Bank of America to suspend mortgage payments for jobless borrowers
Bank of America is considering a programme that will give a nine-month break to jobless borrowers who struggle to pay their home loan obligations, with a condition that if they fail to find a job within the nine-month period, they will have to sign their house over to the bank.The bank will also...
Continue Reading • 23 Apr 2010
Guocoland plans to double property investment in China
Guocoland Ltd, a Singapore-based property developer, plans to double its investment in the China property market to more than US$9 billion on confidence that government’s efforts to lift property bubble will work.Guocoland, whose projects include apartments, hotels, shopping malls and...
Continue Reading • 23 Apr 2010
Changi Complex sold for $58m in a collective sale
Changi Complex, which was launched for en bloc sale in March, has been purchased by World Class Land, an Aspial Corporation’s subsidiary, for $54.3 million, exclusive of a development charge of $3.6 million.The total land price of the Bedok Road site adds up to $57.9 million, which...
Continue Reading • 23 Apr 2010
Lion Teck Chiang to soft launch Seven Crescent project
Mainboard-listed Lion Teck Chiang is set to soft launch Seven Crescent, a freehold cluster bungalow project, at Crescent Road in District 15 this weekend.The $70-million project, comprising of 14 bungalows, which share common facilities, like playgrounds and a pool, sits on a 33,135-sq-ft site....
Continue Reading • 23 Apr 2010
FCOT's Q2 net property income jumps 26%
Frasers Commercial Trust (FCOT) has posted a 26 percent increase in its net property income for the second quarter ended March 31, hitting $23.6 million from a year ago.This helped boost its total distributable income, which rose 167 percent over the same period to $14.5 million. Of this, holders...
Continue Reading • 23 Apr 2010
Robertson Quay site now open for application
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has announced that a hotel site at Robertson Quay is now available for application.This will serve as a lead for the government to put the site up for public tender if a developer commits to pay a three percent deposit for the bid price, or bid above the...
Continue Reading • 23 Apr 2010
Home loan rates increase
The two key interest rates in the Singapore mortgage market, which measures the home loan costs, are near their all-time lows. However, borrowers who take out new mortgages may not be better off.Home borrowers usually benefit when these measures decline, but banks are now responding to the...
Continue Reading • 22 Apr 2010
IPA plans to bridge gap between banking and real estate market
Former Savills analyst Mr. Ku Swee Yong hopes to shake up the property scene in Singapore with his new agency International Property Advisor (IPA), which aims to connect high net worth individuals to suitable property investment products.“We want to provide a service to represent the...
Continue Reading • 22 Apr 2010
CapitaMall Trust's DPU increases 13.2% on-year in Q1
CapitaMall Trust (CMT) has announced that its distribution per unit (DPU) for the first quarter of the year has increased 13.2 percent on-year to 2.23 cents from 1.97 cents a year ago.The net property income during the first quarter rose 5.7 percent to S$97.6 million, while distributable...
Continue Reading • 22 Apr 2010
Boon Keng Development outbids competitors for Woodlands industrial site
Boon Keng Development submitted the highest bid of $65.2 million for the acquisition of an industrial site at Woodlands Avenue 12 through a government tender which closed yesterday.The bid price, which translates to $75 psf ppr, is 29 percent higher than the second highest bid of $50.6 million,...
Continue Reading • 22 Apr 2010
IMF warns that property markets in Asia are overheating
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cautions that the residential property markets in East Asia are overheating and that by some measures, housing valuations are stretched.IMF stressed in its latest Global Financial Stability report (April 2010) that the housing prices, particularly at the...
Continue Reading • 22 Apr 2010
Prime site at City Hall goes on sale
URA has put a prime commercial site at Stamford Road/North Bridge Road up for sale by public tender.The launching of the site was triggered after URA received an application from a developer who committed to bid at least $100 million, or about $184 psf ppr. The 99-year leasehold site has been on...
Continue Reading • 22 Apr 2010
First-time buyers in the UK decline to a two-decade low, says GfK
The number of first-time homebuyers in the United Kingdom fell to the lowest level in almost two decades, as tighter lending conditions in the country curbed the people’s ability to purchase property, said GfK NOP.According to London-based GfK, about 347,000 first-time homebuyers took out a...
Continue Reading • 21 Apr 2010
Property demand in China remains strong, says HSBC
Property demand in China is likely to remain strong in spite of the central government’s implementation of tighter measures to curb property prices, said Richard Yorke, head of HSBC Holdings plc for China operations.“The strength of the demand story in the medium term remains...
Continue Reading • 21 Apr 2010
Circle Line's new stations to benefit property owners
Both big and small property owners are on track to reap big benefits from the opening of 11 new stations on the Circle Line, according to a Credit Suisse report.Credit Suisse said that industrial landlords like Mapletree Logistics Trust (MapletreeLog), Ascendas REIT (A-REIT) and Suntec REIT own...
Continue Reading • 21 Apr 2010
Two more land sites up for tender
Two additional 99-year leasehold residential sites were released for public tender yesterday -- one at Hougang Avenue 2 from the Reserve List and one at Upper Serangoon Road from the Confirmed List.According to URA, the Hougang Avenue 2 site was triggered by a property developer who agreed to bid...
Continue Reading • 21 Apr 2010
Keppel Land posts Q1 net profit of $64.7m
Keppel Land has reported a net profit of $64.7 million in the first quarter of the year, up by 75 percent from last year’s $36.9 million. This is on the back of strong residential sales and better contributions from its property investment and fund management units.Revenue for the three...
Continue Reading • 21 Apr 2010
Banks in Australia more selective in mortgage lending
Many banks and financial institutions in Australia have implemented tighter lending criteria, which have made it harder for customers to secure a good deal and compare mortgages.Chris Acret, managing director of Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisers, said that while such changes have not made...
Continue Reading • 20 Apr 2010
K-Reit Asia's Q1 results increased, thanks to acquisitions
The recent acquisitions made by K-Reit Asia have boosted its financial results for the first quarter of 2010.K-Reit has reported a net property income of $13.9 million, up 28 percent from the previous year. The increase was attributed by more rental income from the 50 percent stake share in 275...
Continue Reading • 20 Apr 2010
A-Reit posts 2.73 cents DPU for Q4
Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (A-Reit) has announced that its distribution per unit (DPU) saw a 1.14 percent drop from 2.77 cents to 2.73 cents in Q4 that ended March 31. For the fiscal year, A-Reit posted a DPU of 13.10 cents, up 11.4 percent from 11.76 cents.The comparisons were largely...
Continue Reading • 20 Apr 2010