Hotel room rates are likely to rise by 10 or 15% a year for the next three years, says a wide-ranging UBS report on the Singapore property market.

The Swiss bank study, reported by the Business Times , Singapore, goes on to predict a further 15% rise in sale prices for high-end residential properties in 2006, following last year's 26% increase.

This week's property market report attributes much of the expected growth to the effect of the forthcoming integrated resorts.

UBS says that because tourist arrivals are expected to increase by 5 to 7% a year until 2009 at a time when the number of hotel rooms is expected to increase by just 2% a year, the effect will be double-digit growth in hotel room rates. Average hotel occupancy is already at 85%.

The bank says that while average hotel room rates in Singapore have increased from S$107 per room night in 2003 to S$161 per room night in April this year they're still much lower than that in comparable Asian cities, notably Hong Kong.

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