To say that Mr Spencer Dodington, an entrepreneur, is passionate about Art Deco design is an understatement. He has devoted years to studying the style, amassed a vast collection of period furniture and started a business renovating pre-war apartments for expatriates. So when he set out to buy and refurbish his own Art Deco home here, he settled for nothing less than perfection. After a two-year search...
Overseas Property
More of Singapore's affluent are looking to buy properties in global cities like London, to take advantage of the strengthening Singapore dollar which has gained against overseas currencies such as the UK pound, said bankers. The Singapore dollar has risen more than 25 per cent against the British pound since the collaspe of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. In August 2010, local bank OCBC allowed its...
Affluent hunters of residential property are seeking investment opportunities abroad to diversify their portfolios and take advantage of the strengthening Singapore dollar. The Singapore dollar has risen considerably against the three major currencies - the US dollar, euro, and British pound - since the crash of Lehman Brothers in Sept 2008. The local dollar has gained over 11 per cent against the...
The Candy brothers claim they are on track to make a £1-billion (S$2.05 billion) profit from their luxury residential development at One Hyde Park in central London. The colourful property developers, who were roundly mocked for starting the extravagant project four years ago, say that 50 apartments have now been sold, with fewer than 30 left to go. One of the penthouses was sold for more than £135...
Singapore and Hong Kong have topped the global house price index, as home values in both countries recorded the highest increase. Based on The Economist’s latest quarterly global house price index, home prices in Hong Kong climbed 20.1 percent in Q4 2010, while house prices in Singapore rose 17.6 percent. Home values increased 6.4 percent in China, 5.8 percent in Australia and dropped 3.6 percent in...
China should adopt more tax measures to rein in rising property prices, as there are limits to what credit restrictions can accomplish, an official from the country's banking regulator was quoted as saying in the Financial News yesterday. China could start collecting land appreciation taxes in advance and could start collecting real estate taxes in more areas where property prices are rising quickly, Mr...
Mainboard-listed Metro Holdings has set up a firm with a private equity real estate fund to co-invest in Chinese properties owned by retailer Tesco. The newly set up firm, Choice Bright Holdings, will invest about US$49 million in return for a 50 per cent stake in three assets in China under Tesco. They are Tesco Chelsea, Tesco Tianying and Tesco Shenyang Beihai. Metro will contribute about one-fifth of...
Singapore property developer CapitaLand said it is in China for the long run, despite a slew of cooling measures by the authorities to curb speculation in the Chinese property market. The measures have caused price increases to slow in recent months. Just last week, Beijing introduced a regulation which requires buyers not registered with the city to pay taxes for at least five years before buying their...
Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Guangzhou, will restrict home purchases after new property curbs by the government aimed at preventing a housing bubble. The two cities will ban local residents who own two or more homes from buying more property and non-local homeowners from making additional purchases, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency and the Guangzhou Daily yesterday. Other cities...
Home sales in the United States probably fell last month, while orders for long-lasting goods climbed, a reminder that housing lags behind manufacturing as the US recovery strengthens, economists said before reports this week. Combined purchases of new and existing homes fell 2 per cent to a 5.5-million annual pace, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Durable-goods...