National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said recent sales numbers do not suggest a speculative element in Housing and Development Board (HDB) shops, and it will not be tenable for HDB to impose new restrictions like stricter citizenship eligibility. In a written parliamentary reply to MP Ong Teng Koon, Mr Khaw said Singaporeans and Singaporean-owned companies own about 95 per cent of the sold shops,...
General
The Ascott, the serviced-apartment arm of CapitaLand, is considering listing a China-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) to fund its expansion in the world's second-largest economy. Ascott Chief Executive Chong Kee Hiong said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires: "We continue to like China, although we would have to wait for good opportunities in first-tier cities. We also like the second- and...
A residential site at New Upper Changi Road attracted 11 bids at the close of tender by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday. The highest bid of about S$434.5 million for the 3.18-hectare site came from Sherwood Development, a unit of Keppel Land. This works out to about S$791 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr). Sherwood Development's bid was 7.1 per cent higher than the next highest...
As Punggol moves into the next chapter of its development, it could potentially become Singapore's biggest housing town - twice that of Ang Mo Kio today - and feature the Republic's newest seafront public housing estate. National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan on Tuesday outlined several new ideas characterising Punggol Phase II, which will cover developments over the next 15 years and...
Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan said there is no need for the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to build executive maisonettes (EMs) again, as executive condominiums (ECs) already include double-storey units similar to EMs. Mr Khaw made this point in a written parliamentary response to a question from Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency, Gan Thiam...
Singles are buying fewer Housing and Development Board (HDB) resale flats in the recent four years. Between 2007 and 2011, singles bought an average of 4,300 units a year. That is down from a yearly average of 5,600 between 2002 and 2006. The figures came in a written parliamentary reply from the Ministry of National Development to questions from Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol Group...
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said home buyers are currently paying above the value assessed by professional valuers as it is "a seller's market". Mr Khaw was replying to a parliamentary query by Member of Parliament for Tampines Group Representation Constituency, Baey Yam Keng, on the increasing cash-over-valuation figures. Mr Khaw said the basis of valuation for all HDB flats are the...
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has awarded the tender for the hotel or commercial & residential site at Victoria Street / Jalan Sultan to Forward Land Pte Ltd. The company submitted the highest bid in the tender for the site at S$331.37 million. Based on maximum gross floor area GFA of 30,977 square metres, the bid works out to S$10,696.19 per square metre of gross floor area. Tender for...
A Singapore court has upheld the right of an Australian-owned hotel to use the Park Regis brand in the city state, throwing out a ban sought by the St. Regis chain, court documents showed on Tuesday. St. Regis, a luxury brand under the US-based Starwood group of hotels and resorts, had applied to Singapore's Registrar of Trade Marks to stop Park Regis from getting its trademark in the city. But the Park...
Only 201 individuals and 39 companies in Singapore have been subject to income tax on their property disposal gains in the last two years. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Tharman Shanmugaratnam said this in a written response to questions in Parliament from MP Lim Biow Chuan. Mr Tharman also provided clarification on when gains from the sale of a property are taxed and when they are...