BT : S'pore developers tread softly amid China curbs

Business Times - 03 Jun 2010

S'pore developers tread softly amid China curbs

As tighter measures kick in, they will monitor situation before new launches

By UMA SHANKARI

(SINGAPORE) Even as China developers continue to delay home sales, their Singapore-listed counterparts are ploughing ahead with their Chinese project launches.

But some Singapore developers concede that they will be monitoring the market closely before fixing future launches. They also expect demand from homebuyers to soften over the rest of the year as the impact of China's recent tightening measures kick in.

Already, property signings in Beijing slumped nearly 70 per cent to 3,357 in May from April, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Tuesday citing data from bjfdc.gov.cn. In Shanghai, China's financial centre, transactions may have dropped about 70 per cent to 2,550 signings, and in the industrial city of Shenzhen, sales fell 62 per cent, the paper reported.

But the five developers BT contacted said that they have yet to see a significant drop-off in home sales.

CapitaLand, which has a pipeline of around 20,000 units in China, said that it sold over 200 homes in April and May. It remains 'on track' to launch three new residential projects in the second half of the year, a spokesman said.

Keppel Land also said that there is no change in the launch schedule of its projects, which are mostly townships, for this year.

'We target to launch another 3,400 homes across different cities in China this year, although we will monitor the market closely and adjust our sale launches accordingly,' said a Keppel Land spokesman.

Sales for Keppel Land's China properties have been 'encouraging'. The developer said it sold over 900 homes in its townships in April and May.

China-based Yanlord Land also said that it remains 'on track' with its delivery and development schedule. And GuocoLand, which has a 1,176-unit residential project in Tianjin in its portfolio, is now monitoring the market before fixing a launch date.

For now, most property groups are bracing themselves for a short-term fall in transaction volumes.

'The market remains volatile owing to concerns over new and potential government tightening measures,' said a spokesman for Yanlord Land. 'Many homebuyers have adopted a more cautious approach towards purchases, and this may lead to near-term softening of demand over the next 3-6 months.'

Said Ho Bee Investment's executive director Ong Chong Hua: 'The tightening measures are expected to continue to cool the market in terms of volume as well as capital values for the rest of the year.'

But the measures are healthy as they will prevent a bubble from forming and create a more sustainable and healthy residential market, Mr Ong added: 'In the mid to longer term, we are very confident about the residential market as it is underpinned by the shortage of homes to house a huge population base which has become more affluent through the last decade of rapid economic growth.'

Ho Bee's projects in China are still in the early stages of design and development, and so there are no launches planned yet.

Keppel Land also expects buying volume to taper down in the short term.

China has in recent weeks announced several measures to cool the property market as it tries to peel back a stimulus plan and a US$1.4 trillion lending binge that revived economic growth while raising the risk of asset bubbles.

Its government has restricted pre-sales by developers, curbed loans for third-home purchases, raised minimum mortgage rates and tightened downpayment requirements for second-home purchases.

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