There was "strong interest" in North Park Residences during its soft launch on Sunday (Apr 5), with 313 of 430 units sold, developer Frasers Centrepoint (FC) announced in a media release on Monday. North Park Residences will be part of the Northpoint City integrated development, which will comprise the Yishun Integrated Transport Hub, Nee Soon Central Community Club, a Town Plaza, a Community Garden...

The number of private home owners illegally turning their properties into workers’ dormitories or renting them out for short-term stays have increased over the past three years. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said this as it confirmed that the Geylang apartment that caught fire last Friday (Apr 3) was illegally used as a workers' dormitory. Two Bangladeshi workers died in the blaze, and three...

The Republic has dropped to 11th position in a cost comparison report of hotel room service items and a one night stay in a four-star hotel, according to the third annual TripIndex Room Service Report. It was in 9th position last year. The annual report takes into account the cost of a club sandwich ordered through room service, the dry cleaning of one shirt as well as refreshments from the mini bar,...

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) says it has received more than 2,000 enquiries on the improved Lease Buyback Scheme as of mid-March this year as enhancements to the scheme kicked in on Wednesday (Apr 1). Under the scheme, flat owners are allowed to sell part of their lease back to the Government to generate retirement income. The scheme, first announced last September, includes four key...

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has been relatively quiet this year, but the monotony may soon be broken: Real estate management firm LHN Group will launch an initial public offering on Apr 13 making it the first listing locally, this quarter. The company lodged its prospectus on Wednesday (Apr 1). LHN Group is in the business of making space more spacious. It secures master leases of properties, and...

As a sign of the sluggish property market in Singapore and competition from properties across the Causeway, sales of Far East Organization’s Alana@Sunrise Terrace have been lacklustre. This was despite the developer dangling the carrot of full reimbursements of the Additional Buyer Stamp and Buyer Stamp duties since the fourth quarter of last year. The cluster housing project in Yio Chu Kang was...

A 40-year-old housing agent was arrested for suspected involvement in unlicensed money lending targeting Housing and Devlopement Board (HDB) flat sellers, said the police in a news release on Wednesday (Apr 1). Police said officers from the Tanglin Police Division acted after receiving information, and and conducted investigations against a housing agent who was allegedly involved in unlicensed money...

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has revised its Property Price Index (PPI) to better capture price trends in Singapore's private housing market. The revised index was first adopted for the year's first quarter flash estimates, which were also released on Wednesday (Apr 1). Using the revised methodology for the PPI, the overall private residential property index fell by 1.1 per cent - the sixth...

Flash estimates of the Resale Price Index for the first quarter of 2015 showed a 1 per cent decline in the prices of Housing and Development Board flats over the previous quarter, HDB announced on Wednesday (Apr 1). The flash estimate for the index is 135.6, HDB said, down from 137.0 in the previous quarter. It added that the RPI for the full quarter will be released on Apr 24, along with more detailed...

A land parcel at Paya Lebar Road/Sims Avenue for commercial development has attracted six bids at the close of its tender on Tuesday (Mar 31). The top bid of S$1.67 billion was submitted jointly by Roma Central Pte Ltd, Milano Central Pte Ltd and Verona Central Pte Ltd. This works out to S$10,145.65 per square metre of the gross floor area (GFA). Meanwhile, the lowest bid of S$889.18 million was placed...