Office occupancy in Singapore is down in the last quarter of 2008 due to deteriorating global financial situation. According to real estate adviser DTZ Research, office occupancy islandwide dropped by two percentage points to 95.6 per cent, compared to the same period last year. This is because of weaker demand as companies shelved expansion plans or relocated to more cost-effective premises. DTZ said...

PUBLIC housing resale prices have stubbornly continued to climb even as private home prices are accelerating downhill and pundits are betting on flat prices still holding firm this year if not seeing a modest single-digit growth, then staying level for the most part. Flash estimates from the Housing and Development Board (HDB) showed that its resale price index grew by 1.5 per cent in the fourth quarter,...

THE comparison rings with foreboding the last time private home prices took a bigger dive than this, it was exactly a decade ago, in the midst of the Asian financial crisis. In the last three months of 2008, the private resident property price index dropped 5.7 per cent, more than double the rate of decrease a quarter ago, according to flash estimates. The final tally due for unveiling in four weeks’...

Prices of private, non-landed residential properties in Singapore fell 5.7 per cent in the last quarter of 2008. The quarter-on-quarter drop in private home prices is more than double the 2.4 per cent decrease in the July-September quarter. Experts said the steep fall is fuelled by deteriorating sentiment. Market players are also matching prices to falling valuations. Nicholas Mak, consultancy and...

AN UGLY spat that has already resulted in a police report lodged against a homeowner is brewing between listed property giant Wing Tai and some foreign investors of its three-year-old luxury condo near Orchard Road. The development, which briefly set a record price of more than $2,000 per square foot when it was launched, has more than 130 units in all. At least 15 unit owners most of them foreigners who...

Location: Alexandra Road (District 3) Tenure: Freehold Year of Completion: 2012 Total Units: 293 Unit Types: 1 bedroom - 114 units (366 to 527 sqft) 1 + study - 43 units (474 to 764 sqft) 2 bedroom - 61 units (527 to 1,033 sqft) 2 + study - 17 units (657 to 1,055 sqft) Penthouse Types: 1 + study - 23 units (764 to 1,076 sqft) 2 bedroom - 9 units (657 to 969 sqft) 2 + study - 10 units (883 to 1,195...

Singapore-listed Macquarie Prime Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) has been renamed the Starhill Global REIT. This came after Starhill Global REIT Investments bought a 26 per cent stake in the REIT, as well as a 50 per cent stake in Macquarie Prime REIT's manager, Macquarie Pacific Star Prime REIT Management. Starhill Global is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia-based conglomerate YTL...

While the focus has been shifted to 2-room flats, the 4-room is still most popular AS the Housing Board launched its last Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise for the year, offering 1,181 units in Punggol and Choa Chu Kang, applications for its Dew Spring @ Yishun, which draw to a close today, reflect an interesting trend. While just 864 flats are up for grabs at Dew Spring, 2,091 applications had been received...

Singapore's commercial and residential property sectors will remain attractive to investors in the medium to long term. Property watchers told Channel NewsAsia that is because of Singapore's status as an international financial hub. 2009 looks set to be a difficult year by all accounts, but market watchers said property investment fundamentals here remain strong. As global financial institutions cut...

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) launched two new housing projects in Choa Chu Kang and Punggol on Tuesday in its last sales exercise of the year. It will offer a total of 1,181 flats, from studio apartments to 5-room units, under the Build-To-Order (BTO) system - where flats will be built only after most of the units in a specific site have been booked. This brings the total number of flats...