It’s starting to look like a self-fulfilling prophecy, as far as prices in the high-end residential segment in Singapore are concerned. Anecdotally, there’s evidence that some cash-rich speculators are also back in the market, according to some property consultants. Notable secondary market transactions in the week of Jan 8 to 15 at The Tate Residences, Ardmore II and Scotts Square have seen a spike...
General
Mainboard-listed property developer CapitaLand has seen a spectacular jump in its fourth-quarter net profit ended in December. It said on Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit was S$886 million, up by more than 11 times from S$78 million a year ago. The surge was due mainly to its listing and offering of its CapitaMalls Asia (CMA) shares, leading to a gain of S$899.8 million. Divestments of several...
The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has launched two more Build-To-Order (BTO) projects. Punggol Crest in Punggol and Treegrove@Woodlands will offer some 1,500 units. Punggol Crest comprises 750 standard flats, and Treegrove@Woodlands will offer 784 premium flats. HDB said most of the flats would be set aside for first-timers. The selling prices for the flats range from S$90,000 for a two-room flat...
Mainboard-listed Saizen REIT on Thursday said it has proposed not to declare any distribution for its second quarter after reporting a loss. Net loss for the three months ended in December was 94.3 million yen or about S$1.48 million. That was in sharp contrast to a 214.6 million yen profit made over the same period a year ago. Saizen REIT said it saw a loss in the divestment of its properties, leading...
Mainboard-listed property developer Soilbuild is proposing a share split of each ordinary share in the firm into two ordinary shares. Currently, Soilbuild has an issued and paid-up share capital of S$58.4 million, divided into 217.3 million issued shares. After the split, the paid-up share capital remains, but the number of shares will double to 434.6 million. Soilbuild said the share split will improve...
MP Sin Boon Ann has assured some Tampines residents, who were unhappy that HDB rental flats will be built right in front of their block, that the quality of their estate will not be hurt nor the peace be disturbed. The MP for Tampines GRC will work with the HDB and residents to debunk the perception that rental flats are old, dirty and bad for image of the estate. A block of rental flats will soon be...
Property developer CapitaLand on Tuesday said it has seen overwhelming response to its new condominium in Beijing, with 95 per cent of phase one units sold in just over two weeks. The condominium, called the Beaufort, sits on a 53,808-square metre site and is located within walking distance to Beijing Chaoyang Park, one of China's largest city parks. An entire block, comprising 467 units, was launched...
CapitaMall Trust (CMT) has acquired riverfront development Clarke Quay from sister company CapitaMalls Asia for S$268 million. CMT said it has sufficient financial flexibility and capacity to fund the transaction, which is targeted for completion by July 2010. Assuming the transaction is fully funded by debt, CMT's gearing would be 33.1 per cent - still within its target range of 30 to 35 per cent. CMT...
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday launched a transitional office site at Mohamed Sultan Road for sale by public tender. The 15-year-leasehold site has an area of about 0.62 hectares and a maximum permissible gross floor area of about 9,200 square metres. The minimum price for the site is S$9.33 million. Since October 2008, the land parcel was made available for sale through the Reserve...
CapitaLand's Australian unit, Australand, said on Tuesday that it made a net loss of A$298.2 million. It said the accounting loss was due to revaluation losses on investment properties amounting to A$249.4 million. Moreover, it incurred the impairment of development and joint venture assets amounting to A$148.4 million, on top of a non-recurring finance cost of A$20.7 million. But Australand said it...