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Designed with a Mediterranean theme, Mi Casa is a perfect getaway for those who love to come home to resort style living everyday. With the Choa Chu Kang MRT and LRT station, bus interchange and Lot One shopping mall mere minutes away, this new condominium is truly one to look forward to, making it the only private residential development in the vicinity. Located at Choa Chu Kang Drive, other recreational...

Four industry bodies in Singapore have banded together to battle the current downturn. The Singapore Retailers Association, the Restaurant Association of Singapore, the Singapore Jewellers Association, and the Textile and Fashion Federation have pledged to share information and create a unified stance on matters common to their industries. In a joint statement, the four industry bodies say they have tied...

CapitaLand said its S$1.84 billion rights issue was 1.22 times oversubscribed. Southeast Asia's largest property developer first announced the fundraising exercise last month. It offered one rights share for every two existing shares at S$1.30 each. CapitaLand said its major shareholder Temasek Holdings took up its entire 40 per cent allotment of the rights shares. The rights shares are expected to be...

SINGAPORE Land Authority (SLA) deputy chief executive Vincent Hoong will become chief executive on May 1, the government said yesterday. Mr Hoong, 51, takes over from Lam Joon Khoi, who has been SLA's chief executive since May 1, 2005. Mr Lam, 50, will move to the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources as deputy secretary. An SLA statement yesterday said the statutory board initiated several...

The sale of private residential properties shot up more than tenfold in February to 1,323 units, compared to just 108 in January. Homebuyers thronged the showflats of mass-market projects like The Caspian in Boon Lay and The Alexis in Alexandra, and they propped up the property sales figures in February, accounting for more than 70 per cent of the units sold for the month. Property-watchers said those...

The manager of Singapore-listed Mapletree Logistics Trust said it currently has no plans for any equity fundraising exercise. In a filing to the Singapore Exchange, MapletreeLog sought to differentiate itself from its sister entity Mapletree Industrial Trust, or MIT. MIT said on Friday that it is deferring cash distributions to investors for at least two years because of stricter covenants by the...

Owner-occupiers of older condominiums and HDB properties are capitalising on affordable pricing to upgrade to new and larger apartments THE BEST TIME to buy property, says K S Quek, a 45-year-old businessman who runs an electronic equipment servicing company with his wife, “is during a downturn”. The Queks did just that in the last property slump when they bought their current home, a fourth-floor...

Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT) is deferring cash distributions to investors for at least two years because of stricter covenants by banks. The trust revealed this on Friday in a bid to address tenants' demands for a reduction in rents. MIT said its interest costs have doubled to S$23 million with the current credit crunch. It revealed that its shareholders have provided an additional S$140 million in...

Property developer CapitaLand said its S$1.84 billion rights issue has been oversubscribed. It cited indicative figures available at the close of the offer on Thursday. CapitaLand said the final number is subject to validation of acceptances and excess applications received by the Central Depository and CapitaLand's share registrar. CapitaLand had offered one share for every two existing shares at S$1.30...

Small is apparently beautiful for Singapore's hotel industry in these uncertain times. Boutique hotels with fewer than 100 rooms do not seem to be seeing the tourism blues, with some seeing near full occupancy rates in the past few months, even without slashing prices. Size does not matter for boutique hotel Naumi, even though it has only 10 storeys of 40 rooms. Naumi, set up in 2008, has seen about 75...