Mainboard-listed Amara Holdings' hospitality arm, Amara Hotels & Resorts, says it will develop its first hotel in central Bangkok. The 272-room hotel will be located on Surawong Road, an area known for its rich and colourful local entertainment and shopping activities, as well as the financial district of Bangkok. Amara says the location was also chosen for its convenient access to and from...
General
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has stressed that HDB flats are not meant to be used as a source of funds for business or other uses. He said this a day after changes were made to the Housing and Development Act, to prevent owners from using their flats as collaterals to settle debts with moneylenders. Mr Mah said: "The HDB flat is not meant to be used as a source of funds for business. "The...
New guidelines on the limited and non-exclusive use of commercial spaces for religious activities were issued on Tuesday. The guidelines were jointly issued by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS). Under the guidelines, sites zoned for "Commercial" use in URA's Master Plan are intended for commercial activities should serve as secular...
Ratings agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) believes the credit loss risks of Singapore banks from home loans is limited even if an asset bubble is to form. In a report, S&P said its view is based on the reasonable level of housing affordability, sound borrower repayment ability and low loan-to-value ratios here. Also it added that the Government's measures to cool the market, and mortgage rates...
An industrial site at Kaki Bukit Avenue 4 was launched for sale by public tender yesterday. It's one of three industrial sites scheduled to be sold under the Confirmed List in the second half of the government's Industrial Land Sale Programme. The Urban Redevelopment Authority said the land parcel at Kaki Bukit has a site area of about 3 hectares and has a maximum gross plot ratio of 2.5 with a lease...
A legislative amendment to allow the Housing and Development Board to provide technical and consultancy services internationally drew concern from two Members of Parliament yesterday. They felt the HDB was deviating from its core mission of providing affordable housing for Singaporeans. If this happens, the top brass would focus on generating income, which would pay them "fat bonuses", rather than...
The government has plugged loopholes in the law to prevent moneylenders from egging homeowners to use HDB flats as collaterals for any debt other than as mortgage for the purpose of financing the purchase of the flat. Changes to the Housing and Development Bill were passed on Monday under a "certificate of urgency", which means it was read and passed in one Parliamentary sitting. There has been an...
3,200 applicants for Boon Lay Grove Built-to-Order (BTO) flats are from first-timer households. These are households which have never bought a flat with housing subsidies - the priority group that BTO sale exercises seek to cater for. Among them, 53 per cent have not applied for any BTO projects in non-mature estates prior to Boon Lay Grove. Also, 12 per cent are third-time applicants while nine per...
K-REIT Asia says its second quarter distribution per unit rose 24.2 per cent to 1.64 Singapore cents compared to a restated DPU of 1.32 cents recorded in the same period last year. Distributable income for the three months ended June, rose 25.5 per cent to about S$22 million due mainly to higher net property income and lower interest expense. For the first half, K-REIT announced a DPU of 2.97 cents, a...
Owning a waterfront home appears to be an aspiration among homeowners, going by the record prices at Sentosa Cove and the overwhelming response to the latest launch of waterfront HDB homes in Punggol. Over in the East, there has been growing interest in the reasonably priced waterfront homes overlooking Bedok Reservoir near the Tanah Merah MRT Station and good schools like Temasek Polytechnic and Anglican...