The Monetary Authority of Singapore could be about to slash the Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) for private residential properties in a further bid to moderate home prices, PropertyGuru understands. The move, which sources have indicated will be announced imminently, is another bid to moderate home price growth which recorded a spike at the end of last year. The Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA)...
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Property market activity is expected to pick up in the next two months as several new condominium projects are likely to be launched. Analysts say this may lead to more sales transactions, especially from first-time home buyers. But despite the property-cooling measures introduced earlier this year, they say prices of new units are not likely to fall. Sennett Residence at Potong Pasir, with over 300...
The moribund property en bloc sales market looks set to cool down further. Experts expect total transactions in the collective sales market to decline to around S$1.5 billion in 2013. Global real estate services firm, Jones Lang LaSalle expects en bloc activities in Singapore to slow down from S$3 billion in 2011 to S$2 billion in 2012 and likely to go even lower than 2012 numbers this year. However,...
The initial public offering of Singapore's largest real estate investment trust has been fully snapped up. Units of Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust is nearly 30 times subscribed at the close of the public offer. The Reit offered a total of about 776.6 million units at 93 cents each, raising some S$1.7 billion. There was strong demand for both the placement and public tranches. And even the...
Singapore property prices still have "some ways to go" before reaching an acceptable level, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. Speaking in a Bloomberg Television interview, Mr Tharman said Singapore's property is now in a wrong part of the cycle, and prices would become acceptable through a combination of income improvement and prices not going up...
The government has revised the development charge (DC) rates, with the steepest increase in the commercial and industrial segments. A development charge is a levy that is payable by the developer when a property site is developed into more valuable project. In a statement, the National Development Ministry said DC rates for commercial segment will increase by an average of 24 per cent. Areas seeing the...
With an expected slowdown in the property market at home, homegrown developer City Developments (CDL) is now looking to diversify more of its assets beyond Singapore. While CDL's mid-priced condominiums like those at the Echelon in Alexandra should continue to see demand, the same cannot be said for its high end properties. And to push sales in this segment, CDL said it is coming up with new strategies...
Much has been made of the impact of the new property tax measures on high-end developers, but I would say that the hardest hit would be the investors. Under the revised tax rules announced in Budget 2013, investment property owners will face higher tax rates on the assessed annual values (AVs) of the properties from next year. The higher rates will apply even if the units are left vacant. Previously,...
The high-end housing segment will be most affected by the recent property curbs, Mr Kwek Leng Beng, Executive Chairman of City Developments (CDL), said yesterday, adding that “some correction” would be needed for the overall market. Responding to a question on Budget 2013 and measures to cool the property market at CDL’s results briefing, Mr Kwek said: “The current economic crisis in Europe and...
Prices of resale private homes rebounded in January, rising 0.3 per cent, reversing the previous month's 0.2 per cent decline, according to the Singapore Residential Price Index flash estimates published by the Institute of Real Estate Studies at the National University of Singapore. The increase in January was led by price growth in the small unit segment, defined as homes below 506 square feet. In...