property researcher Colliers International.
The total space available will rise to about 6.4 million square metres from about 3.6 million square metres at the end of 2009. -- Bloomberg
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
CBRE, Jones Lang LaSalle rebound in Q2
Pick-up in building sales, leasing boost commercial services firms' earnings
(NEW YORK) Two of the world's largest commercial real estate services firms reported sharply improved earnings on Tuesday, fuelled chiefly by a pick-up in building sales and leasing, particularly in the United States.
US commercial real estate has been struggling since it began to weaken in late 2007, with activity falling precipitously last year. That hurt commercial real estate firms such as Jones Lang LaSalle Inc and CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE), which rely heavily on sales and leasing commissions.
However, during the second quarter, sales of investment-grade US commercial real estate rose 32 per cent over the first quarter to US$20.6 billion, according to preliminary data by real estate research firm Real Capital Analytics, which measures sales greater than US$5 million.
'In the US, we saw a very strong pick-up in property sales and leasing, reflecting recovering market conditions,' Brett White, CB Richard Ellis chief executive, said in a statement.
His company posted a second-quarter profit of US$54.8 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with a loss of US$6.6 million, or two cents per share, a year ago.
Excluding one-time charges related to acquisitions, severance, space consolidations and impairments, the Los Angeles- based company earned US$58.8 million, or 18 cents a share, exceeding analysts' average expectation of nine cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose 23 per cent to US$1.2 billion in the second quarter. Revenue from the Americas region, which includes the United States, Canada and Latin America, rose 20 per cent to US$722.3 million. Jones Lang LaSalle reported a second-quarter profit of US$32 million, or 72 cents per share compared with a net loss of US$14 million, or 40 cents per share in the second quarter 2009.
Excluding restructuring and other charges, the company's income was US$37 million, or 83 cents per share, versus analysts' average forecast of 58 cents per share, according to according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, and US$11 million, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier.
Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle said its revenue rose 18 per cent to US$680.3 million. In the Americas, second-quarter revenue rose 18 per cent to US$296 million.
'Business prospects for the year remain good, and we are moving forward with confidence while watching market and economic dynamics,' Colin Dyer, Jones Lang LaSalle chief executive, said in a statement. - Reuters
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
(NEW YORK) Two of the world's largest commercial real estate services firms reported sharply improved earnings on Tuesday, fuelled chiefly by a pick-up in building sales and leasing, particularly in the United States.
US commercial real estate has been struggling since it began to weaken in late 2007, with activity falling precipitously last year. That hurt commercial real estate firms such as Jones Lang LaSalle Inc and CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE), which rely heavily on sales and leasing commissions.
However, during the second quarter, sales of investment-grade US commercial real estate rose 32 per cent over the first quarter to US$20.6 billion, according to preliminary data by real estate research firm Real Capital Analytics, which measures sales greater than US$5 million.
'In the US, we saw a very strong pick-up in property sales and leasing, reflecting recovering market conditions,' Brett White, CB Richard Ellis chief executive, said in a statement.
His company posted a second-quarter profit of US$54.8 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with a loss of US$6.6 million, or two cents per share, a year ago.
Excluding one-time charges related to acquisitions, severance, space consolidations and impairments, the Los Angeles- based company earned US$58.8 million, or 18 cents a share, exceeding analysts' average expectation of nine cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose 23 per cent to US$1.2 billion in the second quarter. Revenue from the Americas region, which includes the United States, Canada and Latin America, rose 20 per cent to US$722.3 million. Jones Lang LaSalle reported a second-quarter profit of US$32 million, or 72 cents per share compared with a net loss of US$14 million, or 40 cents per share in the second quarter 2009.
Excluding restructuring and other charges, the company's income was US$37 million, or 83 cents per share, versus analysts' average forecast of 58 cents per share, according to according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, and US$11 million, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier.
Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle said its revenue rose 18 per cent to US$680.3 million. In the Americas, second-quarter revenue rose 18 per cent to US$296 million.
'Business prospects for the year remain good, and we are moving forward with confidence while watching market and economic dynamics,' Colin Dyer, Jones Lang LaSalle chief executive, said in a statement. - Reuters
Source: Business Times, 29 Jul 2010
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