A group of homeowners has finally won the fight to keep their condominiums, ending a two-year legal saga. In an unprecedented move, the Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of owners who objected to the S$500 million en bloc sale of Horizon Towers. The Leonie Road condominium was to have been sold in 2007 to Hotel Properties and its partners. Had the en bloc sale gone through, owners of its 199 units...
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is putting up a 0.12 hectare hotel site at Short Street for tender. This, after it received an application from a developer to bid for the land parcel, which is located within the Bras Basah-Bugis district. URA says the site can generate a maximum gross floor area of 4,077 square metres and is ideal for boutique hotel development. It adds that the bid received...
Singapore’s residential property market is likely to bottom only at some point of time in 2010, says a new report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The US investment bank noted that although local residential prices have already fallen 21% from the peak in mid-2008, they are likely to fall at least another 30% this year and a further 10% early next year before they stabilise. Indeed, Merrill...
Singapore's real estate market has been hit by the global economic slowdown. But financial institution Morgan Stanley believes it has found a prime opportunity in the form of dormitories for foreign workers. The bank's real estate arm manages a fund that holds a majority share in Avery Strategic Investments which owns and operates four dormitories here. They are the Kian Teck Dorm, Woodlands Dorm,...
Prices for private property and public housing fell steeply in the first three months of the year. In the Housing and Development Board (HDB) resale market, the first drop since 2006 was seen. HDB's flash estimate, based on its Resale Price Index, showed a decline of 0.6 per cent in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of last year, which had registered a 1.4 per cent increase. Still, some...
Office occupancies and rentals in Singapore fell sharply in the first quarter of 2009, according to latest figures from property consultancy DTZ. DTZ said the data showed that companies continued to consolidate space and put expansion plans on hold in the wake of the global financial crisis. According to DTZ, office rents slid 18 per cent on average island-wide. This was the steepest decline since the...
The recent credit crunch has hit real estate investment trusts (REITs), making it difficult for them to refinance loans. Japan-based Saizen REIT said it will have S$123 million worth of loans - which are in the form of commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) - to refinance by the end of the year. This is despite a strong showing of support from shareholders for a planned rights and warrants...
Private residential properties in Singapore saw a sharp fall in rentals and a slight price decline in the first quarter of 2009. Real estate consultancy firm DTZ in its report on Tuesday said monthly rentals of luxurious homes slid 18.8 per cent to S$5.20 per square foot, a level not seen since the third quarter of 2006. Rent of units in prime districts also saw a drop, down 16.2 per cent to S$3.65 per...
Frasers Hospitality, a unit of food and property conglomerate Fraser and Neave (FRNM.SI), has been in talks with private equity firms to form a real-estate fund but is not in hurry to start the business, a senior executive told Thomson Reuters in an interview today. “I think there will be many good deals, but we’re not in a hurry to jump in at the moment,” Choe Peng Sum, chief executive officer of...
Timeless Sophistication, Privileged Living. An Urban Masterpiece. An exciting architectural icon is set to illuminate the prime district 9 skyline. Inspired by the dawn of new age city living in exclusive boutique size units. Illuminaire is the essence of a metropolitan lifestyle, a Shangri-la for those conversant in the ways of the world. Designed with the aspiration to inspire Illuminaire's sensuous...