Lush Acres is a 99-year Leasehold Executive Condominium located at Sengkang West Way/Fernvale in District D28. (Photo: Lush Acres)
City Development Limited’s (CDL) net profit for the third quarter of 2017 fell 8.3 percent to $156 million, while revenue dropped 6.5 percent to $863 million.
For the first nine months of 2017, net profit and revenue declined by 14.2 percent and 8.7 percent to $351.5 million and $2.5 billion, respectively.
In an SGX filing, CDL revealed that the Q3 and year-to-date September results were “boosted by a gain following the divestment of a non-core office building in Osaka”.
“In comparison, year-to-date September 2016 results also included a gain from the divestment of the group’s 52.52 percent interest in City e-Solutions Limited and the full recognition of revenue and profit of Lush Acres, a fully sold Executive Condominium (EC).”
Excluding these one-off items, the group’s net profit for year-to-date September 2017 actually increased by 3.5 percent.
CDL executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng noted that the prospects for the local property market are brighter. But with the property cooling measures still in place, the market remains far from its previous peak almost a decade ago.
“We are confident that the government will continue to be nimble and make necessary tweaks to these measures, when the situation warrants.”
With this, he urged the government to review “sooner rather than later” the qualifying certificate (QC) policy to balance supply and demand as well as moderate escalating land prices.
This comes as the policy “prevents land banking for listed property companies, which are typically larger entities”.
“Policies like the QC are an impediment which have resulted in the rush to bid up land prices as land must be acquired and then developed within a limited period, rather than being held on a balance sheet over the longer term, which would moderate escalating prices.”
To date, the group has not been liable for any QC and/or Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) penalties as it has been able to sell its units within a stipulated period.
This article was edited by Keshia Faculin.
