CapitaLand secures prime residential site in Hangzhou
Southeast Asia’s largest real estate company, CapitaLand, through its wholly-owned subsidiary CapitaLand China Holdings, has acquired a 32,040 sq m prime residential site in Hangzhou’s Gongshu District in China for RMB1,113.98 million (S$213.27 million), which translates to around...
Continue Reading • 17 Aug 2011
Ascendas event draws strong interest from industry leaders
Ascendas, Asia’s leading provider of business space solutions, drew strong interest from industry leaders during its first Ascendas Investors Day, held at the Raffles City Convention Centre on 16 August.Themed “Dynamic Asia: Calls for New Investment Paradigms”, the event was...
Continue Reading • 17 Aug 2011
Private home sales show dramatic rise
Sales of private homes in July 2011 rose nearly 40 percent month-on-month to 1,954 units, including executive condominium (EC) units, indicating signs of improvement from June’s subpar performance.Excluding EC units, sales of private homes rose to 1,386 units, up 17 percent from 1,182 units...
Continue Reading • 16 Aug 2011
DBSS income ceiling to remain fixed
The pool of potential home buyers for Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) and Build-To-Order (BTO) flats is now the same, as the government is keeping the monthly income ceiling for DBSS flats at S$10,000.National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said yesterday that buyers with a monthly...
Continue Reading • 16 Aug 2011
Oxley Holdings posts full-year net profit of S$14.6m
Singapore property developer Oxley Holdings has posted a S$14.6 million net profit in the financial year ended 30 June 2011, on the back of a S$70.9 million full-year revenue.The company said that during the financial year, it acquired a total of 11 land parcels, including two commercial plots...
Continue Reading • 16 Aug 2011
More Northern UK borrowers likely to be in debt
A survey on regional variation in UK borrowers’ equity position and mortgage arrears indicates that debts continue to vary between the north and south of the country.In the first quarter of 2011, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) analysed 1.5 million loans assisted by UK prime...
Continue Reading • 16 Aug 2011
Poll: Most S'poreans against landed home ownership by foreigners
Approximately 66 percent of Singaporeans polled by PropertyGuru said they are against foreigners buying landed homes in Singapore.According to Khalil Adis, a property expert and regular contributor to PropertyGuru, the “strong views against foreign ownership is not surprising as the...
Continue Reading • 16 Aug 2011
Alarming trends in global real estate market: LaSalle
LaSalle Investment Management (LaSalle) has issued a mid-year update to its Investment Strategy Annual (ISA) report, stating that real estate capital markets have forged ahead and disregarded the distinctions between the fundamentals across low- and high-growth nations.Considering the uncertainty...
Continue Reading • 16 Aug 2011
SOR-pegged home loans axed due to low profit margins
Singapore’s swap offer rate (SOR) — a rate signifying the synthetic cost of borrowing Singapore dollars, by borrowing US dollars at similar maturity and exchanging them for Singapore dollars — turned negative last week as funds seeking safety flooded the local market.This...
Continue Reading • 15 Aug 2011
United Engineers reports Q2 net profit of S$33.4m
United Engineers Ltd (UEL) posted a 39 percent increase in its net profit for Q2 to S$33.4 million, an improvement from S$24.1 million in the same period last year.The company’s revenue, however, fell 13 percent to S$160 million from S$184.9 million. This was attributed to the reduced...
Continue Reading • 15 Aug 2011
SC Global sees 88% rise in profit
SC Global Developments Limited, one of Singapore’s leading high-end property developers, has posted an 88 percent increase in its net profit in the second quarter to S$46.29 million from S$24.63 million in the same period last year.For the first half of 2011, its profits grew 305 percent to...
Continue Reading • 15 Aug 2011
Tiong Seng reports 38% rise in Q2 net profit
Tiong Seng Holdings Limited, one of the leading construction groups and property developers in Singapore, has posted a 38 percent increase in its net profit, mainly attributed to equity holders of S$9.2 million for Q2 ended 30 June 2011.Tiong Seng’s total revenue in Q2 climbed 19 percent to...
Continue Reading • 15 Aug 2011
Govt raises income ceiling for HDB flats
The government has announced that the Housing and Development Board (HDB) will be raising the income ceiling for HDB flats, from S$8,000 to S$10,000.This will be followed by a raise in the income ceiling for executive condominiums (ECs) from S$10,000 to S$12,000.In addition, it has promised to...
Continue Reading • 15 Aug 2011
Home prices to see change, says CDL's Kwek
Kwek Leng Beng, Executive Chairman of City Developments Limited (CDL), expects property price trends in Singapore to change soon.According to Kwek, in a span of six months, property developers will likely reduce launch prices of private housing projects not situated near MRT stations by...
Continue Reading • 15 Aug 2011
More Indians purchasing property abroad
A rising number of non-resident Indians (NRIs) in Singapore are investing in properties in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, London, and India.“The new wealth which they have acquired also enables them to invest beyond their shores,” said Joshua Kumar, Head of the India Desk...
Continue Reading • 15 Aug 2011
Hotels expect to be fully booked for F1 weekend
Several hotel operators are expecting a surge in hotel bookings as the 2011 Formula One Grand Prix is fast approaching.As corporate bookings began arriving earlier this year, some of the trackside hotels are expecting to operate a full house.“2011 sees a trend of early bookings and strong...
Continue Reading • 15 Aug 2011
FBI expects more US mortgage fraud cases
Investment and mortgage schemes aimed at delinquent US homeowners rose in 2010 and may rise even further if the economy continues to slide, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).The bureau stated in its annual report that pending investigations, the number of cases rose 12...
Continue Reading • 15 Aug 2011
Hong Kong cooling measures show mixed results
Implemented in June 2011, the Hong Kong government launched additional cooling measures to curb rising property prices.The most recent cooling measures enables buyers of units costing over HK$7 million but under HK$10 million to apply for a maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 60 percent, subject...
Continue Reading • 15 Aug 2011
Mortgage brokers in Singapore to stop offering SOR-pegged home loans
Several mortgage brokers in Singapore have received orders from two banks to stop providing home loans pegged to Swap Offer Rates (SORs), according to The Business Times.In addition, another bank has added a new clause into offer letters providing a floor rate for the SOR in its mortgages.All...
Continue Reading • 12 Aug 2011
UOL's Q2 net profit up 16% to S$202.2m
Singapore-based property developer UOL Group has recorded a net profit of S$202.2 million in the second quarter, up 16 percent from S$173.7 million in the previous year.The profit after tax and minority interests (Patmi), which includes S$96.5 million in fair value gains on investment properties,...
Continue Reading • 12 Aug 2011