Home sales in the United States probably fell last month, while orders for long-lasting goods climbed, a reminder that housing lags behind manufacturing as the US recovery strengthens, economists said before reports this week. Combined purchases of new and existing homes fell 2 per cent to a 5.5-million annual pace, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Durable-goods...
General
Asia’s property investment recovered significantly in the second half of 2010, with China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore the most active markets, according to CB Richard Ellis’ (CBRE) Asia Investment Market report for H2 2010. Together, the four markets comprised over US$29 billion of transactions from July to December 2010, or 83 percent of the total regional volume. However, investment activity...
Low-income Singaporean families will receive more financial help to buy their first home from this year's Budget. The government will introduce a Special CPF Housing Grant (SHG) to help low-income families purchase a Build-to-Order (BTO) flat for the first time. The SHG will be provided to families who earn up to S$2,250 per month. This is on top of the S$40,000 Additional CPF Housing Grant (AHG) to...
The Singapore government said it will spend S$10 billion to upgrade homes and rejuvenate estates over the next 10 years. Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said this is a major effort to preserve the value of HDB flats. Up to S$55,000 will be invested in each flat under the Home Improvement Programme (HIP), Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) and Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP). Around 50,000 flat...
The news headlines this week about developer's home sales for last month were almost comical, doing little justice to the actual reports that followed. Unfortunately, people remember the headlines and not so much the details. Data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday showed a total of 1,189 new private homes sold last month. That is a 10.7 per cent drop from December and a...
Singapore's listed property developers are likely to post mixed results for the October-to-December quarter but the main focus of attention is likely to be how measures designed to cool the domestic property market will affect their outlook, with tightening in China also a factor. Although the impact of the cooling moves introduced last month has yet to be fully felt, the Government has already signalled...
Economists yesterday welcomed reforms of China's system for reporting property price data, saying the changes would improve on previous methods that severely underestimated inflation in the housing sector in the world's second-largest economy. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced this week that it was scrapping a nationwide property index and would instead publish price changes for individual...
Fast-growing Asia and Latin America are expected to see commercial property rents and values rise in the first quarter of the year, while the hard-hit United States market is showing signs of recovery, according to a survey by The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). RICS, which polled 410 of its members worldwide, said rental expectations in major markets such as Hong Kong, China, Singapore and...
Loft @ Stevens is Oxley Holdings' latest residential offering, after the successful launch of Loft @ Holland. Located at 68 Stevens Road, Loft @ Stevens comprises one block of 44 apartment units, with sizes ranging from 355 sq ft to 1,130 sq ft. There are a total of 19 one-bedroom units, 13 one-bedroom-plus-study units, six two-bedroom units and six two-bedroom penthouses, some of which have private...
It could be a while before Marina Bay Sands is able to double its meetings, incentives, exhibitions and conventions (MICE) space. Analysts said land sites near the resort are not due for tender anytime soon. And some market watchers are questioning the need for more MICE space in Singapore. Marina Bay Sands' management said they will bid for the land sites once they are up for sale. With more MICE...