PROPERTY firm Metro Holdings on Tuesday said its net cash is expected to decline as it seeks out property developments, following a call from an activist shareholder for a special cash dividend. It was responding to an open letter from Quarz Capital Management dated Oct 4, 2016. Metro said its current net cash position is a recent occurrence due to the sale of properties over the last one to two...
General
Prices for private homes in Singapore continue to drop in the third quarter, with the private residential property index down 2.1 points from 140.0 in the second quarter to 137.9 points, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said on Monday (Oct 3). According to the agency's flash estimates, this represented a decline of 1.5 per cent, compared with the 0.4 per cent dip in the previous quarter. It is...
The resale prices of Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats rose slightly last month, but there were fewer flats sold, according to flash estimates released by SRX Property on Thursday (Oct 6). On a month-on-month basis, HDB resale prices were up 0.1 per cent in September. Compared to a year ago, prices declined by 0.4 per cent. Resale prices of five-room flats led the rise, increasing by 1.2 per...
EXECUTIVE condominiums (ECs) were originally conceived to cater to the aspirations and needs of the so-called "sandwiched" class - those whose household income exceed the ceiling for public housing, but are not yet able to comfortably afford a private condominium. Currently, the monthly household income ceiling to qualify for an EC purchase is set at S$14,000, versus S$12,000 for those purchasing the...
FROM the onset, public housing policy has been the bedrock of Singapore's asset ownership programme. Today, 80 per cent of Singaporeans live in HDB flats. HDB flats have evolved from being just a home to also becoming an investment asset - and a stepping stone to a higher standard of living. By many measures, Singapore's public housing programme has been a resounding success. Undoubtedly, HDB has...
AS a result of many rounds of cooling measures, the private residential real estate market has been weakening for the past three years. However, according to the latest quarterly statistics released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), private home prices may be showing signs of bottoming out. Generally, the residential non-landed housing market in Singapore can be divided into three segments...
AMID stringent government policies, private property owners require astute advisers to hunt for viable investment opportunities in a tight industrial property market. Singapore's industrial landscape has undergone notable shifts in ownership and policies over the past decade, as the economy progressed in diversity and value-added activity. In the decade from 1997 to 2006, an average 21 per cent of...
AN old adage in real estate investment - "location, location, location" - suggests that real estate investors should focus more on the location than the physical attributes, tenure and stage of the market cycle. Given that each property is a unique and non-movable asset, prices at choice locations will be more resilient in an uncertain economy and will appreciate more than other assets when the...
THE concept of the workplace is evolving. Historically, the quest was to design the perfect workplace focused on the infrastructure and physical design, taking into account technological transformations, with business cost efficiency being a major driver. This approach, however, often neglected the human aspects and how the talent interacted in and around the space and how productivity was...
BEING the crème de la crème of the non-landed residential market, homes in the Core Central Region (CCR) are commonly referred to as high-end or luxury homes. According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the CCR comprises postal districts 9, 10, 11, Downtown Core and Sentosa. The URA CCR Non-Landed Residential Price Index rose 0.3 per cent quarter on quarter (q-o-q) in Q2 2016, marking a...