Singapore's Frasers Hospitality, which manages serviced apartments, has launched its latest property in Shanghai. Despite the current global financial uncertainty, it remains bullish about its prospects. Frasers Suites Top Glory in Shanghai was opened by former US secretary of state, Henry Kissinger. The five-tower serviced apartments are located in the bustling Lujiazui central business district in...

CDL Hospitality Trusts posted a 41.8 per cent increase in income available for distribution to 8.82 Singapore cents per unit for the first nine months of 2008, compared to the same period in 2007. At the same time, revenue grew 38 per cent to S$86.5 million. Its net property income of S$27.3 million for the third quarter was up 20.7 per cent from S$22.6 million a year ago, while gross revenue grew 21.3...

An industrial facility in Changi Business Park Vista was sold for S$63 million to Hamburg-based property management company Union Investment Real Estate, on a sale and leaseback term. The 198,000 square foot Applied Materials Building is Union's second investment in Singapore, following the purchase of two office buildings in 2007. Source : Channel NewsAsia - 29 Oct...

YTL CORP, Malaysia's biggest builder, will spend $285 million for control of Macquarie Prime Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit), owner of stakes in two Singapore malls - Wisma Atria and Ngee Ann City. YTL, which is based in Kuala Lumpur, will buy 26 per cent of Macquarie Prime at 82 cents each from Macquarie Bank, it said yesterday in a statement. The company will also acquire 50 per cent of Prime Reit...

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has said it is in talks with Marina Bay Sands to facilitate the success of the integrated resort project. The comment came in response to enquiries from Channel NewsAsia. Marina Bay Sands is being developed by US gaming operator Las Vegas Sands. Just last week, Las Vegas Sands announced that it had hired an investment bank to raise more capital. The gaming operator has...

Malaysia's infrastructure developer YTL Corp is buying a 26 per cent stake in Singapore's Macquarie Prime REIT (MP REIT). It will also buy a 50 per cent stake in Prime REIT Management Holdings from Macquarie Bank. Prime REIT Management is the manager of Macquarie Prime REIT. The deals are worth a total of S$285 million. Under the agreement, YTL will buy over 247 million units of MP REIT at 82 cents...

Few tourists visiting Singapore will give Orchard Road a miss. The island's main shopping and entertainment strip has been going through a multi-million-dollar makeover. In order to pit the central shopping belt against bigger names like London's Oxford Street, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) gave the district a US$26.7 million makeover in April 2008. From building rest areas known as Green Rooms to...

THE leasing market has become the latest casualty of Singapore’s weakening property market, with both residential and office rents posting their first declines since 2004 in the third quarter of this year. According to Urban Redevelopment Authority figures released yesterday, rentals of private residential properties fell 0.9 per cent in the third quarter, compared to a 2.5 per cent rise in the second...

CAPITALAND, Singapore's largest real-estate developer by assets, will hold back on investments until the global credit crisis shows signs of bottoming, said chief executive officer Liew Mun Leong. CapitaLand is evaluating opportunities to invest about $4 billion of cash and will wait for signs that the rout in financial markets is nearing an end, Mr Liew said. The developer has invested about half of the...

THE Housing and Development Board's (HDB) lease buyback scheme appears to be the best option for the elderly who wish to "unlock" the value of their homes. The lease buyback scheme, which the HDB will implement next year, provides the highest monthly payouts compared with other plans that enable the elderly to monetise their flats for retirement income. Under the lease buyback model, HDB will buy back...