Tepid response at Jones Lang auction
By Andrew Batt: A two-bedroom apartment at Euro-Asia Park in District 13 was the only property to be sold at yesterday’s monthly Jones Lang LaSalle property auction.The 1,001 sq ft freehold property with vacant possession attracted a total of 21 bids before being sold for S$1.1...
Continue Reading • 19 Jul 2012
Luxury London apartments to launch in Singapore
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: Leading UK developer Berkeley will launch its latest collection of luxury apartments at Westminster, London in Singapore starting tomorrow. Abell House (pictured), the first phase of the development, features 143 homes and will be showcased at the St Regis from 20 to 22...
Continue Reading • 19 Jul 2012
URA to launch tender for Farrer Road site
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: The public tender for a residential site at Farrer Road (pictured) may be launched in about two weeks, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).This comes after the URA accepted an application from a developer which committed a minimum bid of S$28.88 million...
Continue Reading • 19 Jul 2012
Are we Singa-poor?
By Romesh Navaratnarajah and Cheryl Tay: Why more Singaporeans are asset-rich but cash-strapped. A common gripe amongst many Singaporeans is that they have to spend their savings to pay off home loans and by the time they retire, they find themselves struggling financially as their savings have...
Continue Reading • 18 Jul 2012
Developers take on ABSD burden as foreigners push money elsewhere
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: Following the imposition of the additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) on foreign buyers in December 2011, property sales to non-Singaporean residents plummeted 75 percent, according to data by Knight Frank in an article by The New York Times. As a result, some...
Continue Reading • 18 Jul 2012
Parc Centros launch scheduled for next Saturday
By Romesh Navaratnarajah:Wee Hur Holdings is set to unveil its Parc Centros condo project (pictured) in Punggol Central on Saturday, 21 July.Considered the firm’s largest residential project to date, Parc Centros will also be the first condo in Punggol to offer five-bedroom units. ...
Continue Reading • 18 Jul 2012
Koh Brothers Concept Home draws the crowds
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: More than one hundred applicants (pictured) turned up at Koh Brothers office during a four-hour window period this past Saturday to submit their 100-word essay on Why we deserve the best experience in life, part of the developer’s commitment to collect feedback...
Continue Reading • 18 Jul 2012
PropertyGuru a content provider for SingTel's NewsLoop
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: Property news junkies now have a new way to access editorial content from PropertyGuru, Singapore’s leading property website with the launch of SingTel’s NewsLoop, a ground-breaking e-Reader app for iPad that offers the largest selection of Singapore news,...
Continue Reading • 18 Jul 2012
Why does billionaire Mark Zuckerberg need a loan?
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) recently refinanced his Palo Alto home near the company’s headquarters with a 30-year 1.05 percent adjustable mortgage rate.This has left many wondering why a billionaire such as himself, valued at around $15.6 billion...
Continue Reading • 18 Jul 2012
Analysts cautious on Singapore property stocks
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: Taking a cautious approach on property stocks, DBS Vickers said that it prefers stocks with diversified exposure like CapitaLand and those with strong niche activities such as CapitaMalls Asia (CMA) and GLP. “Though developers have adopted a quick asset turn...
Continue Reading • 18 Jul 2012
Sophia Mansions sold en bloc for S$43.3m to Roxy-Pacific
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: Roxy-Pacific Holdings Limited will acquire the 19-unit Sophia Mansions (pictured) at Mount Sophia for S$43.3 million.With a land area of 17,545 sq ft, the price for the 20-year-old freehold site works out to S$1,175 psf ppr based on a gross plot ratio of 2.1, said...
Continue Reading • 18 Jul 2012
Haus@Serangoon Garden seeing strong demand from buyers
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: The newly-launched Haus@Serangoon Garden (pictured) has seen strong interest from buyers during its weekend preview, with 70 percent or 28 of the 40 units released in Phase One already sold. A joint venture (JV) between City Developments Limited (CDL) and Hong Realty,...
Continue Reading • 18 Jul 2012
Former Miss Thailand named brand ambassador for Tulip Group
By Andrew Batt:A former Miss Thailand has become Brand Ambassador for leading Pattaya property development company Tulip Group.Khun Pannada Wongphudee (nicknamed Boom), who was crowned Miss Thailand in 2002, has assumed her role with immediate effect and will be fronting a new marketing campaign...
Continue Reading • 17 Jul 2012
Opportunities abound in Philippines residential market
By Romesh Navaratnarajah:The residential market in Manila, capital of the Philippines is expected to grow in the coming months, according to Sigrid Zialcita (pictured), Managing Director for Research, Asia Pacific at Cushman & Wakefield. Speaking at the recent inaugural Philippines Property...
Continue Reading • 17 Jul 2012
48% surge in Q2 real estate investment activity
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: Real estate investment activity in Singapore surged 48 percent to S$6.9 billion in Q2 2012, according to DTZ Research. However, for the first-half of 2012, investment deals fell 32 percent year-on-year to S$11.6 billion from S$17.1 billion. Government land sales also...
Continue Reading • 17 Jul 2012
Private home prices poised to rise despite lacklustre sales
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: Conditions in the private property market are still ripe for moderate price growth despite slower sales in the last few months which hit an all-time low for the year in June.According to latest figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), 1,371 private...
Continue Reading • 17 Jul 2012
HSBC ramps up UK mortgage funding
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: HSBC has approved over £10.6 billion (S$20.83 billion) worth of UK mortgages in 1H2012, up 16 percent over the same period last year and includes over £2.7 billion (S$5.3 billion) worth of loans for first-time purchases.This is in line with the bank’s...
Continue Reading • 17 Jul 2012
More collective sales hit the market
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: Chancery Garden (pictured), a prime freehold mixed landed development at District 11 has been put up for collective sale by tender. Located near Orchard Road, Chancery Garden offers a site area of 29,468 sq ft and could house six strata semi-detached plus 10 strata...
Continue Reading • 17 Jul 2012
Two sites in Upper Serangoon for sale by tender
By Romesh Navaratnarajah: Colliers International has launched the tender for two adjoining freehold residential sites at 790 Upper Serangoon Road (pictured) and 1 Surin Avenue at an indicative price of S$40 million. “Including a development charge of S$6.1 million, the price works out to be...
Continue Reading • 17 Jul 2012
Phuket property sales on the rise
By Andrew Batt:Property sales in apartments, condominiums and villas in Phuket continued to improve generally during Q1 2012 according to new research from CBRE Thailand, although the new wave of Asian travellers have yet to become significant property buyers on the island.David Simister,...
Continue Reading • 16 Jul 2012