Singapore's City Developments shares higher on strong condo demand UPDATE

SINGAPORE, Jul 07, 2008 (Thomson Financial via COMTEX) -- CDEVY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Shares in City Developments Limited soared on Monday after the property developer received strong investor response to its launch of a residential condominium project over the weekend.

At 4:45 p.m. (0845 GMT), City Developments was up 4 percent at S$11.34. Other major developers were also higher, with CapitaLand up 2.1 percent at S$5.91 and Keppel Land up 1.3 percent at S$4.79.

City Developments launched for sale over 200 units of the 724-unit Livia condominium in the eastern Singapore town of Pasir Ris following a long queue of potential buyers at the project's preview over the weekend, DBS Vickers analyst Adrian Chua said in a note to clients.

In response to queries, City Developments said it sold 160 units at prices of between S$570 and S$740 per square foot. The average price was S$650 per square foot.

"This strong response coincides with our view on the property market that the mass market segment will continue to maintain some form of resilience in the current economic conditions, supported by strong demand from the Housing Development Board (HDB) upgrader pool," Chua said.

HDB upgraders are those switching from public housing to private housing. About 90 percent of Singaporeans live in public housing estates built by the government.

The city-state's housing market has been quiet in the first half of the year as buyers turned cautious because of economic uncertainties. Private residential prices rose more than 30 percent in 2007.

($1=S$1.36)

jonathan.burgos@thomsonreuters.com

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