S'poreans love affair with London to continue
London property will continue to remain an attractive proposition for Singaporean buyers and investors during 2012, according to UK-based agents and developers.The number of local buyers in the market has been increasing throughout 2011, although in recent months the actual percentage of overseas...
Continue Reading • 22 Dec 2011
Fewer Aussie buyers defaulting
Fewer Australians are defaulting on their mortgage obligations, despite the bleak global economic outlook.The number of homeowners that failed to pay their loan instalments on time dropped across the country for September, down by nearly a quarter since March, according to the latest Fitch...
Continue Reading • 22 Dec 2011
3 residential sites launched, expected to yield 1,325 homes
BREAKING NEWS: The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will release three residential sites this month.Two of the sites, located at Bedok South Avenue 3 and Jervois Road are under the Confirmed List and will be put up for sale through public tender.The last site at Boon Lay Way will be made...
Continue Reading • 22 Dec 2011
Office leasing market subdued: Savills
The office leasing market in Singapore has been subdued in the last couple of months as a result of softening demand and cautious market sentiment, according to the latest Savills office market report.“Negative fallout arising from the prolonged financial turbulence and global economic...
Continue Reading • 21 Dec 2011
Archipelago hit by sales slowdown
Archipelago, a 577-unit residential development at Bedok Reservoir, which was launched last week, is underperforming due to the latest property cooling measures, according to Singapore Business Review.In a report, OCBC revealed that the project’s foreign and PR (permanent resident) markets,...
Continue Reading • 21 Dec 2011
Wee Hur wins tender for Punggol condo site
Property firm Wee Hur Development Pte Ltd has secured the tender for a land parcel along Punggol Central/Punggol Place for S$206.20 million.The HDB launched the residential site for tender on 27 October 2011, with a total of 13 bids received. It has a total area of 18,019.4 sq m and a maximum...
Continue Reading • 21 Dec 2011
S'poreans less confident about economy
Singaporeans are gradually becoming more concerned about the condition of the economy and will probably tighten their belts further in the coming year, according to the latest Aviva Consumer Attitudes to Savings (CAS) study.The study, which polled around 1,000 Singaporeans, revealed that 32...
Continue Reading • 21 Dec 2011
Asian developers get big share of Aussie market
Overseas developers such as Fraser & Neave Ltd and Far East Consortium International Ltd have been developing the most number of residential projects in Australia over the last two decades, as they seek geographic diversity and stable demand for properties, according to CBRE.Currently owning...
Continue Reading • 21 Dec 2011
US mortgage debt sees sharp rise
Mortgage debt in the US rose sharply in November and default rates climbed to 2.17 percent, according to the latest Standard & Poor's/Experian indices.The index showed that the mortgage default rate stood at 2.08 percent in October compared with 3.06 percent a year ago. Second mortgage...
Continue Reading • 21 Dec 2011
Lower premiums for Home Protection Scheme next year
Starting 1 January 2012, HDB flat owners under the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board's Home Protection Scheme (HPS) will enjoy 12 percent savings on their premiums.Minister of State for Manpower and National Development, Tan Chuan-Jin, said on his Facebook page that the move will benefit 80...
Continue Reading • 21 Dec 2011
China property market cooling
China’s property market is still witnessing a slowdown, as home prices dropped for the third straight month, while the average value of residential properties across 100 cities declined to CNY8,832 (S$1,807.30) per sq m last month. In the 10 first-tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing,...
Continue Reading • 21 Dec 2011
Prime rental prices show signs of slowdown
Prime property rental prices in Singapore rose 4.8 percent during the 12 months ending September 2011 – a significantly slower rise than the 17.8 percent recorded during the previous 12 month period.The Knight Frank Prime Global Rental Index report, which looks at the top five percent of...
Continue Reading • 21 Dec 2011
Tiong Seng secures S$151m residential contract
Construction firm Tiong Seng Holdings Limited announced that its unit, Tiong Seng Contractors (Pte) Ltd, has inked a S$151 million deal for The Luxurie, a prime residential project.Under the contract, the firm will develop the 17,700 sq m site with a permissible gross floor area (GFA) of 53,100...
Continue Reading • 20 Dec 2011
Australian mortgage stress declines
Mortgage stress across Australia slid for six months to 30 September, as borrowers adapted to a period of stable interest rates. For the first time since November 2010, the Reserve Bank of Australia reduced interest rates in November and December. Within the period, mortgage delinquencies dropped...
Continue Reading • 20 Dec 2011
S'pore housing market to decline next year
The threat of a global economic double-dip and additional property cooling measures in Singapore may result in a decline of buying interest in the next six months, according to latest residential market report by Savills.This year, Savills expects new home sales (excluding executive condominiums)...
Continue Reading • 20 Dec 2011
New measures to affect M'sian banks
The latest round of property cooling measures will likely affect Malaysia’s loans growth, especially banks with exposure to Singapore's retail market, according to The Borneo Post.Although the new rule will not significantly affect total loans of local banks, players like Malayan Banking...
Continue Reading • 20 Dec 2011
UK home sellers cut asking prices
Home sellers in the UK cut their asking prices last month amid a “challenging” property market for next year, according to Rightmove plc.According to the company, average asking prices in England and Wales have decreased by 2.7 percent from November to £225,766 (S$457,400). UK...
Continue Reading • 20 Dec 2011
HK luxury rents may drop 10%
Rents of luxury homes in Hong Kong could drop 10 percent next year, as hedge funds and banks scale back due to the threat of a looming global recession, according to Colliers International and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).“We're definitely at that tipping point,” said Anne-Marie Sage,...
Continue Reading • 20 Dec 2011
Unit at The Marq sets S$6,850 psf record
The recent cooling measures which require foreigners buying private property in Singapore to fork out an additional 10 percent stamp duty, is expected to curb skyrocketing property prices. And if recent transacted prices at certain luxury developments are anything to go by, the new measures could...
Continue Reading • 20 Dec 2011
Phuket's priciest property goes on sale
For a mere S$23.3 million (THB558 million), you can buy Villa Verai – currently the most expensive property on the market on the Thai island of Phuket. The largest villa in the luxury Cape Yamu development on Phuket’s east coast is set in more than 16,000 sq m of land, and was...
Continue Reading • 20 Dec 2011