Housing-obsessed Britons have something new to fixate on: property prices may have increased more than previously thought. A new official house-price index, designed by the Office for National Statistics, shows values rose an annual average of 6.1 per cent between 2003 and 2011. That's substantially more than the Land Registry's estimate of 4.6 per cent. The updated methodology seeks to clarify the...
FACED with a challenging retail environment, the Al-Futtaim group will continue to close stores in Singapore, but expand its footprint elsewhere in promising Asian markets. The group, which owns Robinsons, will shutter at least ten stores this year as it restructures its bleeding Singapore operations. This comes after it announced a number of closures last year, including its Marks & Spencer (M&S)...
OUE Commercial Reit on Wednesday unveiled a distribution reinvestment plan (DRP), through which unitholders of OUE C-Reit may choose to receive distributions in the form of fully-paid new units, instead of cash. This will enable unitholders to increase their unitholdings without incurring brokerage fees, stamp duties or other related costs, said the Reit. The new plan will also enlarge OUE C-Reit's...
Business associates for more than 22 years, the landlord of Ngee Ann City and its anchor tenant, department store Takashimaya, are tussling in a dispute over rent. In a High Court hearing that started yesterday, Ngee Ann Development and Takashimaya are seeking to resolve a deadlock as they cannot agree on the interpretation of a 2014 agreement on how rental rate is to be valued. The two parties...
Wallich Residence – the residential component of the Tanjong Pagar Centre – a landmark integrated development that sits right above Tanjong Pagar MRT at Peck Seah Street/Choon Guan Street. Wallich Residence units will start at 180m above sea level, peaking at 290m, the highest residences in Singapore when completed. The 181 units of very exclusive and prestigious sky homes will offer...
THE concept of co-working space is gaining traction with office landlords here, with CapitaLand being the latest to introduce this in its headquarters building. CapitaLand is partnering co-working space operator Collective Works under a 50-50 joint venture to turn the entire 12th floor at Capital Tower into co-working space. Spanning some 22,000 square feet, this can potentially house up to 250...
Starting next month, consumers applying for a new credit facility with a bank or financial institution will be told they can get a free copy of their credit report, regardless of the outcome of the application. The move is to make it easier for individuals to review their credit standing, said Credit Bureau Singapore (CBS) in a press release issued on Monday (Mar 21). Consumers can currently request...
Observers have said there are still some outstanding issues with the Fresh Start Housing Scheme that they hope can be addressed in the upcoming Budget, which is set to be delivered at 3.30pm on Thursday (Mar 24). The scheme aims to help public rental tenants, especially those who previously owned flats and have young children, to own their own flat. The Housing and Development Board and National...
Sales of private homes last month fell 6.8 per cent from the previous month despite more new launches during the Chinese New Year holiday period. Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), developers sold 301 new units in February, down from the 323 units sold the previous month, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed on Tuesday (Mar 15). Including ECs, 430 new units were sold last month, down...
Marriott International is close to winning a bidding war for Starwood Hotels & Resorts that would create the global hotel leader, trumping an offer from China's Anbang. Marriott improved its November cash-and-stock offer for Starwood by more than US$1 billion, to US$13.6 billion, in an amended deal approved by their respective boards of directors, the companies announced in a joint statement on Monday...