MARCH 2011 |
www.opp.org.uk
NEWS Slowing growth for UK land By Geoff Hadwick
THE rate of growth in English residential development land values slowed rapidly in the fi nal quarter of 2010, according to the latest Knight Frank Residential Development Land Index. “While Greenfield land still
managed a rise of 2% during the period October to December, English urban land values fell by 1% and in Greater London the fall was more significant at -2.5%,” Knight Frank told OPP. “The only urban market which
avoided price falls was the prime London market, which registered no change over the quarter.” Growth rates hit 26% in prime London
in Q2 2010 and the Greater London annual price growth ended the year at 4%, down from the 14% last summer. An despite rising values during 2009 and 2010, England’s average residential development land values are “still 40% below their Q4 2007 peak.” According to Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s head of residential research,
DEVELOPER | 13
NEWS IN BRIEF Tiger’s fee bites Tatweer
Prime location | Central London was up, but this was not tru e elsewhere in UK
“the residential land market has been a fairly bright spot in the property sector over the past two years. While volumes of transactions were well down on peak levels – there has been a steady recovery in pricing – on average, values have climbed by around 20% from their early 2009 low.” “As we move into 2011, gathering problems are emerging, which seem likely to pull back some of this recovery in values. Funding problems continue to provide major diffi culties for developers. In most cases there is no funding available
for sites without planning consent, and even for land with a consent, loan-to- values of 50% and possibly 60% are the maximum provided.” “The few cash buyers in the market,
who drove values forward in late 2009 and early 2010, have already spent a signifi cant amount of money on sites over the past 24 months and are running low on funds.” “Our view is that land values are likely
to fall back in 2011, but land transactions are likely to rise as the supply from receivers begins to edge higher.”
Chinese going Aussie Red fl ag
MAINLAND Chinese developers have snapped up nine landmark city centre plots in Melbourne, Australia, during the past 18 months. And Malaysian, Singaporean and
Indian developers have purchased another four Melbourne sites as local developers complain that Australian banking terms continue to make it diffi cult for them to raise funds. This new wave of Asian investors
are fi lling a construction gap on the city’s apartment skyline created when Australia’s big four banks tightened credit restrictions on local developments after the global fi nancial crisis hit in 2008. For example, the Lyz Property Group,
based in China’s Jiangxi province, bought Daly Street from Melbourne’s prominent Deague family for $28.5 million recently, along with the neighbouring historic Arlie Mansion, the former home of prime minister Stanley Bruce. Colliers International residential site sales
manager David Grima said that last year one Chinese buyer came to the city with a mandate to spend $100 million on land for residential development. “Over the past 12 to 18 months we
have seen a huge increase in levels of interest from offshore purchasers, particularly from Chinese and Malaysian groups,’’ he said, adding that he expects the trend to continue this year as well. Before 2009 developers were restricted
by the Foreign Investment Review Board to selling no more than 50% of a project to offshore buyers. Those restrictions have since been lifted.
THE UK Government’s Insolvency Service is understood to be about to launch disqualifi cation proceedings against the former directors of Ocean View Properties, according to a series of articles in the British press last month. The Staffordshire-based company
specialised in selling luxury off-plan apartments in Spain and is alleged to have taken deposits worth about £80,000 each from a large number of British investors, without the homes materialising. Ocean View was put into compulsory liquidation at the request of accountants Grant Thornton in 2009. The company was founded by Colin Thomas in 2001, who used celebrities to help market the properties. When a series of corruption scandals
emerged in the Estepona region, the venture started to fail. Thomas and his fellow directors have always denied wrongdoing. A class action lawsuit to recover
Builders | fi lling the construction gap
money on behalf of dozens of Ocean View victims has been fi led.
DUBAI developer Tatweer paid golfer Tiger Woods more than $50m to design a golf course for a $1.1bn project that has since been suspended, according to newspaper reports. But work on the residences to accompany the course never began, despite 30% of the 240 units being sold. The project was taken over by government-owned Dubai Properties Group , which confi rmed it’s suspension last month.
Shanghai prices rocket RESIDENTIAL development land values continue to shoot up in Shanghai despite recent administrative restrictions and monetary tightening measures. A new local record was established during a bid for a plot on the city’s Chongming Island this week when fi ve pieces of land with an aggregate area of 230,000 square meters (sq m) sold at auction for 2.37 billion yuan (S$459.78 million).
Philippino profi ts up 62% PHILIPPINO property tycoon Henry Sy’s fast-growing residential business SM Development Corporation (SMDC) grew its net profi ts last year by 62% to P3 billion on the back of booming revenues in its real estate operations. The 2010 net profi t from real estate operations went up by 66% year-on- year to P2.6 billion as revenues jumped 74% to P10 billion.
Emaar nets huge profi t DUBAI developer Emaar Properties recorded a net profi t of 3.034 billion AED ($826m) in 2010, a 31% increase y-o-y. Chairman Mohamed Alabbar said: “In a year marked by cautious optimism, timely delivery of property and consolidation of core businesses, Emaar took bold initiatives that have a far-reaching potential in driving sustained returns for our stakeholders.”
$1bn resi investment
ASIAN OIL giant Kazakhstan announced this week that it plans to invest 150 billion tenge (US$1 billion) in 2011 and 2012 in new residential developments for the country. The government hopes that the initiative will contribute to building 6 million square meters of new residential property a year in Kazakhstan, Nokin said.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68