Real estate firm Royal Group has raised its first sharia-compliant financing from RHB Bank Singapore for a S$300 million (US$220.8 million) property, helping widen the range of Islamic finance deals in Southeast Asia's main financial hub. Singapore has been promoting Islamic finance over the past decade, with the city-state issuing its first Islamic bond in 2009, aiming to attract religiously-minded...

While at least one collective sale bid will be launched as planned this week, others have hit the pause button or are drawing up new plans amid uncertain prospects following the surprise of fresh property cooling measures. An extension in tender closing dates is one way that some marketing agents hope will keep their en bloc sale bids alive. They also told Channel NewsAsia that homeowners’ price...

The amount of stamp duty collected by the Government rose by 45.9 per cent in 2017, with most of the receipts from property transactions, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat revealed on Tuesday (Jul 10). This is up from the 14.2 per cent increase in stamp duty collected in 2016 and the 6.2 per cent decrease recorded in 2015. In a written response to a Parliamentary question by MP Gan Thiam Poh, Mr Heng...

The Government imposed cooling measures on its property market last week, in a bid to contain what the central bank described as “euphoria” in the sector. Here are three charts showing some of the factors behind the government’s concerns: 1. PRICES Residential property prices have rebounded since the middle of last year, after Singapore reduced a stamp duty on sellers and eased mortgage...

There is no rationale for the new housing curbs given that the Singapore property market "is in the early stages of a recovery and the recovery is in line with economic fundamentals", said the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS) on Friday (Jul 6). The statement from the industry body came a day after the Government announced new property cooling measures. Among the curbs are a 5...

The new property cooling measures announced on Thursday (Jul 5) were not entirely unexpected given the recent euphoria in the housing market, but the speed and timing at which the measures were introduced as well as the extent of the curbs were “heavy-handed”, some analysts told Channel NewsAsia. Among the curbs are a 5 percentage point hike in Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates for citizens...

Crowds of potential buyers flooded showflats across Singapore shortly after new cooling measures were announced on Thursday (Jul 5), in the hope of avoiding a hike in stamp duty or tighter loan limits. Several showflats extended their opening hours until 11.59pm on Thursday, with some developers even bringing forward their launches by a couple of weeks. The Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates...

The Government announced on Thursday (Jul 5) that it is raising Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates and tightening loan-to-value (LTV) limits on residential property purchases, in an effort to "cool the property market and keep price increases in line with economic fundamentals". The move comes several days after official data showed that private home prices had risen to its highest point in four...

Interest in commercial and industrial property could shoot up as investors look for alternative opportunities following the latest tough new cooling measures for residential real estate, say experts. Retail investors who can afford a higher capital outlay could turn to strata-titled offices and conserved shophouses that are zoned commercial, said Cushman & Wakefield's senior director of research...

Shares of several developers and real estate service groups fell on Friday (July 6), a day after tough property cooling measures were introduced by the authorities. The share price of Oxley Holdings dropped almost 16 per cent to 34 cents, while City Developments’ (CDL) shares closed at S$9.46, down 15.6 per cent. Wing Tai Holdings’ share price fell 6.9 per cent to S$1.89. Propnex and APAC realty...