A New party has emerged in the race for Jurong Point mall. The Business Times has learnt that Mercatus Co-operative - an NTUC social enterprise that owns and manages suburban malls - is now the front runner for Jurong Point. Its bid is understood to be about S$2.2 billion, which would translate to S$3,343 per square foot based on the 658,000 square feet of commercial net lettable area owned by an...
THE move to enhance the CPF Housing Grant for first-time buyers of resale HDB flats is expected to help sustain the recovery in resale transactions and stabilise resale prices. While most market watchers were not surprised that the government chose against tweaking any property cooling measure, such a boost in housing subsidy for resale flats did catch many off guard. Some consultants, including...
The latest property market data for Q4 2016 shows 13 straight quarters of decline. From the peak in Q3 2013, prices have fallen over 11 per cent (down 3 per cent in 2016 and 3.7 per cent for 2015). Some property industry insiders and analysts are now calling for the government to relax the cooling measures. But it is important not to look at these measures as purely "property cooling" but to view...
In what could be the first transaction in a Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area this year, a bungalow along Jalan Kampong Chantek off Dunearn Road is changing hands for S$27.59 million. This works out to about S$1,003 per square foot (psf) based on the freehold land area of 27,504 sq ft. Perched on an upward-sloping site is an old vacant house with around 11,000 sq ft built-up area spanning two storeys...
Singapore's Mapletree Investments has bought partner Oakwood Worldwide, the world's largest provider of corporate housing and serviced apartments. The acquisition of US-based Oakwood for an undisclosed sum is in line with Mapletree's strategy to expand outside of Asia. Mapletree first collaborated with Oakwood in 2014, when the two companies signed a $5 billion joint venture deal to open more than...
THOSE hoping for any lifting of property cooling measures may be in for a non-event if the projection of market experts rings true. This is because most industry watchers expect the government to let market forces play out before intervening. Also, tax consultants are not expecting major revisions to other property taxes, though some hope that the government will see it fit to re-introduce tax remission...
DEVELOPERS got off to a good start in housing sales this year, based on the latest government numbers, and industry players are sanguine this will set the tone for the rest of the year as well. Urban Redevelopment Authority data shows that developers moved 381 private homes (excluding executive condominiums or ECs) in January - up 3.8 per cent from December's 367 and 17.6 per cent higher than the 324 in...
A number of Singapore government agencies are working together to review land-use policies and planning guidelines to facilitate flexibility in land use, the Ministry of National Development (MND) has said. "The implementation details are being finalised, and we will share them when ready," it said. The brief comments came in response to queries from The Business Times following the call by the...
ingapore's residential property curbs are set to stay in place for at least another year amid signs the city's housing market is stabilising, the chief executive officer of South-east Asia's biggest developer said. "We see volume picking up and the price declines have slowed," Lim Ming Yan, the president and CEO of CapitaLand Ltd, said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Wednesday. "We see this trend...
RENTALS for non-landed private homes in Singapore rose in January 2017 over December 2016 amid an increase in leasing volume, while rents and leasing volume of Housing & Development Board (HDB) flats headed south over the same period. According to the latest flash estimates released by SRX Property on Wednesday morning, its rental index for private apartments and condos climbed 1.3 per cent...