New YorkBY any measure, Airbnb’s growth has beenstunning since the company was foundedin 2008. It now has more than 1 millionrooms available in homes, apartments andeven former barns – more places to sleepthan hotel giants like Marriott and Hilton.

Despite this growth, though, the bigho-tel chains, at least outwardly, have yet totake substantial action to counter the po-tential threat from the upstart lodging ser-vice.

One reason is the strength of the travelmarket overall. Spending on hotels thisyear is projected to be even higher thanlast year’s robust outlays, according toDouglas Quinby, an analyst for Pho-cuswright. Other reasons include the in-grained habits of travellers, particularlyolder ones and business travellers on ex-pense accounts, who see no reason tochange their ways.

Steve Joyce, the chief executive ofChoice Hotels International, which servesmany bargain-hunting travellers, said re-cently that hisbrands, which include Com-fort Inn,Sleep InnandEconolodge,hadnotseen any effect from Airbnb and all wereexpecting strong summer sales.

KerryRanson,chairmanofthe InterCon-tinental Hotels Group Owners Association,said he did not see Airbnb as a threat or asa competitor. “It’s a short-term online rent-al,” he said.

But there are signs that Airbnb is mak-ing inroadswithbusiness travellers, acriti-cal group of customers to the hotel indus-try. Last summer, Airbnb entered the cor-poratemarket, teamingwithConcur,anex-pensemanagement company, to allow Air-bnb charges to appear directly on atraveller’s expense form. Airbnb now re-ports that just under 10 per cent of itsguests are travelling on business.

Mike Oshins, a hospitality managementprofessor at Boston University, said thattravellers working for themselves or smallcompanieswerethemost likelyprofession-als touseAirbnb. “Theydon’tneedthecon-cierge and room service,” he said. “Theyjust want to save money.”

KishaMays,chief executiveof JustFear-less, a business development companyserving female entrepreneurs, often trav-els outside the United States and prefersAirbnb to hotels. Along with the lowerprice, she appreciates being able to wash afew items of clothing or eat dinner withoutgoing out to a restaurant. “I want to feellike I am at home instead of in some bleakhotel room,” she said.

Other business travellers use Airbnb tofind lodging when big trade shows havefilled city hotel rooms.

There is evidence that the greater roomsupply created by Airbnb has helped re-strain prices that traditional hotels cancharge in some markets.

In Austin, Texas, each 10 per cent in-crease in Airbnb listings resulted in a 0.35per cent decrease in monthly hotel roomrevenue, according to a study by BostonUniversity. Less expensive hotels andthose focused on leisure travellers weremost affected when Airbnb developed intheir area, the study found.

And in New York, there is a similar dy-namic.

Hotel room price growth in New Yorkhas lagged historic levels during the eco-nomic upturn, according to research bySean Hennessey of New York University’sTisch Centre for Hospitality and Tourism.While some of that is because of the in-crease of hotel construction and numberof available rooms, he said, hoteliers alsocite the advent of a “shadow inventory” in-cluding Airbnb and others as a reason forthe price stagnation.

They may not cite Airbnb as a directcompetitor, but hotels are taking some ac-tions as the service grows more popular.Hospitality industry representatives areasking for laws requiring Airbnb proper-ties to adhere to the same safetystandardsthat hotels do. Airbnb said it requiredhosts to follow their local laws andencour-ages all hosts to take some basic steps tokeep their homes safe.

Some small hotels are joining the ser-vice themselves. When the Box House Ho-tel in New York City opened in 2011, it list-ed rooms on Airbnb along with book-ing.com and other websites. “It’s anotherway for people to find out about us,” saidJenneka Hernandez, the general manager.The57-roomhotel listsonly its leastexpen-sive rooms on the site, “because that iswhat Airbnb customers are looking for”,she said.

The eight-room Drift San Jose in BajaCalifornia in Mexico books all its reserva-tions through Airbnb, which allows theproperty to keep its costs down. “We don’tneed a front desk or even a credit card ma-chine,” said Stu Waddell, the owner of thehotel.

Grace Bay Resorts on Turks and Caicoslists luxurybeachfrontrentalhomesonAir-bnb to “reach a different market fromthose of the resort’s typical guests”, saidNikheel Advani, its chief operating officer.

Marissa Coughlin, a spokeswoman forAirbnb, said the company had no officialpartnerships with any hotels, but did notprohibit them from listing rooms on thesite.

At the same time, traditional hotels stillenjoy the loyalty of older travellers, saidGlenn Haussman, editor-in-chief of HotelInteractive. “Older travellersaswellasbusi-ness travellers whose companies are pay-ingfor thestay,generally want thepredict-ability, the services and the comfort of ahotel,” he said.

Hotels also still offer benefits that Airb-nbdoes not, like loyaltypoints, andare de-signed to help guests connect with othersat aconference or network in the hotel lob-by or bar.

“I do believe people will sample the ser-vice,” Mr Haussman said, “but convertingmasses of people permanently is a verytough task.” At least one hotel group seesAirbnb as expanding the market.

