Remembering Lee Kuan Yew - Thank you - The nation with you in your final journey - See u in heaven

Remembering Lee Kuan Yew - Thank you - The nation with you in your final journey - See u in heaven
Presented to you by Property Smart Investor- A Real Estate Online Education and Discussion

Wednesday, 5 August 2015

Prefab requirement dampens bids for West Coast Vale site

Prefab requirement dampens bids for West Coast Vale site
Prefab requirement dampens bids for West Coast Vale site


A requirement to use a prefabrication construction method for a site in West Coast Vale led to markedly cheaper land bids at a tender that closed yesterday.
EL Development put in the top bid of $314.1 million or $551.15 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf pr) for the site, 3.2 per cent above the No. 2 bid by a joint venture of Hoi Hup Realty, Sunway Developments and Oriental Worldwide Investments.
The six bids were well down on recent tenders, likely due to the requirement to use prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) and to the site's position - fronting the Ayer Rajah Expressway and more than 2km from the nearest MRT station at Clementi.
The lowest bid was by Singland Homes and Kheng Leong Co, at $236.9 million or $415.69 psf pr.
"It will be one of the first sites to adopt PPVC for such a high-rise development," said Mr Desmond Sim, CBRE research head for Singapore and South-east Asia.
"For many developers, construction costs with PPVC is still a punt... but it is generally expected to increase construction costs by a fair bit."
The site, which can yield about 595 homes, has a much higher maximum building height than recently sold sites with the PPVC requirement - a mixed-use site in Yishun Avenue 4 sold in January, and a condo site in Jurong West Street 41 sold in March, he noted.
EL Development managing director Lim Yew Soon said the firm will likely build two blocks of 36 to 40 storeys each, with a mix of one to four bedrooms and cluster housing or town houses as well.
The tender was in sharp contrast to the one for the nearbyWaterfront@Faber site in June 2013, before the Total Debt Servicing Ratio was imposed, noted Mr Ong Teck Hui, JLL national director of research.
A total of 18 parties contested for that site, resulting in a top bid of $687 psf pr.
EL Development's bid for the latest site was "cautious" given challenging market conditions and sales at nearby projects, he said.
The total unsold units left in comparable condos nearby was 798 at June 30, said Mr Nicholas Mak, SLP International executive director of research, but this number is "not too excessive".
The fact that there are no other major condo projects in the Clementi area still to be launched for sale is also in its favour. The eventual condo could be launched at prices from $1,200 to $1,300 psf, he added.
The Straits Times / Business            Published on Wednesday, 5 August 2015                                By Rennie Whang                               Prefab requirement dampens bids for West Coast Vale site
Please click the following for other Related Readings:
Private apartments prices continue slide


 Public housing market showing clean signs of stabilisation

Fancy paying HDB Studio price for a columbarium niche

Sengkang temple site re-tender draws 4 bids

Demand up for high-end homes except for those on Sentosa

 Amber Park's third en-bloc attempt fails

 Prefab requirement dampens bids for West Coast Vale site

Tailoring insurance to suit needs

CPF members to get premium rebates from their Home Protection Scheme

S'pore's private home vacancy rate soars to 7.9% in Q2, highest in nearly 10 years











Parliament: Ramp up in building of BTO flats has not compromised quality, says Desmond Lee


Posted by at No comments:

Tailoring insurance to suit needs

Tailoring insurance to suit needs
Tailoring insurance to suit needs

Many local firms have sprung up in the health and wellness space over the years. This week, CXA founder and CEO Rosaline Koo, 52, outlines how her firm is reshaping employee insurance schemes. Fabian Koh reports

Q What does your company do?

