M&C puts Tanglin Shopping Centre up for collective sale
The collective sale fever in the residential property market has now spread to the commercial property market, as owners of such properties jump onto the trend too.Millennium and Copthorne (M&C) Hotels, the hotel arm of City Development, has announced that its unit has signed a collective...
Continue Reading • 17 Jun 2010
Offices in city fringe to suffer from lower rental growth
Rental growth for transitional offices situated in the city-fringe area are expected to slow down in the coming months. But such offices can maintain their yields, if they are located around Mohammed Sultan and Scotts Road.Office rentals in the Central Business District (CBD) have dropped 60...
Continue Reading • 17 Jun 2010
China may avoid US-style home crisis
The “experimental” approach by China to control asset bubbles may help the country avoid a US-like housing market crisis, said Jeremy Grantham, who predicted that US stocks would lose money in the past decade.Lawmakers in China have raised mortgage rates and down payment requirements,...
Continue Reading • 16 Jun 2010
China to invest billions of euros in Greece
China will invest billions of euros in different industries in Greece, ranging from olive oil to the shipping industry, as the European nation struggles to cut its massive financial debt.Around 14 investment agreements were signed by companies from the two nations during a visit of Mr. Zhang...
Continue Reading • 16 Jun 2010
CleanTech Park: a clean technology icon
JTC is changing its approach to master planning and urban development with CleanTech Park – the first business park in Singapore to cater to green companies.The 50-ha eco-business park located at Nanyang Avenue is considered as a suitable location for innovative firms that have adopted...
Continue Reading • 16 Jun 2010
New guide to go green launched
A new guide on best green practises intended for the construction sector has been launched in Singapore.The guide, called “Green and Gracious Builder Guide”, provides valuable information on cutting-edge green solutions.Such technologies and solutions help support the construction...
Continue Reading • 16 Jun 2010
OUE rejects convertible bond issue plans
Mainboard-listed hotel and property firm Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE) has turned down plans for a convertible bond issue due to recent market conditions.Last May, OUE had planned to issue notes of up to S$200 million due in 2015. These notes would be converted into new ordinary shares.In a...
Continue Reading • 16 Jun 2010
Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen up for private tender
Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen – a three-star hotel launched in February 2009 has been put up for sale through a private tender.The results will not be announced until July, though many market watchers are estimating that the hotel could fetch over $200 million.The 538-room hotel is jointly...
Continue Reading • 16 Jun 2010
Ubi Road 1 site up for sale
The URA has put an industrial site located at Ubi Road 1 up for public tender.The land parcel has a site area of around 3.5 hectares and a 60-year leasehold period.It has a maximum permissible gross plot ratio of 2.5 and can be developed for many uses such as clean and light industries, including...
Continue Reading • 16 Jun 2010
URA awards Upper Serangoon Road site tender to Qingdao Construction
The URA said it has awarded the tender for a residential site located at Upper Serangoon Road and Pheng Geck Avenue to Qingdao Construction.The property firm submitted the highest bid of S$113.7 million, which translates to S$588 psf of gross floor area.The tender for the site, which attracted 15...
Continue Reading • 16 Jun 2010
Residential site at Punggol Field attracts S$223.7m highest bid
HDB’s tender for a residential site located at Punggol Field/Punggol Road has attracted a highest bid of S$223.7 million.This translates to about S$298 psf ppr for the Reserve List site zoned for executive condominium (EC) development.The highest bid came from a joint bid by two companies...
Continue Reading • 16 Jun 2010
Singapore property market cools in May
Property prices in Singapore have cooled significantly, with 1,078 new private home units sold in May. This is 50 percent lower than the figure in April.The Minton project in Hougang was the star performer in the mass market in May, with 204 units sold at an average price of S$849 psf.Projects in...
Continue Reading • 16 Jun 2010
US mortgage rates remain at record low
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) in the US averaged 4.72 percent, having an average 0.7 point for the week that ended 10 June 2010, down from last week’s 4.79 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.For the same week, the 15-year FRM was 4.17 percent,...
Continue Reading • 15 Jun 2010
Sunway looks to be Malaysia's biggest Reit IPO
Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) is planning to sell its shares for S$0.38 to $0.42 (90-98 sen) in an IPO in Malaysia, a sale document showed.The firm, which is managed by property and hotel company Sunway City Bhd, started offering the shares as it plans to raise US$515 million in what...
Continue Reading • 15 Jun 2010
30 percent take-up rate in phase 2 of Tranquility Park
Phase two of Tranquility Park, which is being developed by UEM Land Berhad, has sold at least 30 percent of its total units.Tranquility Park is part of the East Ledang development located in Nusajaya, which has 140 residential units – 28 resort bungalows and 112 twin villas.“About 30...
Continue Reading • 15 Jun 2010
Singapore ranked 9th most expensive city in Asia
Singapore has been ranked as the ninth most expensive city in Asia for expatriates to live in, a spot it took for the past six months, according to a recent cost of living survey.Compared with its ranking in 2009, it went up one notch in Asia and climbed six spots to 67th position worldwide over...
Continue Reading • 15 Jun 2010
Height could hit profit from en bloc
A planning provision has hindered the plans of Nim Gardens’ residents to make a profit should their development go up for en bloc sale. Nim Gardens is a 10-storey development in Seletar Hills.Based on the rule, any new development cannot exceed this height, nor the gross floor area. This...
Continue Reading • 15 Jun 2010
BBR wins S$4.9m piling contract for The Vision project
BBR Holdings has won a S$4.9-million contract to undertake the piling works for The Vision condo project located at West Coast Crescent.The contract was granted by developer Grand Waterfront Development to Singapore Piling and Civil Engineering – a wholly owned subsidiary of BBR.The ground...
Continue Reading • 15 Jun 2010
URA chief appointed as new HDB head
Cheong Koon Hean, who is the current CEO of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), will become the new CEO of HDB starting in August.She will relinquish her current appointment in the URA but will continue her special tasks at the Ministry of National Development (MND) as a Deputy Secretary,...
Continue Reading • 15 Jun 2010
Landed properties in Opera Estate exceed $1,000 psf level
Landed houses in Opera Estate have increasingly breached the $1,000 psf level this year. Based on caveats lodged with URA Realis, out of the 16 transactions worth over $1,000 psf from May 1997 to May 2010, about 50 percent were carried out this year.In February, a peak of $1,301 psf was reached...
Continue Reading • 15 Jun 2010