Resorts World at Sentosa has cut its visitor arrivals forecast to 13 million visitors during its first year of operations, down from an earlier estimate of 15 million, due to the global financial meltdown. The operator is also projecting a lowered 13 per cent internal rate of return for the integrated resort. The resort is still very much a work in progress, but Resorts World at Sentosa said it expects...
General
ION Orchard is set to be only the second new mall to open on Orchard Road in the past decade on July 21, but it will face competition from new malls springing up along the iconic shopping belt in the next few months. The shopping centre said it is looking to stand out from the rest through the use of technology, such as a multi-media wall that can change the appearance of Orchard Road. It said it will be...
Consider this: Rentals are sliding while residential property sales continue to scale new heights in the current troubled times. With almost half of recent buyers being potential investors with private addresses, could these people be punting on a rental recovery? If so, they may be staring at a wait of several years for the uptick. "I don't expect any rental recovery for the rest of this year," said...
As buyers thronged showflats amid improved sentiment in recent months, the resale market also saw an uptick in the second quarter, according to a report by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Using recent housing data, the consultancy estimated that resale volumes increased more than 70 per cent from the first quarter to reach 1,464 transactions. The two main reasons were pent-up demand from Housing Development...
WE REFER to the letter "Our tarnished heritage" (June 17) and thank the residents of Tiong Bahru for their feedback. On the feedback that the STB has allowed Hotel 81 to operate in close proximity to the Tiong Bahru residential area, we would like to clarify that no licence has been issued for the hotel to start operations in Tiong Bahru. Before they begin operations, hotel developments must be licensed...
Prices of non-landed homes sold in Singapore in the second quarter of this year rose 28 per cent from the first quarter. CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) said the quarter-on-quarter increase was the largest for sales of new freehold non-landed residential projects. Prices of freehold units averaged S$938,000 in the second quarter, up from S$733,000 the previous quarter. A large proportion of the units sold were...
Investors are optimistic that the Asian real estate market will bounce back soon after being battered by the global financial crisis. A survey by the Asian Real Estate Association (AREA) showed that more than half of the investors polled expect signs of improvements in the market by 2010. This optimism has prompted investors to allocate more funds into all real estate investment categories in the next...
Almost all of ION Orchard's space has been leased out and it is eager to pull in the crowds with its fashion and lifestyle boutiques. The upcoming shopping mall above the Orchard MRT station is set to open on July 21. Some 94 per cent of the leasable space has been committed - 70 per cent of which is taken up by flagship stores and new or new-to-market concepts stores. Food will also be big on the plate....
Developer Frasers Centrepoint said Tuesday 91 per cent of its 8@Woodleigh residential project has been sold following a weekend preview. The mass market development comprises 330 units, out of which 302 have been snapped up during the past four days. Frasers said it will now release the remaining units for sale and there will be no public launch. The 99-year leasehold property comprises a mix of two to...
344 Singaporeans have signed up for the Housing and Development Board's Lease Buyback Scheme since its launch in March. HDB gave out its first batch of upfront payment of S$5,000 to flat owners on Tuesday. Residents in the 30-year-old Queenstown estate were the first to receive the initial payouts from the HDB Lease Buyback Scheme. Under the scheme, senior citizens aged 62 years and above from...