“Our belief is that lodging rental web-sites are stimulating demand, rather thandisplacing existing demand,” said Ian Cart-er, the Hilton hotel chain’s president of de-velopment,whilenotingthatHiltonWorld-wide served a record number of guests,140 million, last year.

Still, many analysts and industry ex-perts see trouble ahead for establishedchains if they do not treat Airbnb as a com-petitor. “They certainly should,” Mr Quin-by said. NYT

By Lynette Khoolynkhoo@sph.com.sg@LynetteKhooBT

Singapore

A CONTINUED fall in resale prices ofprivate non-landed homes failed tolift transaction volumes in April, asbuyers’ attention likely shifted to re-cent new property launches, consult-ants say.

SRX Property flash estimates showprices falling 0.7 per cent last monthcompared to March; but data com-piled by the exchange estimated that440resale unitsweresold lastmonth,2.7 per cent below the 452 units soldin March.

launches by developers like NorthPark Residences,” said ERA Realty keyexecutive officer Eugene Lim. “Thestep-up of new launches possibly di-verted some attention away from theresale market.”

Two new projects launched by de-velopers lastmonth–North ParkResi-dences in Yishun and Botanique atBartley – were relatively well-re-ceived. Frasers Centrepoint Limitedsold 515 units at 920-unit North ParkResidences as at May 7 while UOLGroup sold more than 300 units at797-unit Botanique at Bartley.

But there were still more resaletransactions in the first four months

ty data, which comprise caveat andnon-caveat information: 1,581 unitsthis year from 1,332 units in 2014.

MrLimsaidthat thiscouldbeasig-nal that more buyers are returning tothe market as prices stabilise. It mayalso reflect increased interest fromowner-occupiers, since resale unitsare more popular for owner occupa-tion.

Going by region, resale prices ofnon-landed private homes fell 0.1 percent and 1.5 per cent respectively inthe Core Central Region and OutsideCentral Region, while resale prices ofcity-fringe homes in the Rest of Cen-tral Region bucked the trend with a0.4 per cent rise.

PropNex Realty chief executive Is-mail Gafoor said that the steep dropin the OCR could be attributed to

other regions. Compared to a yearago, resale prices of non-landed pri-vate homes dropped 4 per cent inApril. Prices were 6.9 per cent below

Seng noted that “investment phobia”and pessimism will increasingly setin among resale homebuyers given asurge in new private residential com-pletions, tougher leasing conditions,andrecent loss-makingresale transac-tions by some owners.

“Buyers generally are opportunis-tic now, preferring to get a propertywhentheycanslashpricesubstantial-ly from the owner, but they will besceptical about the investmentpoten-tial if, indeed, the owner has to cutprice tooffloadtheproperty,” hesaid.

OrangeTee manager of researchand consultancy Wong Xian Yang not-ed that uncertainty over any tweaksto the government’s cooling mea-sures has kept buyers on the side-lines. While buyers are hesitant tocommit as prices continue to slide,

“The announcement of the highspeed rail (HSR) location may sparksome buying interest in the west.However, the effect on the overallprice and volume trend would likelybe limited,” he said, referring to newsof locating the HSR terminus at thesite currently occupied by JurongCountry Club.

ThemediantransactionoverX-val-ue,acomputer-generatedestimatebySRX to show how much people arebuying above or below the estimatedmarket value, moved from a negativeS$10,000 in March to zero in April –suggesting a neutral level.

Mr Lim of ERA noted that this maybe a good indication that prices havestabilised.

“However, as this is a monthly

Wellington

NEW Zealand’s central bank is consideringmeasures to directly target Auckland’ssoaring house prices.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RB-NZ) is reconsidering its position that a re-gional response to house-price inflationwouldn’twork,deputygovernorGeoffBas-cand told the Otago Daily Times. The com-ments, originally published on May 9,were confirmed by an RBNZ spokesmanon Tuesday.

Auckland prices “are going up fromwhat’s already a very, very high level”, MrBascand told the newspaper. “So we arecarefullyconsideringwhetheraction isap-propriate.”

The RBNZ will comment on possiblemeasures in its semi-annual Financial Sta-bility Report on WednesdayMr Bascandsaid. Ithasalreadyannounced it isconsult-ingontighter lendingrules forproperty in-vestors, which may lead to higher interestrates for such borrowers.

New Zealand house prices edged up toa record level in April,while salesvolumesfell, the Real Estate Institute of New Zea-land (REINZ) said on Tuesday.

The REINZ added the increase in priceswas still being driven largely by thestrength of the housing market in thecountry’s biggest city, Auckland, wherevalues hit a record.

However, it said that there was also aquicker pace of growth in prices and salesin some other regions.

“Previously we’ve indicated we thinkthat’s quite difficult but perhaps theremay be new ways of it getting a little bitmorepossible,”MrBascandsaid. “We’re re-consideringthat– it’sa timeofclosescruti-ny.”