A What we are trying to do is let employees choose the benefits that suit them.
Right now, what probably happens is companies spend like $2,000 on insurance for each employee.
But, sometimes, you do not go to the doctor or hospital, and that $2,000 is not used at all.
What happens if I can free up that money for you, and you can decide what to do with $2,000 each year?
What we've done is aggregated all the gyms and yoga and pilates studios, and even put in travel or car expenses and more.
You can shift the money and use it how you want. That's the basis of what we do.
Q How did you grow initially from such a small company?
A We bought a giant company when we launched, acquiring Singapore's largest employee benefits broker, a 21-year-old company called Pan Group that had 80 people. I spent $5 million of my own money, and got a loan from DBS to fund the rest of the acquisition.
This was February last year, and in March we launched.
KNOW WHAT PEOPLE NEED
Truly understand your clients' needs. During our year in stealth, we showed our prototype to people and asked them if that was something they wanted, and they actually helped us improve the design. So, be really humble, and don't think you know it all.
MS ROSALINE KOO, giving advice to budding entrepreneurs
Q What were you doing before starting CXA?
A I was working in a company called Mercer Marsh Benefits. They are a New York-based firm, operating in about a hundred countries.
I was the head of Asia Pacific for eight years, heading 14 countries from the Singapore headquarters, including the Asean region, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
I told them that the company could grow much more if they invested in technology, but they didn't. So I went off and built my own company.
Q How did you actually start the company?
A I built it in stealth.
For a year, I wasn't supposed to approach clients of my old firm, so I did not.
So, when I was hiding in my apartment in Orchard, I told everyone I was busy getting my daughter ready for college. But in reality, we were secretly building a platform!
We are like a tech start-up outside of Silicon Valley, in Singapore.
Q What are some memorable events from this "stealth" stage?
A I have a dog and two cats. So the dog would bark all day, and my daughter was practising for her eighth grade piano exam and constantly banging on the piano.
So, when we had a conference call with DBS to negotiate for the loan, they would be like, "Why is it so noisy?" and I'd blame it on the neighbours and thin walls!
Q How many staff were there initially?
A Initially, there were 10 of us working in my apartment.
One guy was commuting from Kuala Lumpur, so he stayed in one of my bedrooms. I would wake up at breakfast and get a shock as I'd forgotten he was there.
Also, when I spent my $5 million, I made my daughter go to work so we could afford her college tuition fees, and I made my husband go back to work too, since I had spent all our money.
Q What sets your company apart from your previous employer?
A They don't have the tech tools.
While we are both insurance brokers, CXA is digital and provides more services.
My platform integrates with both insurance companies and service providers. I bring everything directly to the companies and the employees, eliminating every piece of paper.
For example, you can take a picture of the doctor's bill and upload it onto the platform for the insurers.
So, we are bringing new technology to an old industry.
Q What other services does your platform provide, other than being a marketplace for services?
A It keeps your health records. All your health checks get uploaded.
There is a questionnaire on lifestyle habits, such as eating, exercise and sleep. We then use face ageing technology to show how you will look if you keep up that lifestyle.
Companies use this to educate and encourage employees.
We also produce annual reports for companies to see the summary of claims, and they can understand the link between employees' health and the company's finances.
Q Just how big is the market operating on your platform?
A I already have 250 service providers in Singapore, ranging from insurance providers to those in the wellness industry and health apps.
We have 500 companies using the platform for their employees now, and by the end of the year we'll have 100,000 users.
At the launch, we had just three companies on board, but they are the top global tech companies.
Q Any plans to go global?
A In late June, we opened our office in Hong Kong.
We have attained our licences for China, Indonesia and the Philippines, but we need to get local vendors and insurance companies on board before we can launch.
I'm about to do another acquisition, so I think we'll be in 12 countries by the end of the year.
Q Do you intend to get government funding for overseas expansion?
A We do not get funding from the Government, but from institutional venture capitalists.
In February, I got $8 million of funding on our first round. We are about to do another round to attract more investors, and this time, we are looking to raise $50 million to pay for the acquisitions.
Our value went up 400 per cent within the last year.
Q So what is the exit strategy?
A I don't believe in going public, because you tend to worry so much about stock price that, sometimes, you make very short-term decisions instead of investing for the long term. Also, you cut costs, sometimes to the core, and that is really bad for the employees.
I would prefer our exit to be a trade sale. We already have at least 10 offers, but I'm still holding out.
Q What about the platform itself? Any plans to sell it?
A The really big firms want to use my platform with a private label. This means my platform will have their brand names.
But I'm licensing it, not selling it. So everything they sell, I get a percentage of it.
Q Any advice for budding entrepreneurs?
A First, you have to solve a problem that is a paying point.
Second, truly understand your clients' needs.
During our year in stealth, we showed our prototype to people and asked them if that was something they wanted, and they actually helped us improve the design.
So, be really humble, and don't think you know it all.
Lastly, hire the best talent and treat them really well. I gave away 20 per cent of the company to my employees. They have shares, giving them a sense of ownership and belonging to the company.
The Straits Times / Business                          Published on Wednesday, 5 August 2015                  By Fabian Koh                                                 Tailoring insurance to suit needs
Please click the following for other Related Readings:


Public housing market showing clean signs of stabilisation

Fancy paying HDB Studio price for a columbarium niche

Sengkang temple site re-tender draws 4 bids

Demand up for high-end homes except for those on Sentosa

Amber Park's third en-bloc attempt fails

 Prefab requirement dampens bids for West Coast Vale site

 Tailoring insurance to suit needs

CPF members to get premium rebates from their Home Protection Scheme

S'pore's private home vacancy rate soars to 7.9% in Q2, highest in nearly 10 years











Parliament: Ramp up in building of BTO flats has not compromised quality, says Desmond Lee


              
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, 4 August 2015

CPF members to get premium rebates from their Home Protection Scheme

CPF members to get premium rebates from their Home Protection Scheme
CPF members to get premium rebates from their Home Protection Scheme
The CPF board said that about half of the CPF members can expect to receive $400 or more, with the rebates to be credited into eligible members' CPF Ordinary Account.PHOTO: ST FILE
SINGAPORE - About 949,000 Central Provident Fund members will get premium rebates from their Home Protection Scheme, after the scheme's investment returns did better than expected.
The CPF board said that about half of the CPF members can expect to receive $400 or more, with the rebates to be credited into eligible members' CPF Ordinary Account in November.
This is the fifth time the Board is distributing HPS premium rebates to members, with the last exercise carried out in 2006. 
The HPS is an insurance scheme that protects CPF members and their families from losing their homes, in the event of death or permanent incapacity of the insured member before the housing loans for HDB flats are paid up.
CPF members must be insured under HPS if they use their CPF savings to pay for the monthly housing loan instalments of their HDB flats.
The CPF board said on Wednesday that "the rebates arise from better than expected investment returns and lower than projected claims experience."
The Straits Times / S'pore                                                    Published on Wednesday, 5 August 2015 By Aaron  Low - Deputy News Editor                                                                                                    CPF members to get premium rebates from their Home Protection Scheme
Please click the following for other Related Readings:


Public housing market showing clean signs of stabilisation

Fancy paying HDB Studio price for a columbarium niche

Sengkang temple site re-tender draws 4 bids

Demand up for high-end homes except for those on Sentosa

Amber Park's third en-bloc attempt fails

 Prefab requirement dampens bids for West Coast Vale site

Tailoring insurance to suit needs

 CPF members to get premium rebates from their Home Protection Scheme

S'pore's private home vacancy rate soars to 7.9% in Q2, highest in nearly 10 years











Parliament: Ramp up in building of BTO flats has not compromised quality, says Desmond Lee

              

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)