General

Resale prices in the public housing market rose 1.4 per cent in the third quarter, according to flash estimates released by the Housing and Development Board (HDB). This comes after prices inched up 0.3 per cent in the second quarter and held steady in the first quarter. The resale price index, which provides information on the general price movements in the resale public housing market, rose from...

Amazon is planning to take over some of Citigroup's office space in Singapore at a time when a number of the e-commerce giant's Chinese tech rivals are expanding here. The online retail giant will lease three floors covering about 90,000 square feet at Asia Square Tower 1 in the heart of the financial district, according to people with knowledge of the plans. Staff will move into the new offices...

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) will further extend the suspension of late payment charges on HDB mortgage arrears to Mar 31 next year, to help cushion the impact of COVID-19, said National Development Minister Desmond Lee on Thursday (Oct 1). HDB suspended late payment charges on mortgage arrears for three months in April, then extended it to Sep 30. In a Facebook post, Mr Lee said that...

Singapore’s economy contracted 13.2 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, leading the Government to downgrade its forecast for the country’s gross domestic product to shrink between 5 and 7 per cent, instead of between 4 and 7 per cent. This would be the nation’s worst recession since independence. It’s also not a pretty picture on the job front. A total of 11,350 people were laid off...

HDB upgraders recycling their flats into private homes will likely continue to buttress private residential projects, based on recent strong sales at the latter, notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic. Sales volumes at private residential projects continued to be driven by Singaporeans as the key buyers, DBS Group Research wrote on Tuesday while dubbing the Singapore property market "a bed of...

Six shophouses - three on Baghdad Street, and three in the Telok Ayer area - were put up for sale on Wednesday. With the sites for all six shophouses zoned for commercial use, purchases are open to both local and foreign buyers, with no additional buyer's stamp duty to be imposed. Three adjoining prime shophouses at 14, 16 and 18 Baghdad Street are up for sale as an entirety by expression of interest...

The number of owners a proxy can represent at general meetings for en bloc sales will be restricted from January 2021, said the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) on Tuesday (Sep 29). Under the Land Titles (Strata) Act (LTSA), an owner of a strata-titled property may appoint a proxy to attend general meetings for en bloc sales and vote on proposals that are submitted at such meetings. The proxy can also vote on...

Unitholders of CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) and CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) on Tuesday voted "resoundingly" in favour of the proposed merger of CMT and CCT to form a new real estate investment trust (Reit), though CCT unitholders had lower percentage approvals than CMT unitholders. In a joint statement, the managers said more than 3,000 unitholders voted by proxy at CMT's extraordinary general...

Following the government's clampdown on Monday on the re-issuance of options to purchase (OTPs) by private housing developers, the head of the developers' body has urged the government to urgently consider allowing first-time upgraders from a HDB flat to a private property to defer payment of the additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) till six months after the completion of the private property. A similar...

Private property sellers will no longer be able to solely extend the period of time for a prospective buyer’s option to purchase (OTP) a residential unit, a circular by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said on Monday (Sept 28). An OTP is usually a three-week period when a buyer books his right to purchase a property from a developer in return for a cash payment, which is up to a hefty 5 per...