Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan said Block 31 at Lorong 6 Toa Payoh is managed by HDB for needy Singaporeans and is not leased to foreigners. Blocks 32 and 33 along the same road, he said, are vacated Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) flats. And in 2009, HDB leased these two blocks to EM Services at market rates as an interim arrangement. Mr Khaw made the points in a written...
General
The total number of private residential properties bought was about 22,000 in the first half of 2012, as compared to 19,000 in the first half of 2011 and 17,000 in the second half of 2011. National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said this in a written parliamentary response to a question by MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, Gan Thiam Poh. He said cooling measures introduced in January last year aimed to...
Singapore Real Estate Investment Trusts (S-REITs) have outperformed the STI significantly as at end-October this year. And some investors are expecting the good run to continue, driven by capital inflows from stimulus measures in the US. But some analysts warn that the performance of S-REITs may have peaked. Market volatility and economic uncertainties are expected to continue to drive demand for REITS...
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan announced on Monday the government's target to have 57,000 rental flats by 2015. Mr Khaw said this in a written response to Member of Parliament Dr Lee Bee Wah, who asked for an update in the measures taken to reduce the waiting time needed to apply for a flat under the Housing and Development Board's (HDB) Public Rental Scheme. The minister said that the...
Only 33 luxury condos and apartments priced from S$10 million onwards changed hands in the first 10 months of the year, down from 57 units over the same period last year, reported The Business Times. According to a URA data analysis by CBRE, the 33 units amounted to S$449.6 million, 44 percent less than S$797.5 million last year. Caveats lodged comprised both the primary and secondary markets and were...
The recent restrictions imposed on home loan tenures, as well as more supply coming on-stream, will likely moderate housing demand, according to UOL Group. In a report by AsiaOne, UOL noted: “The residential market is still driven by high liquidity and low interest rates. Competition for acquisition of new (residential) sites is expected to remain intense.” Meanwhile, UOL has also predicted that...
The rental yield for non-landed private property went down by 0.2 percentage points in the last 10 months, compared to the same period last year. According to statistics from the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX), this brings the rental yield to 4.03 per cent. This is even though average rental rose by two per cent in the first 10 months, to reach about S$3.80 per square foot. In October alone, the...
Resale home prices of both non-landed private residential units and HDB flats continued to climb in October against the third quarter 2012. Data released by the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) showed that the unit resale price for non-landed private residential rose 4.1 percent in October to $1,209 per square foot. SRX compiles data from 11 top property agencies in Singapore. The report found that...
Two blocks of flats at Spooner Road that previously housed the Malayan Railway staff are now available for some interim use. Writing on his Facebook page, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the termination of the Malayan Rail at Woodlands had a surprising outcome for the Housing and Development Board (HDB). Mr Khaw described it as "a pleasant surprise". There are 318 units in the two blocks...
The Government's new measures to further cool the residential property market, announced last month, add to the long list of such curbs it has introduced since September 2009. By my count, there are now at least 20 significant and not-so-significant residential cooling measures in place and it can be a major mental exercise trying to recall the different ones. But if one takes a more in-depth look, one...