The Singapore government plans to keep property market cooling measures in place for the time being, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Friday, even as real-estate prices have shown signs of stabilising after large increases in recent years. "Given the run-up in prices in the last four years, it is too early to start relaxing our measures," Mr. Tharman told...
General
The Ministry of National Development is unlikely to make any major policy moves with regard to housing in its budget this year. But National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said his ministry will be exploring ideas to expand the Lease Buyback Scheme, which helps the elderly monetise their flats. More help for second-time home buyers, like divorcees with children and single parents, is also likely...
The use of productive technologies will soon be mandated for selected Government Land Sales (GLS) sites in tender conditions. These technologies include prefabricated bathroom units. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in Parliament during his Budget Speech on Friday. Mr Tharman said the move is part of efforts to transform the eco-system of the...
While a growing number of property market participants are calling for the Government to tweak some of the measures introduced to cool the market, observers said it may be premature to do so as there is still room for the sector to stabilise. Economists TODAY spoke to have raised concerns that any unravelling of the cooling measures before interest rates start to rise would, once again, heighten the...
Billionaire Kwek Leng Beng, head of Singapore’s second-largest listed developer, said last year that skyrocketing prices and restrictive rules made buying residential land here suicidal. That has not stopped international developers from rushing in. Land prices in some parts of the country are climbing at three times the pace of apartment costs, with plot values rising by an average of 30 per cent...
Property developer CapitaLand says it is unlikely to take an aggressive position in Singapore's residential property sector in this current market cycle. Group CEO Lim Ming Yan expects home prices to continue to moderating this year. Speaking to Channel NewsAsia at an earnings briefing on Wednesday, Mr Lim says the market consensus is for home prices to fall by five per cent to slightly over 10 per...
An apartment development in the prime District 11 has been put up for collective sale, with its owners looking for offers in excess of S$40 million. The 16-unit apartment on Moulmein Road sits on freehold land of around 17,000 sq ft, across the road from Novena MRT Station, and Velocity@Novena and Square 2 shopping centres. The area is also served by the Central Expressway and Pan Island Expressway,...
New private home sales in Singapore remained in the doldrums in January, as developers held back launches and lending restrictions depressed demand. According to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), developers sold just 565 new private homes last month, up from December's four-year low of 259 units. Last month's figure was, however, well below the 2,028 units sold in January...
An expert on land use says freeing up prime land at Marina Bay Golf Course and Keppel Club could make way for more private housing, in line with what's already being built in the area. The government on Sunday announced that Keppel Club and Marina Bay Golf Course will not have their land leases renewed after they expire within the next 10 years. Assistant Professor Harvey Neo from the National...
Singapore's property prices could fall by 10 to 15 per cent this year, as government cooling measures and mortgage curbs continue to dampen the property market. This is the outlook from DBS Bank's CEO Piyush Gupta. His comment came during the bank's results briefing on Friday. Since 2009, the government has rolled out a series of measures to rein in property prices, and the impact is...