The government launched eight residential sites - which can yield an estimated 3,340 private and executive condominium homes - in Q1 2010, as developers clamoured for plots to replenish shrinking landbanks and buyers continued to snap up new homes. Five of the sites - on which some 2,175 housing units can be built - have been sold to date. The tenders for the remaining three sites will close in the next...
General
Real estate agencies are gearing up for tighter rules in their industry by sending agents back to the classroom. Several are getting their agents to take existing accreditation tests before the government introduces a mandatory industry examination sometime this year. To improve their chances of passing the tests, agents have been attending preparatory courses. The talk is that agents who already gained...
EL Development has inked a deal to buy the freehold Diamond Tower at Jalan Rajah in the Balestier area for $49.6 million through a collective sale. The price works out to a unit land price of about $652 per square foot of potential gross floor area inclusive of an estimated $300,000 development charge payable to the state. Diamond Tower has a land area of about 27,323 sq ft and is zoned for residential...
PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong's recent remarks about the emergence of fake online campaigns to pressure the Government were intriguing. Referring to recent e-mail messages calling on the Government to cool the property market, failing which the writers threatened to withdraw support from the ruling party, he described the phenomenon as 'astroturfing'. The term, derived from a brand of fake grass, comes...
In the secondary market, the soon-to-be-completed One Amber along Amber Gardens is seeing interest from buyers. The 562-unit freehold condominium project jointly developed by Singapore Land, UIC and UOL Group has four 23-storey blocks. In the week of March 9 to 15, four units at One Amber changed hands at prices between $1,163 and $1,250 psf, according to caveats lodged with URA Realis. Those who bought...
The quicker-than-expected recovery in property markets in many countries may have caught many investors by surprise. Property investors looking for investment homes to ride on this recovery may have missed out on the recent boom that saw Singapore's private and public resale home prices rise a further 5.1 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively, in the first quarter of this year. But looking further...
UOL Group has sold about 40 per cent of its 616-unit Waterbank at Dakota condo by yesterday. By some analysts' calculations, UOL stands to book pretax earnings of $135 million to $160 million progressively from the project as it is built once it is fully sold. Prices of typical units range from 'above $1,000 psf to above $1,300 psf'. Buyers were predominantly Singaporeans. Smaller units were first to...
I MET a friend for lunch this week. I'd won a treat from him. Back in September 2009, we each put down the level at which we thought the Dow Jones Industrial Index, the Straits Times Index and gold prices would close the year. We weren't that far off with our estimates, given that there weren't any surprises in the final three months of the year. I was just slightly luckier. Over lunch, my friend...
CULFORD Gardens in Siglap, which was put up for sale last month, has been sold to Fragrance Properties for $39 million, said Credo Real Estate, which handled the sale. The amount falls along the higher end of the freehold property's asking price, which was between $37 million and $40 million, allowing the developer to break even at about $950-$1,000 psf. Credo said that the site received four offers, all...
THERE is only one way to go for residential properties in Singapore: up, up and up. When it comes to building height, the five tallest private residential buildings - perhaps a better description would be 'residential skyscrapers' - are all taller than 100 metres. All were also completed within the last four years - a clear sign that property developers here are on a high. And while residential...