As small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggle with labour tightening in the push for improved productivity, they are also being squeezed by landlords demanding ever-rising rents. Many businesses that lease commercial and industrial space, especially those under the real estate investment trust (REIT) structure, are hurting, and I must say, hurting real bad. Over the course of this week, Members...
Expert Corner
It must be a developer’s worst nightmare to flip open the newspapers and read the bold headlines screaming that new home sales have plunged to their lowest level in five years: That was exactly what happened last week. Data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed developers sold a paltry 259 new homes last month, down more than 90 per cent from the record high in last March of 2,793...
We are reminded regularly that one in five Singaporeans will be over the age of 65 come 2030. Immigration policies and the mix of new Singaporeans can alter our demographics, but the total number of senior citizens will certainly increase. In public housing, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) already has several schemes catering for the elderly. But a pilot project was introduced in 2012 on the...
Singapore's property sector, which has benefited from rising home prices and loose monetary policy in recent years, could face stronger headwinds in 2014, say analysts. 2013 has turned out to be a challenging year for property stocks. Apart from concerns about household leverage and effects of the pullback in US stimulus measures, the property market has been hit by further cooling measures,...
Now that the United States Federal Reserve has announced its long-awaited tapering of its stimulus, the 800-pound gorilla is removed and investors will likely re-enter the housing market here. Singapore’s private residential market has been lethargic for the past six months after the US central bank in May flagged its intention to unwind its extraordinary stimulus efforts. Investors who have been...
It was no surprise that some developers tried to secure adjacent private housing plots in two Government Land Sales tenders that closed simultaneously last Thursday. The only question was how strong the interest would be and whether this batch tender method would help moderate or even lower land prices. The experiment by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of closing the tenders for the two adjacent...
Developers and their marketing agents for recent property launches must have heaved a sigh of relief as investors returned in droves to the private housing market. Dogged by weak sentiment in the previous three months, many sellers have been losing sleep trying to face up to a market that they believe has reached that dreaded turning point — with prices going downhill henceforth. If feedback to the...
The move to set aside three prime areas for private housing development under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) Master Plan makes economic sense and is consistent with the Government’s vision for these areas outlined previously, property analysts said. Under the URA’s Draft Master Plan 2013, which was unveiled yesterday, Marina South, Kampong Bugis, which is near the Kallang River, and a...
Apart from location, the next most important question on a home buyer’s mind is probably the tenure of the property. There are generally two types of tenure in Singapore: Ninety-nine-year leasehold and freehold. For all practical purposes, the 999-year leasehold property is considered to be the same as freehold because the difference in their values is negligible and banks will not impose any loan...
As expected, the recently-released Real Estate Sentiment Index weakened in the third quarter. This is not surprising at all, considering that developers sold only 2,430 private homes in the quarter — their weakest showing since the fourth quarter of 2009 and down from 4,538 units sold in the second quarter, official figures show. And if you had visited any of the project launches between June and...