General

Private home prices in Singapore rose 7.9 per cent in 2018, compared with a 1.1 per cent increase the previous year, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday (Jan 25), confirming flash estimates announced earlier this month. Private home prices fell by 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, compared with the 0.5 per cent increase in the third quarter. URA revised its estimates...

Rising interest rates and the latest round of property curbs have put the brakes on mortgage demand at Singapore's banks, potentially further dragging down the city's housing market. Home-loan growth slowed to 1.9 per cent in the first 11 months of 2018, less than half the 4.2 per cent increase posted in 2017, the latest Monetary Authority of Singapore data show. Mortgage growth will stay stuck below 2...

Rentals and prices of industrial space in Singapore remained unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2018 over the preceding quarter, according to the latest data from industrial land and infrastructure agency JTC Corp. Compared with a year ago, the price index was also unchanged while the the rental index eased 0.3 per cent. Meanwhile, the occupancy rate of the overall industrial property market for the...

Elizabeth Towers, a freehold high-rise residential redevelopment site off Orchard Road, has been launched for sale by tender by marketing agent Knight Frank Singapore. The development with a reserve price of S$610 million, comprises two residential blocks of 80 apartment and maisonette units, sized between 185 square metres (sq m) and 417 sq m. This translates to a land rate of about S$2,416 psf ppr...

A freehold six-storey commercial building in 291 Serangoon Road is being relaunched for sale at a lower price of between S$46 million and S$49 million. The property was previously put up for sale last September with a guide price of S$52 million. Upon the close of the Expression of Interest (EOI), a few offers that fell short of the owner’s expectations were received, said marketing agent JLL. The...

Owners of the Sultan Plaza commercial building along Jalan Sultan have launched a public tender for a collective sale with a reserve price of S$380 million. The 99-year leasehold development, which was built in the 1970s sits on 52,471 square feet (sq ft) of land. The maximum permissible gross floor area can be redeveloped to 283,803 sq ft, referenced against the 5.30 gross plot ratio of neighbouring...

Google is planning to expand in Singapore, going by market talk that it plans to boost its real estate footprint on the island. The tech giant is understood to be in advanced talks to lease close to 400,000 sq ft at Alexandra Technopark, which is next to Mapletree Business City II, where Google occupies about 500,000 sq ft. Market watchers note that Mapletree Business City II, which has a total net...

Serviced residence Ascott Raffles Place Singapore, which is housed within a restored 1950s heritage building, is set to be sold off for S$353.3 million by Ascott Residence Trust (Ascott Reit). The sale price is 64.3 per cent above the property’s latest valuation of S$215 million as at Dec 31, 2018, Ascott Reit said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday (Jan 9). It said that the buyer is an...

The owners of Newton Lodge, a 16-unit apartment block at Newton Road, have put their freehold 21,409 square foot site up for tender at a minimum price of S$44 million. This translates to a land rate of S$1,468 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr) at a 1.4 gross plot ratio, said the property's sole marketing agent JLL. Factoring in an additional 8 per cent bonus gross floor area for balconies and communal...

State tenders for three sites closed on Tuesday, Jan 15, 2019. Based on provisional results released, a premium hotel site along Club Street in the Central Business District drew eight bids. The highest bid, from Midtown Development (which is part of the Worldwide Hotels Group that also includes Hotel 81), was S$562.2 million, which works out to S$2,148.50 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr). A...