More than 10,000 flats were launched for sale on Tuesday (Nov 22) in the Housing & Development Board’s (HDB) largest sales exercise this year. A total of 10,118 flats were offered, comprising 5,110 Build-To-Order (BTO) units and 5,008 units under the Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercise, the HDB said. Nine new BTO projects were launched - three in Punggol and another six in Bedok, Bidadari (Toa...

CAPITALAND will open eight malls in Asia in 2017 with almost one million square metres of gross floor area, the property developer announced on Thursday. Through wholly-owned CapitaLand Mall Asia, CapitaLand will open six malls in China, one in Malaysia and one in India. The first mall will open in the second quarter of 2017, and the last one in the fourth quarter. "As at Sept 30, 2016, 76 per cent...

THE revival in developers' private homes sales last month - sparked by new launches Forest Woods and The Alps Residences and supported by sales from earlier launches - is expected to continue this month. Two new major condo developments have hit the market this month so far - Queens Peak near Queenstown MRT station and Parc Riviera in the West Coast. Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) data released...

DEVELOPERS' housing sales rose last month over the preceding month as well as on a year-on-year basis, show latest government numbers. In the private housing segment, excluding executive condos or ECs, developers sold 1,252 units in October 2016, up from the 509 units they moved in the preceding month and 549 units they sold in October last year. Including ECs, which are a public-private housing...

THE Singapore real estate market has been volatile. Amid the cyclical nature of the market, we looked at data from 2000 to find the best years to buy an office building in Singapore and hold for five years. We found that these periods have generally coincided with periods of high vacancy rates. In 2001 to 2004 prime office rents fell 42 per cent, before rising 270 per cent in 2005 to 2007, then...

Towering at 122 metres with 30 storeys, Cairnhill Nine will be one of the tallest buildings in the Orchard Road district. It is part of an integrated development that also comprises luxurious serviced residence Ascott Orchard Singapore. It is located a few minutes’ walk from Orchard as well as Somerset MRT stations, world-class shopping malls and premium medical facilities. ​ Residents of Cairnhill...

REAL estate developer Wheelock Properties posted a net profit of S$28.3 million for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2016, up one and a half times from S$11.3 million a year ago. Revenue was up 82 per cent to S$152.6 million. Higher revenue was due to sales in Ardmore Three and The Panorama. This was partially offset by lower unit sales in Scotts Square and lower dividend and interest income from the...

THE Straits Trading Company swung back into the black with a third-quarter net profit of S$16.8 million, compared with a loss of S$7 million in the previous year, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Friday. Revenue for the three months ended Sept 30, 2016, fell 18 per cent to S$113.4 million from the preceding year. Earnings per share were 4.1 Singapore cents, a reversal from a loss per...

MALAYSIAN plantation and real-estate tycoon Lee Shin Cheng has surprised the market with a bullish top bid of nearly S$2.57 billion or S$1,689 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) for a white site in Central Boulevard. The bid from IOI Properties Group is the highest in absolute dollar quantum as well as by psf ppr for a Government Land Sale (GLS) site in Singapore. The tender drew seven bids. IOI's...

ARA Asset Management Ltd group founder and chief executive officer John Lim is leading a consortium that includes Cheung Kong Property and Straits Trading Company to take the group private at S$1.78 a share. Teaming up with them in the buyout through a scheme of arrangement are US private equity firm Warburg Pincus and AVIC Trust Co, a unit of the Shanghai-listed AVIC Capital Co. The consortium said...