HK’s mortgage loans drop to 40 percent
Mortgage loans in Hong Kong dropped for three straight months in October, as lending transaction in banks become tighter due to economic slowdown and a freeze of global credit.Figures from Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) showed Hong Kong banks approved about S$2.7 billion (HK$13.7 billion) of...
Continue Reading • 27 Oct 2009
CDL wins ownership over Newton land
A 14-year-old abolished legal concept finds its way back to influence court rulings regarding a multi-million dollar land dispute in Newton.Just before 1994, a legal concept known as “adverse possession”, a party who used the land for 12 years without asking permission from the owner...
Continue Reading • 27 Oct 2009
CapitaLand gives rental rebates to tenants
CapitaLand said it would give back rental rates worth S$41.5 million to existing industrial, commercial and retail tenants, giving an effective 4 percent rental reduction to all its tenants.The property developer received budget savings from government last week and this will be passed on to...
Continue Reading • 27 Oct 2009
Property rebound increases trading of Singapore shares
Singapore shares are expected to trade higher in the coming weeks as home prices surge due to renewed interest in the property sector, said dealers.The blue-chip Straits Times Index saw a 0.27 percent rise, closing at 2,715.34, up by 7.22 points from the previous week. Last week, the median...
Continue Reading • 26 Oct 2009
Korean family cheated by their agent
Earlier this month, 46-year-old Kim Ae Ran made a painful decision by ceasing her daughter's education in Singapore and go back home to Korea, despite the fact that her spouse’s construction business there isn’t going well.Mrs. Kim had decided to leave her 17-year-old son here and...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
Commercial rents affected by economic slowdown
After steady increases for over four years, prices and rents of industrial spaces were now affected by the economic slowdown, dropping by 6.5 percent and 3.7 percent in Q3 and Q4 of 2008, respectively.The office space sector also weakened steadily, with prices and rents plunging 4.9 percent and...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
UIC gains, SingLand shares jump
United Industrial Corp (UIC) shares jumped to as high as 15 percent, after the UOL Group announced to take over shares at $1.20 per share, positioning itself near UIC’s controllership.UIC’s stocks went soaring, when investors started to purchase stocks amid analysis that a counter-bid...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
High Court ruled ERA agents guilty
The High Court laid down its decision on two ERA agents, who are found guilty of using the Agency’s name to trick a couple.Mister Yuen Chow Hin and Wong Wai Fan are about to receive $257,000 from the agents, who had transacted business in an unethical manner. Justice Choo Han Teck...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
JTC’s take-up for industrial space fall 33 percent
Net take-ups for industrial spaces of JTC Corporation had fallen again during the fourth quarter of 2008, as the economic downturn gave too much pressure on businesses.The 2008 JTC facilities report released yesterday showed the agency had rented out or leased around 20,000 square metres of...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
Property agents’ substandard service is top complaint
The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) says that the top complaint of consumers against property agents is their poor service. Based on the latest figures released to The Straits Times, four out of ten complaints recorded in the last three years were due to the failure of agents to carry...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
KepLand’s Revenue and Net Profit Climb in Q3
According to Keppel Land, its Q3 net profit increased by 70 percent from $46.2 million in 2008 to $78.5 million, as it recorded more revenue from its projects.Its revenue rose to $227.8 million, up by 23 percent from $185.8 million in the third quarter of 2008. Such growth in profits was mainly...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
URA Included Jurong East “white” Site in its Reserve List
A reserve list site in an appealing location was made available for application by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), in spite of the unseasonable timing. The newest offering of URA is a 1.9 hectare white site beside Jurong East MRT Station. About 30% of the 1.15 million square foot maximum...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
Terminated Sale of Millennium Seoul Hilton
On 28 November 2008, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C), the London-listed hotel subsidiary of City Developments, declared that the contract for the clearance of Millennium Seoul Hilton to Kangho AMC Corporation was cancelled because the latter was not able to polish its financing...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
SingLand Defies Industry Trend
The third quarter bottom lines of Singapore Land and United Industrial Corporation (UIC), Singapore Land’s parent company, showed a marked improvement compared to the previous year’s Q3 bottom line. The Q3 net earnings of SingLand valued at $39.8 million dollars, a 32 percent...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
John Lim Calls for Debt Refinancing
John Lim, who serves as CEO to the ARA Asset Management Group, presented several proposals for the benefit of Singapore real estate investment trusts (S-REITs) in the wake of the financial crisis. According to Lim, refusing to relax bank lending to S-REITs would result in severe consequences for...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
Going Green Won’t Go
The economic downturn means that some organisations will hold off green development. The reason, a building consultant said, lay in the fact that green development had not shown any short-term benefits. The fact that going green had long-term benefits, such as cost efficiency that should attract...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
Asia anticipates recovery in 2010
The global economy has suffered tremendously since the start of the 2008 economic downturn. With the aggravating effects of the 2009 recession in Asia, everything seems gloomy for all businesses and international transactions.Worldwide forecast for 2010 brings optimism that it will be a time for...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
Bigger Deficits Welcome the New Year
The Government of Singapore now faces the biggest financial deficit it ever has since its independence from Malaysia in 1965. The value of the current debt is also remarkable when compared to Singapore’s second biggest deficit in 2001. The amount of the debt in question currently reaches...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
KepLand’s Forecast Sets Gloomy Fate
As real estate companies cry for help for rehabilitative funding, slowdown in the operations has been felt since the start of the global recession. The construction sector has posted minimal improvements and many priority projects have been put on hold status.Keppel Land, the third largest...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009
CapitaLand’s Say on Fund Raising Issue
The largest property developer in Southeast Asia and the parent company of The Ascott Group Limited, which can be found in Singapore, is still keeping quiet about what it holds for the fund raising issue as regards to rights.During the filing to the stock exchange, the company in question,...
Continue Reading • 22 Oct 2009