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07-02-13, 12:37
http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/saturday/premium/money/story/changi-properties-ready-take-20130202

Changi properties ready for take-off

Published on Feb 02, 2013

By Cheryl Lim


THE Changi neighbourhood may adjoin one of the region's busiest airports, but it has long slipped under the radar of property investors - certainly when compared with the nearby mature townships of Tampines and Simei.

Still, the low-key district has witnessed a quiet warming of its non-residential property market with rents and prices registering a slight increase in the past year.

The area is dominated by industrial facilities and business park space, such as Sim Siang Choon Building and Changi Business Park, housing UE BizHub East and Honeywell Building.

While the district does have retail spaces, they are mainly limited to three areas: shopping mall Changi City Point, Changi Airport and Singapore Expo.

Property investors looking to buy industrial units here will find that prices have risen considerably in recent times.

Data from analysts point to the i-Lofts@Changi project as the major source of strata-titled units up for sale. The project is a 30-year leasehold development at Changi North Street 1 and contains 36 units.

Transaction prices have risen, with units fetching an average price of $266 per sq ft in 2012, up 21 per cent from the average $219 psf price in 2011, according to data from Colliers International.

Rents have also been on the rise. In the final three months of 2012, median rents of warehouse space in the Changi area stood at $1.80 psf per month, about 6 per cent higher than a year earlier, said consultancy Colliers.

"However, this is lower than the monthly median rents of $2.62 psf, $2.71 psf and $2.76 psf in the first, second and third quarters of 2012 respectively," said Ms Chia Siew Chuin, Collier's director for research and advisory.

But she also pointed out that these median rents may fluctuate depending on factors such as the facility's location and age, floor level, layout and size of the unit.

While the property market in the area is still far from buzzing, newer developments are expected to whip up more excitement.

UE BizHub East is located at the heart of the Changi Business Park, a business hub in the east.

The development, which has been completed, houses a business hotel with up to 300 rooms as well as office and retail space.

Firms such as Cisco Systems and British Telecom have signed on to lease space within the BizHub development. Just a stone's throw away, several other big-name firms have inked leases at One@Changi City, including Credit Suisse and IT firm EMC.

One@Changi City consists of business park space, the Changi City Point mall and a boutique hotel residence, Capri by Fraser.

These two developments, plus the upcoming Singapore University of Technology and Design campus in Changi South, will no doubt supplement the modest 16,500 residents living in Changi, thereby boosting shopping traffic in the area as well.

But whether Changi will reach its full potential remains uncertain, experts say.

Ms Tricia Teo, deputy managing director of SLP International, said: "Most of the industrial tender issues recently seem to be focused in the western region. Land in Changi is geared towards land-based usage and there are little opportunities for sub-division of space."

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