UPDATE 1-Keppel Land Q4 net jumps; sees price growth slowing

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By Daryl Loo

SINGAPORE, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Keppel Land, Singapore's third-biggest property developer, posted a seven-fold gain in fourth-quarter net profit, but warned that growth in rents and home prices was likely to moderate in 2008.

KepLand's (KLAN.SI) October-December earnings of S$572.3 million ($403.6 million) beat a mean forecast of S$302 million from a Reuters poll of four analysts, partly due to revaluation gains of $343.6 million on its investment properties.

"The recent global financial market turmoil on fears of a U.S. economic recession may affect sentiment. Nevertheless, the group remains cautiously optimistic about the Singapore property market," KepLand said in a statement.

The firm remained bullish on China and Vietnam, despite moves by authorities to cool the housing market.

"In China and now Vietnam, the demand for housing is coming from a very low base. People still want to own homes," Chief Executive Kevin Wong told reporters.

For the whole of 2007, the property arm of state-linked conglomerate Keppel Corp (KPLM.SI) earned S$779.7 million, nearly four times the S$200.3 million earned in 2006.

KepLand will pay a S$0.20 final dividend, up from S$0.06 a year ago.

Singapore's private home price index, an indicator of profitability for KepLand and rivals CapitaLand (CATL.SI) and City Developments (CTDM.SI), rose a slower 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, reflecting concerns about global growth and the effect of government measures to cool the market.

Private home prices in Singapore increased 31.2 percent last year, government data showed last week. (Editing by Kevin Lim & Ian Geoghegan)