The RBNZ last week indicated it may beprepared to cut interest rates later thisyear if near-zero headline inflation startsto damp wage and price-setting behav-iour. At the same time, it’s concerned thatlower borrowing costs will throw fuel onthe Auckland housing market.

Economists at ANZ Bank New Zealandand First NZ Capital this week said theynow expect rate cuts this year, arguing theRBNZ should focus on inflation and useprudential tools to target the overheatedhousing market. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS

By Prisca Angprisang@sph.com.sg

SingaporeAS a part of its sustainability drive,Singapore’s Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity (NTU)will soonbehometonew campus facilities aimed at driv-ing energy savings.

Slated for completion in the firstquarter of next year, its new sportshall will be the first development inSouth-eastAsia tobebuiltusinganen-gineered wood system constructionmethod.

Under this method, cross laminat-ed timber (CLT) and glued laminatedtimber (Glulam) will be used to makecurved and arched shapes that canform vertical columns and horizontalbeams.

While CLT and Glulam are com-mon in Europe, the new sports hallwill be the first in the region to usethe engineered wood system on alarge scale, said architects behind thedevelopment at a media briefing onTuesday.

They added that the timber usedinconstructionwasderived fromsus-

tainable forests in Europe, the US andCanada.

Occupying a land area of approxi-mately 10,000 square metres, thethree- storey complex will have awave-like timber roof which spans 70metres and provides five times betterheat insulation than concrete.

Its two-layer walls, likewise de-signed for heat insulation on hotdays, will also conceal a passive in-duction cooling system.

Metal coils in the walls will havecold water flowing through them,cooling the wind that enters the hallthrough convection.

The hall’s eco features, which alsoinclude a motion sensor LED systemand “green cement” made from re-used industrial by-products, are pro-jected to cut energy and water con-sumption by approximately 40 and30 per cent respectively.

Inaddition toenjoying anenviron-ment with natural ventilation, stu-dents can look forward to a largerspace for sports and activities.

With over 900 mechanised retract-able seats – twice the capacity of

NTU’s current sports hall – the newhall can be transformed into 13full-sized badminton courts or threebasketball, volleyball and netballcourts.

It will also be home to a weightstraining gym, three activity roomswith floor-to-ceiling mirrors for aero-bicsanddance, twomulti-purposeac-tivity rooms, a VIP lounge, and an ac-tivityspace forvariousstudentactivi-ties.

In addition, NTU’s upcomingNorth Hill Residential Hall will see theconstruction of six 13-storey blockswith a total capacity to house over1,850 students.

The blocks will be Singapore’s first“Lego-style” public high-rise build-ings. They are built using prefabricat-ed pre-finished volumetric construc-tion (PPVC), a new requirement im-posed on selected government landsales (GLS) sites by the Building andConstruction Authority (BCA) to raiseproductivity in the construction sec-tor.

The prefabrication method savesupto40percent inmanpowerand20per cent in construction time.

Whole room units complete withinternal fixtures are produced off-siteand installed on-site. With a grossfloorareaof53,936sqm, theresiden-tial hall will include eateries andshops.

Eachblockwill also have threesto-reys of common facilities such asstudy areas, sky lounges, and com-

monspaces.Thehallwill alsohousea580 sq m gym – the largest on NTU’scampus.

Like the sports hall, it is slated forcompletion in early 2016.

NTU is developing the facilities incollaboration with more than 10teams of architects and design con-sultants.

There is evidencethat the greaterroom supplycreated by Airbnbhas helpedrestrain pricesthat traditionalhotels can chargein some markets.PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Prices, volume of resale condos slip in April: SRX

RBNZ mullsover measuresto directlytarget Aucklandhouse prices

NTU’s new sports hall to boastinnovative construction features

NTU’s sports hall will have awave-like timber roof which spans70 metres and provides five timesbetter heat insulation thanconcrete. The hall’s eco featuresare projected to cut energy andwater consumption by about 40and 30 per cent respectively

Big chains have yet to actagainst the potential threat,citing customer loyalty

• Land Area: 6,021 sq ft• Strata Area: 16,243 sq ft• Stable rental income with 100% occupancy• 1st storey approval for food and beverage use• Opposite Connexion and Farrer Park MRT station

DTZ Debenham Tie Leung (SEA) Pte Ltd Estate Agent Licence No: L3006301G

FREEHOLD ENBLOCBUILDING INDISTRICT 8FOR SALE

TAN CHUNMING9877 3804 / 6393 2360

CEA Registration No. : R029587Z

Expression of Interest Closing: Fri, 12 June 2015, 3pm

“The announcement ofthe high speed raillocation may sparksome buying interestin the west. However,the effect . . . wouldlikely be limited.”Wong Xian Yang, OrangeTee manager,research and consultancy

Real estate agents say buyers’ attention may have beendiverted by more new launches by developers

10 | REAL ESTATEThe Business Times | Wednesday, May 13, 2015

THE BUSINESS TIMES, WEDNESDAY, 13 MAY 2015, PAGE 10