This year has been a rewarding year for the industrial property market. The overall momentum of the industrial property sector has been strong and more sustainable than that of the private residential sector. Besides continued rental recovery, factory units and multiple-user warehouses have received strong buying interest. In the first 10 months of this year alone, a total of 1,491 factory units were...
General
Hong Kong's property market is facing fresh controversy in the aftermath of the government's new stamp duty aimed at curbing speculation. After a series of aggressive analyst forecasts for property prices in the next two years, it appeared as if the government was spurred into action. But it seems to have pleased no one with its 15 per cent stamp duty on all properties bought and sold within six...
Residential property prices in China's 100 key cities rose 0.8 per cent last month from a month earlier, according to the China Real Estate Index System (CREIS). Shenzhen stood out as the city with the highest average property price at 24,601 yuan ($4,840) per sq m, followed by Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Sanya, the private data provider said. Housing prices in the country's 10 most expensive real...
Higher rates lead to this year's biggest slowdown in refinancing and new home purchases The number of mortgage applications in the United States fell last week by the most this year as higher lending rates led to a slump in refinancing. The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) index declined 16.5 per cent in the week ended Nov 26, figures from the Washington- based group showed yesterday. The gauge of...
One day when Mr Theodore Jennings looked out from his ninth-floor penthouse at the sea of residential high-rises that fill his Shinjuku neighbourhood, he had a sudden realisation. There were hundreds of balconies, lined with laundry or rubbish bins, but "you could see absolutely nothing else, save for the odd plant," the 34-year-old said. In this city of more than 13 million, famed for its diminutive...
With the development of shoebox apartments and a bigger proportion of smaller units in condo developments, the average size of non-landed homes used to estimate housing supply in the GLS Programme has shrunk. To arrive at the average size for every home assumed, The Business Times chose sites by location and then divided each of their gross floor area (GFA) by the number of potential homes estimated by...
The latest mall in Singapore, the Nex in Serangoon Central, is packing in the crowds. But those driving to mall are complaining there are not enough carpark lots. The mall claims it is attracting 70,000 customers daily since it opened last week. Shopowners are happy, with business exceeding targets. But outside the mall, shoppers are complaining of high traffic volume and tailgating cars right to the...
Lion City Hotel in Geylang and the adjoining Hollywood Theatre site have been put up for sale, with a price tag expected to exceed $300 million, excluding the development charge. The two plots, along with a substation site nearby, have a total gross floor area (GFA) of 507,924 sq ft. The URA has indicated that the sites can be redeveloped into a residential-cum-commercial development, with 243,805 sq ft...
The National Development Ministry has set aside S$46 million over the next three years to upgrade private estates in Singapore. This will be carried out via two programmes - the Estate Upgrading Programme and the Interim Estate Upgrading Programme. Six estates have been selected for the seventh batch of the Estate Upgrading Programme at an estimated cost of S$21 million. They are: Beng Wan, Moonstone...
The latest Build-To-Order (BTO) project in Yishun has drawn moderate interest from home buyers. Hours before applications close on Wednesday, Yishun Greenwalk has received about three times the number of applications for the 1,176 units available. This is a sharp drop compared to the previous BTO project in Sengkang, which had more than seven applicants for each flat. Located next to a park and within...