A part of Upper Paya Lebar Road will be widened by 2014 to improve traffic flow between the residential areas in the Northeast, and the industrial parks in Aljunied, Ubi and Eunos. The 1.3-kilometre stretch is between Upper Serangoon Road and Bartley Road. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said a lane will be added in each direction of the carriageway, to relieve existing peak-hour congestion and meet...
General
Citizens of five countries, including the United States and Switzerland, could avoid paying the additional stamp duty when they purchase a property in Singapore due to tax treaties with the city-state, the Straits Times reported on Friday. Similar treatment will also be accorded to citizens of Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland, who will be treated the same as Singapore citizens, the paper quoted the tax...
Are the latest cooling measures - specifically targeted at the private housing market - what many Singaporeans have been waiting for since the General Election in May? Wednesday's announcement of an additional buyer's stamp duty of 10 per cent for foreigners and 3 per cent for Permanent Residents already owning one or more properties and for Singaporeans already owning two or more properties caught the...
The Government's latest round of property market cooling measures - imposing a range of additional buyer's stamp duties on private home purchases - helps most genuine owner-occupier buyers, specifically citizens and permanent residents who may be affected by affordability issues. More importantly, it gives a clearer direction for the private home market, which had exhibited optimism despite the last round...
In sharp contrast to Singapore's move to further cool the private home market, Hong Kong will ease some of its property curbs if prices extend their decline amid Europe's worsening credit crisis and a global economic slowdown. Housing prices are "slowly coming down and ... will continue for a bit and hopefully we will be able to achieve a soft landing ... When the environment trends downwards, we will...
Sun Hung Kai Properties forecast that sales for the next fiscal year will hit HK$32 billion (S$5.3 billion), an executive from the company said Thursday. Hong Kong's largest developer by market capitalisation predicted that sales in the city alone would hit HK$26.8 billion next fiscal year, which runs through June 2012. The company also called for a revision of Hong Kong's special stamp duty, imposed a...
A government land tender for a residential site drew a massive 22 bids, despite tough new measures to cool the housing market. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said the site at Chestnut Avenue/Almond Avenue attracted a top bid of S$70.8 million from a company called SCB Terraform. The next highest bid of S$67.8 million came from SK Land Pte Ltd. CT Projects Pte Ltd put in the third highest bid of...
Eleven real estate agencies have joined hands to launch an electronic network that will provide exclusive property listings and transactions details in real time. Called the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX), the network enables agents to access up-to-date information like transacted prices and rentals. The SRX, which was soft-launched in July this year, is already seeing an average of about 300...
At least one real estate agency thinks the immediate reaction to the latest cooling measures will be a slowdown in the private property market. CEO of PropNex Realty Mr Mohamed Ismail said he expects a price correction of approximately 15 to 20 per cent in the central core region and a correction of 10 to 15 per cent in the mass market segment in the next six months. Propnex also expects transaction...
Sales will be slower in coming weeks, maybe even months The announcement of the latest set of cooling measures for the residential market yesterday probably drew extreme emotions from many in Singapore - either cheers or despair, depending on which side you are on. The emotions - accentuated by the fact that it came right out of the blue - are probably enough to induce a heart attack, some would...